Society Gists

Nigerian boxer Oluwafemi Oyeleye will be making his international professional debut with the Mayweather Promotions LCC on Friday.

Oyeleye signed a promotional contract with Mayweather Promotions earlier this month and will make his debut in the ring for The Money Team, on December 2 at Sam’s Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here are facts you should know about the boxer who came to limelight in September 2015, after winning a gold for Team Nigeria in the 69kg welterweight category of the All Africa Games that year.

1. He started boxing in 1999 at age five. Oyeleye ventured into boxing at such a tender age to protect himself from school bullies in his elementary school in Maiduguri, Borno State.

2. His dad Ojo Abayomi Oyeleye is a boxing coach, so it was easy to start early.

3. He is 22 years old. He was born on October 22, 1994.

4. He moved to America in March 2016 to focus on achieving his professional boxing dream.

5. His coach Charles Nwokolo aka Young Dick Tiger was a Nigerian and African boxing champion, who represented Nigeria at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

6. He got the attention of American millionaire and boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr after one of his coach’s friend saw him spar and fell in love with his style. The same style attracted Mayweather on their second meeting at his gym, and he got signed.

7. He is inspired by boxers like Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Saul Canelo Alvarez, who also started fighting at a tender age.

8. He is from a poor background and couldn’t afford three meals a day at some point.

9. His mom is the only best friend he has, because “she was there for me through thick and thin”, he told our source on Wednesday.

10. His mom bought him his first training kits in 1999, even though she didn’t like the idea of her son going into boxing. But, she later supported him as that’s what he wanted.

“She prays for me anytime before I go into the ring, she believes a lot in my dreams always telling me I’m gonna do great in boxing and life. She is my small god after the most high God and I don’t joke with her,” he said.