Oyeleyes: The glorious story of Ebute-Metta boxing champions’ family News

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Oyeleyes: The glorious story of Ebute-Metta boxing champions’ family

By Daily Sports Nigeria on October 19, 2023

For the Oyeleye family in Lagos, boxing is life. Seven out of nine members of the family took to boxing, recording various successes in their chosen field, writes PETER AKINBO

“I think it’s in the blood,” coach Abayomi Oyeleye replied when our correspondent asked him why nearly his entire family took to boxing.

A first-time visitor to the Oyeleyes’ home will easily recognise that this is a family of boxers.

On the wall of the living room painted brown colour hung pictures of different members of the family with medals won at various boxing tournaments. Boxing gloves also adorned the walls, while an entire armchair was filled with other boxing kits and a punching bag.

The home of the Oyeleyes is not unlike many others on Glover Street, Ebute Metta, Lagos State but there is a uniqueness about this family that lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of the four-storey building that has caught the attention of residents in the area and surrounding communities, up to the global boxing arena.

A family of nine, the Oyeleyes have seven boxers — four females and three males.

“Everyone in Ebute Metta, not only this street or this area, is aware that they are boxers in the family. They have brought a level of popularity to the community following their successes as boxers,” a neighbour of the Oyeleyes, Emmanuel Oyeyipo, told our correspondent, who was on a visit to the home of the boxing family in June.

Boxing father turned ‘Winning Coach’

Globally, several families have caught the ‘boxing bug’ despite the sport being termed dangerous.

Puerto Rican Cotto family, the Duran family from Panama, the Morales, Alvarez, and Chavez families from Mexico, and the Klitschko brothers from Ukraine are a few examples who used the boxing platform to club to global prominence.

For Abayomi’s young family, boxing is a tradition, a way of life.

The father, Abayomi, born in 1966, boxed at various levels in the 80s.

He started boxing in 1984 and represented Lagos State in 1985, at the National Sports Festival in Kwara State, where he won a bronze medal. He was also a member of the Lagos contingent in 1988 during the Canada-Lagos State International Boxing Tournament, where he won his fight before Borno State employed him in 1989 as their boxer.

After several fights on the domestic scene, he got his Grade 3 coaching licence in 1997 at the National Institute for Sport, Lagos after he copped a left shoulder injury and couldn’t continue active boxing.

Abayomi, who is Born State’s boxing head coach, also has a Higher Diploma from the NIS and is popularly known as ‘Winning Coach’ following his exploits in grassroots boxing, discovering and nurturing talents to stardom.

Not known to be a boxing state, Abayomi has brought his wealth of experience to bear on Borno. At the last National Sports Festival in Asaba in 2022, Borno’s only gold was in boxing, while he also helped them win two gold and two bronze at the penultimate edition in 2021 in Benin City.

“They call me the winning coach because we have been winning in all the competitions we attend,” Abayomi told The PUNCH.

Their first child, Abosede, a female, boxed while growing up but turned into a fashion designer following health concerns.

Second child Femi, 28, won a gold medal representing Nigeria at the African Games in 2015.

After Femi, the Oyeleyes have three other daughters Olaide, 27, who never boxed, 20-year-old Gloria, who won a silver medal at the 2022 National Open Boxing Championship in Kaduna, and Also, 18-year-old Rita Oyeleye, 17, who clinched a bronze medal at the same competition.

Thirteen-year-old twins, Taiwo, a 42kg female boxer, and Kehinde, a 38kg male boxer, complete the family of nine.

First daughter

Abosede, who started boxing at 18, would have continued with the sport, but she quit after just five years and doesn’t regret her decision following the successes of her siblings.

“I quit boxing in 2014 when I was 23 because of my bowlegs, it made boxing difficult and I was at the risk of being injured,” Abosede told The PUNCH.

“I have never regretted having to quit boxing because my siblings are still in the game.”

However, she didn’t quit boxing empty-handed during her short stint from 2010 to 2015.

She fought at the National Sports Festival in Port Harcourt in 2011 and lost in the quarter-finals before she claimed bronze at the 2013 U-17 National Youth Games in Abuja.

Femi: African, WBC champion

After Abosede, the Oyeleyes had Femi, their first son, who started boxing at five, long before his elder sister did, after he was bullied and beaten up by peers in the neighbourhood.

And he is the most successful boxer of the seven.

After his continental triumph at the African Games in 2015, he went on to claim the WBC Intercontinental title on May 11, 2019 beating Jose Ramon via a fifth-round TKO at the Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez in Mexico.

Femi admitted he was on cloud nine after the groundbreaking feat.

“The WBC Intercontinental title was my first ever title as a professional, so, winning it meant everything to me. I see it as a stepping stone to winning a world title, so, it meant a lot to me, which is why I have it on the wall of my home.

“After I won the title, I got on the phone with my family for like an hour and we spoke about the fight. They were all excited, telling me it’s just the beginning and that the sky is the limit,” And thereafter, the celebrations began.

“After I got off the call with my family, my team and I went to a strip club to continue the celebrations there, it was a very exciting night, just partying and enjoying the win.”

Back in Nigeria, the home of the Oyeleyes also erupted in rapturous jubilations and beyond

“I felt very happy after the victory, but I was tensed up when the fight was going on, not because I didn’t trust Femi, but because he was fighting in that guy’s home country.

After the fight, I celebrated with my friends and my boxers in the gym. I bought drinks for my friends, well-wishers, and for my boxers in celebration of the WBC Intercontinental championship,” Father Abayomi said.

“We watched the fight online on our phones because Brother Femi sent us the link, it was a very thrilling experience. We cheered and supported him from home. I was 17 then but

Rita and the twins did not watch the fight because it was at midnight. After all, they were still little.”

Thorny road to success

Now he holds an undefeated record of 14 wins from 14 pro fights and was signed to Mayweather Promotions back in 2016 before switching management in 2018 to JAB Management International and then on to Secure The Bag Management in the US.

However, despite his success story, Femi never thought of boxing, but fate paved his way into the sport.

Quite often, while returning home from school or on errands, he got beaten up by his peers and older kids. Sometimes, he was bruised, to the consternation of his mother.

“And my mum did not like it, she would say, ‘your dad can’t be a coach and you would be able to defend yourself, how are you going to defend your sisters’? So, I started boxing in self-defence because of the bullying as a kid. Sometimes I came home with marks and bruises on my face,” Femi told The PUNCH.

“That was how boxing started for me, it was just for me to learn how to defend myself. I guess I became very good at it and somehow, it became what I do.”

After he learnt boxing, he repaid his bullies in kind. But he learnt it wasn’t legally right for boxers to fight outside the ring when they were not in self-defence situations and stopped.

“I kind of became the bully. But I learnt that you don’t use your physical strength for things like that. I used to get in fights because I knew they couldn’t touch me, and that’s not right. The strong should protect the weak, not prey on them because you are using your ability to torment those that are weaker than you. My father taught me that I shouldn’t fight just because I can win,” he said.

Although a dedicated father, Abayomi is a strict disciplinarian who ensures his kids don’t turn bullies because of their boxing prowess.

“I don’t allow them to fight outside because it’s not in our rules. If any boxer wants to join today, the first thing I tell them is ‘’don’t fight outside’ and if someone fights you, don’t retaliate because boxers know where to hit you and you won’t wake up for some time. If it’s a person that is fighting you, don’t fight but if it’s two, three or four, you have to defend yourself and escape,” the ‘Winning Coach’ told The PUNCH.

Interestingly, Femi wasn’t keen on his sisters taking to boxing, despite being a boxer himself.

“In the beginning, I didn’t like it because I didn’t believe women could receive punches, but later I saw how much better they were getting, so, I supported them,” the Intercontinental WBC super-welterweight champion said.

“My sisters look up to me in a very big way, so I am also proud of them, and having sisters that can fight and defend themselves, is huge for me.”

Going into the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Congo, Femi, who was just 20 then, had to surmount the underdog tag, as well as favouritism by coaches, who had picked their ‘anointed godsons’ to represent the country at the Games, even before trials for the continental sport’s showpiece.

“Most of these coaches had their favourite fighters and even if you beat their fighters, it was not a guarantee that you were going to represent the country,” he said.

“So, winning the championship and getting to represent Nigeria at the Games alone was huge for me because I was the underdog.“

“I had to beat the hell out of my opponents; I had to beat them convincingly because if the fights were close, they were never going to pick me, they don’t care,” Femi told The PUNCH.

At the African Games proper, Femi overcame Cameroon’s Salif Msangou Njikan in the final of the 69kg welterweight category to claim gold, but he says qualifying for the Games itself was more difficult than winning the top prize.

“I knew if I could win in Nigeria, nobody was going to stop me in Africa because it was more challenging in Nigeria to be a champion.

“After I qualified to represent Nigeria, I won’t say the African Games was a walkover, but it was much easier than what I went through at home. The people of Congo welcomed us and hosted a beautiful tournament.”

The pro boxer

The pugilist left for the United States in controversial circumstances in 2016 after failing to secure a spot on the boxing team at the Rio Olympics Boxing Trials in Cameroon, linking up with Olympian Charles Nwokolo, who runs a boxing gym in Vegas.

Femi’s impressive showing in training subsequently earned him a deal with Mayweather Promotions in November 2016. The following month, he made his pro debut at the Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Sunrise Manor, Nevada, USA.

Ahead of the December 2, 2016 fight, his trainer, Nwokolo, a member of Nigeria’s boxing team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, said, “Femi has started very well and he has all it takes to make it to the top in boxing.”

Femi didn’t disappoint Nwokolo and his teeming fans back home in Nigeria, beating Brian True in the fourth round via unanimous decision.

As Nwokolo predicted, Femi is destined for the top, as he now holds a proud record of 14-0, eight through TKOs.

In his penultimate fight on July 22, it took Femi just 29 seconds to knock out Argentine Javier Maciel at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, while in his last fight at the same arena, the hard-hitting pugilist also sent American Jimmy Williams to the canvass in the first round — two minutes and eight seconds.

Interestingly, father Abayomi, 57, never advised his kids to take to the sport, they all came to him when they were ready.

“I think it’s in the blood, I never told them to follow me to the gym, they all liked it and didn’t see the need to go and train outside since their dad was a coach. I tried to let them understand that boxing was not table tennis, but they said as long as I was doing it and trained others, then I could train them too.

“I even tried to discourage the younger kids and Femi, letting them know that people would hit their faces, and that boxing was not like football, but they said they were ready, so, I agreed to train them. Before I started training them, I spoke to my wife and told her what the kids had said, and she said there was nothing she could do about it, that they were free to try it out,” Abayomi told The PUNCH.

Despite Femi’s success story, Abayomi’s dream is to nurture and see his younger boxers surpass their brother’s feat.

“I want them to perform more than Oluwafemi. And that is why I don’t allow them to rest, I train them morning, afternoon, and evening. I want them to achieve what I didn’t achieve in boxing because when they go up, I go up also,” he said.

Twin boxers

Twins, Taiwo and Kehinde, the last kids of the Oyeleyes, started boxing earlier than the others — at just three and have never looked back ever since.

Despite being children of a coach, both confessed that it still did not come easy to them in the beginning.

Taiwo, the female, told The PUNCH, “It wasn’t easy initially, but now it’s easier for me. I always got very angry whenever I got hit and wanted to hit the person back as soon as I could but no matter how hard it was, I have never thought of quitting boxing.”

As children of a disciplined former boxer and with role models around them to look up to, the youngest children do not relent in their training, with Kehinde, the male, insisting he trained the most.

“We train every day except Saturdays and Sundays. When we have competitions, we train in the morning during weekends and when we come back from school, we train in the evenings. I train the most, I train more than her (Taiwo),” he told The PUNCH.

The adolescent boxers believe they can become African just like big brother Femi. Their elder sister, Rita, who shares their passion for boxing confessed that she had other interests outside sports, ‘If I was not boxing, I would be trying to become a lawyer, I like the profession.”

Away from the crowd

Mojisola, the 56-year-old mother of the boxers, and Olaide, her daughter are the only members of the Oyeleye family who never boxed.

Abayomi, however, believes that if female boxing had existed when she used to watch him fight, his wife might have also turned to boxing.

“When my wife was young, there was no female boxing in Nigeria. If there was female boxing, she would have been a female boxer because she also likes boxing. When we were not married, she used to watch my fights at local and national levels. If women were allowed, she would have been a world champion. She likes it,” he told The PUNCH.

Mojisola shares the same view.

I’ve been watching boxing since 1985 when my husband was a boxer and I had an interest in boxing but I couldn’t box because they didn’t allow females into boxing then. I like it because it is my husband’s job.”

Olaide, 27, also joins her mother as the only one who didn’t catch the ‘boxing bug’ but she found love in another sport — handball.

“I didn’t want to box like the others when I was younger. Not that I was scared, but I always preferred handball and I was good at it. I still supported the family though, and I follow them to every tournament when I am around and can make the time,” Olaide said.

Boxers extraordinaire

in a society where boxing is mostly seen as dangerous, and meant for truants only, the Oyeleyes’ adventure into the sport has sparked reactions from the larger society.

“People usually ask why most of my children are into boxing, especially the girls and I tell them it doesn’t mean anything since it’s their father’s job.”

On managing injuries after fights and training she added, “Well, they have never been seriously injured while boxing. Even if they come back with injuries, it’s always minor. And if they get injured, we take care of them, and they go back out there.”

Retired boxer Abosede, a married mother of one, added that despite the impression that guys shied away from female boxers, it never affected her relationship.

“I met my husband while I was still boxing, and our relationship never had any problems. My husband always knew I was a boxer and came from a family of boxers and I also had no problems submitting to him because he remains the head of the family. He always supported me in my fights and was also there for me when I had to quit,” Abosede said.

Their neighbour Oyeyipo says the Oyeleyes are a model boxing family.

“We live in the same house, so, I know most of them, they are into boxing and also schooling. They are cool-headed people and they treat people around them with respect. I have not seen any of the children misbehaving in the house, likewise in the neighbourhood.”

Source Punch Ng

Posted October 19, 2023