Newly crowned African Boxing Union (ABU) champion Adijat ‘Dija’ Gbadamosi has explained how she became the first-ever Nigerian woman to win an African boxing title, Completesports.com reports.
Gbadamosi achieved the feat at the third edition of the ‘King of the Ring’ series which was put together by Monarch Events and Promotions inside the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra, Ghana on Friday, 16 June 2023.
A silver medalist at the 2018 Youth Olympic in Argentina, Gbadamosi knocked out Zimbabwe’s Patience Mastara in round five of their scheduled 10-round bout to land the African Super Bantamweight title.
The two-time African Youth champion has now won all her eight professional fights, securing knockout wins in four of the bouts.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, 28 June, which also had in attendance Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Monarch Group, Prince Stanley Williams, and light heavyweight boxer Victor Beneth, Gbadamosi explained what motivated her to go all out to secure the African title and make history in Nigerian women boxing.
“I felt confident because I had trained very hard and I didn’t want to go there and lose the opportunity that my manager gave me to fight for the ABU title because we didn’t plan that I will fight for it this year we planned for it next year. Words cannot explain how happy I am to have this title.“
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The 21-year-old said she now has to train extra hard especially now that she is the champion because she will surely be defending the title.
“I have to continue training and now that I have this title I have to train harder than before because I have to defend this title and it’s going to be a very hard work.“
Light heavyweight boxer Victor Beneth, CEO Monarch Group Prince Stanley Williams and new ABU champion Adijat ‘Dija’ Gbadamosi
Gbadamosi spoke on her memorable moments since becoming a boxer.
“My memorable moments was when I first travelled as an amateur,” she said. “I only did my passport but I didn’t believe I will be selected for the tournament in Morocco in 2018.
“Also, I remember my fight with a Moroccan opponent, my coach advised me that I have to put more pressure to stand a chance to win because I will not be given the fight. So when they raised my hand up I was surprised because I didn’t expect it I didn’t train well for the fight, I only trained for two weeks due to my WAEC exams.”
She explained how she almost gave up boxing due to challenges but was able to overcome them.
“Sometimes when confronted with negative stuff I go home and cried but my brother always comfort me.
“There were some times I wanted to give up but I got encouragement from my brother who would tell me that you know you have been doing this for long. You don’t have to give up if you give up now you are the one who would have wasted your time because you don’t have any other thing to fall back on only boxing. So that’s when I buckled up and continued training and was eventually signed up by Monarch Promotions.“
On why she decided to choose boxing as a career:”I just saw people training and I loved it and my parents went to them and told them that I want to join they ask me why I said I don’t know that I just love the way they are training and I want to join.”
On Peoples thoughts about her as a boxer:“Most people don’t believe I’m a boxer because of my statue and the way I look, they don’t see me as a boxer. People always believe as a boxer I should have cuts on my eye from punches the thing is I’m not a street fighter and it’s street fighters that normally have cuts.“
Also, on how men react after approaching her and finding out she is a boxer:“Some get scared while there are those who don’t get scared.”
By James Agberebi
