Portable and Okocha’s match
Portable turns down Okocha’s rematch offer. According to Saturday PUNCH, Nigerian street-pop musician Habeeb Badmus, nicknamed Portable, has rejected Nollywood actor Charles Okocha’s plea for a rematch, refusing to hand over the belt.
On Tuesday night at Landmark Beach, Oniru, on Victoria Island, Lagos, Okocha was defeated by Portable in a Heritage Boxing Entertainment celebrity battle. The referee pronounced Portable the winner after four rounds of action.
Okocha claimed that their boxing match was manipulated, claiming that Portable removed his boxing gloves in the third round, which should have resulted in an immediate disqualification.
The two were feuding online over an alleged N40m rip-off. Portable stated that Okocha defrauded him and only sent him a tiny amount of money.
This provoked a brawl, during which they agreed to settle their issues physically and both booked a boxing bout for Boxing Day, directly following Christmas, with HBE approving the title.
Following the fight, Okocha turned to Instagram to criticize the referee, claiming that Portable removed his boxing gloves during the third round, which should have led in an immediate disqualification.
“How can you quit in the third round when we have four?” How do you remove your gloves in the third round, resulting in a total disqualification while the fight hasn’t yet ended?
“Y’all know this was rigged, with an incompetent referee who knows nothing about boxing rules. Nevertheless, we move on. Rematch coming soon,” he wrote.
In response, Portable published a series of videos on Friday aggressively denouncing Okocha’s requests, professing reluctance to fight him, and directing him to Anthony Joshua, the two-time world heavyweight champion.
“Do you want another thrashing?” I thrashed you and took your money and belt because you weigh more than I do. I beat you in the first round, the second round, the third round, and the fourth round. Go fight someone else; if you want to fight, contact Anothy Joshua; I’m not dropping my belt,” Portable stated.
Meanwhile, Azania Omo-Agege, interim head of the Nigerian Boxing Federation, reacted to the battle between the Nigerian superstars, praising the duo for promoting boxing in Nigeria.
He stated that the NBF will consider collaborating with them to make them Ambassadors of the boxing profession in Nigeria.
“Let me say that I am overjoyed to see two Nigerian boxing superstars compete in a high-profile boxing match.” I am quite pleased with the exposure that single act has provided to boxing.
“The NBF will look for a way to approach them and discuss the possibility of making them boxing ambassadors in Nigeria.” Because we feel that their association with boxing has the potential to draw many Nigerian teenagers off the streets and into the boxing trade,” he stated.
“I also want to thank the organizers of the celebrity boxing event,” said the Africa Boxing Confederation Vice President. What they did was extremely beneficial to the promotion of boxing in Nigeria.
“This is the type of stuff we’re talking about. If people take the initiative to do things in this country, as they have, it will not be difficult for us to promote sports in Nigeria. We would meet with them in the future to see how we can do more for Nigerian boxing.”