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Two highly touted Nigerian
prospects passed their biggest
tests and were crowned World
Boxing Federation (WBF)
champions on Friday night, April
2, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium
in Lagos.
With the vacant WBF
International Welterweight title
at stake, Rilliwan “Babyface”
Babatunde had his hands full in
trying to open up former African
titlist Salehe Mkalekwa from
Tanzania, who from early on felt
his power and went into survival
mode.
Babatunde, improving his record
to 13-0 (8), finally caught up
with Mkalekwa, now 15-9 (4), in
the last quarter of the fight,
flooring him in rounds ten and
eleven, and four times in round
twelve to force referee Olesegun
Adesanya to wave it off at 2:58.
Super Featherweight Rilwan
Oladosu lived up to his
nickname, “Real One”, as he
outclassed game Ghanaian
Emmanuel Quartey to lift the
vacant WBF Intercontinental
Super Featherweight title with a
stoppage in eight rounds.
Quartey, who drops to 23-3 (20),
tried his best to get on the
inside of the much taller
Oladosu to land a knockout
punch, but the local favorite,
now 15-0 (7), controlled things
nicely before the visitor
suffered a shoulder injury and
could not continue. Time of
stoppage was 1:09 of round
eight.
Billed as “The Easter Showdown”
and promoted by Flykite
Promotions, the WBF doubleheader
was broadcast live by GOTV
Nigeria and SuperSport.
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