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.
