Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi, Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph, Stanley “Edo Boy” Eribo and Waidi “Skoro” Usman are not just known as boxers, but millionaire boxers. The quartet, at various times, became millionaires through one source: GOtv Boxing Night.

Before them, no boxer fighting locally, given the depressed state of the sport, had earned anything remotely close to a million naira.

All that changed in July 2015 at the third edition of GOtv Boxing Night, an event conceived to rescue Nigerian boxing and boxers. Olaide “Fijaborn” Fijabi, who hesitantly turned professional, emerged the first locally-based boxer to win the one N1million cash prize provided by the sponsors for the best boxer award at GOtv Boxing Night.

In October of the same year, another boxing millionaire was minted when Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph, national lightweight champion, was named by journalists covering the event as the best boxer. He would go on to win twice more at GOtv Boxing Night 7 and 9.

Last December, in the spirit of the Yuletide season, the sponsors raised the cash prize to N1.5million. This was claimed by Stanley “Edo Boy” Eribo, national welterweight champion.

At GOtv Boxing Night 8, held on 8 July, 2016, it was the turn of Waidi “Skoro” Usman who, after a lengthy absence from the ring, returned in coruscating fashion to glory.

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Former Olympian, Jerry Okorodudu, reckons that boxers of his generation would have stood out a lot more if they got the kind of encouragement currently being provided by GOtv Boxing Night.

“If we had the kind of support GOtv is giving to boxing back then, many of us would have turned out a lot better. This is a big encouragement for boxers and I think it provides a motivation to excel,” he said.

For the beneficiaries, the millions have turned their lives around. Speaking at a press conference after first million naira win, Fijabi, misty-eyed, said: “I never thought I would ever be the owner of a sum of N1million. In fact, I did not want to turn professional because when I looked at older generation of boxers, the life of want they live served a warning that I should never attempt to turn professional if I didn’t want to end up like them. But my coach assured me that the sponsors were different and that has proved to be true,” he said.

Joe Boy, whose three-time win is a record, said he doubted that the promise of N1million could be fulfilled by the sponsors when they announced it. “In Nigeria, promises are broken for fun, so I told myself that N1million for a locally-based boxer was never going to materialize,” he said.

The doubt would evaporate when Fijabi was handed his cheque for his first win.

“When Fijabi won and was given his cheque, I knew the sponsors were genuine. I have won three times and I hope and pray to win again because the money won has helped boost the businesses I run. This kind of money can help boxers set themselves up when they eventually retire,” he said with barely disguised gratitude.