It’s been 6 years since the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ Samuel
Peter lost his WBC Heavyweight title to Vitali Klitschko and hope seemed never
in sight for another Nigerian heavyweight champion to emerge in a long time,
but no, Lateef ‘Power’ Kayode emerges from the oblivion of world boxing to
fight the Cuban Luis Ortiz for the vacant Interim WBA Heavyweight title.
Both boxers are undefeated with similar records. While
Kayode boasts of a 20-16-1-0 record, Ortiz himself holds a respectable record
of 21-18-0 and on paper both fighters look evenly matched. It’s all set for the
11thSeptember at the famous Hard Rock in Las Vegas.
“I felt confident that my chance at a world title would
come. My country is waiting for me to bring the title home.” says Kayode.
His impressive rise has been down to hard work,
discipline and of course, his rough experiences growing up on the streets of
Surulere. “Buy me something at the
store, or you could just give me your money.” Kayode recalls how he ceaselessly
got bullied by thugs.
“If you didn’t give them your money, they beat you up. If
you bought them things, it only made them want to keep coming back to you.
That’s why I needed to learn how to fight.” says Kayode.
When Kayode felt he had enough of the beatings, he hit
the famous boxing gym of the nearby National Stadium in Surulere and that was
where it all began. He asked trainers to
teach him how to defend himself, but the teenage Kayode suddenly became more
than a student. He learned so fast in a short time, made impressions on his
trainers that they quickly made him a sparring partner for local amateur
fighters.
“I sparred the Nigerian Amateur Champion and knocked him
down,” recounted Kayode. “The coaches were impressed. They invited me to train
with the national team. A couple years later, they used me as a sparring
partner for the heavyweights who were training for the 2004 Olympics.”
The newly-metamorphosed Kayode was now a different
person. He walked freely without being harassed by thugs for his money. “Now
that I knew how to fight, the gangs stopped bothering me. That’s how I got my
nickname; my power came from the streets”
A golden opportunity presented itself in 2005. The then
amateur champion decided to quit boxing and Kayode was asked to take his spot.
He gladly accepted and won gold at the Pan African competitions in Ghana,
Morocco and Algeria.
Kayode would later join two other Nigerian teammates in
2008 for a trip to Chicago, to participate in a tournament that could qualify
them for the Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately for them, their flight was delayed
and by the time they arrived Chicago, the tournament had started. That was the
beginning of his frustrations in the U.S. The three boxers decided to stay back
in the U.S to make something out of their careers. It was not going to be easy.
They went from being duped by unscrupulous agents to
being repeatedly disappointed by people they trusted to help them.
“A Nigerian man told me he was a promoter; he had me come
to New Jersey to train. He lied to me”.
It turned out this fellow Nigerian was nothing more than a con man who
attempted to “sell Kayode’s rights” to
another incognito “handler.” Kayode, upon discovering the truth, was incensed.
“I was new and I didn’t know English that well back then, so they tried to take
advantage of me.”
This incident was the beginning of a forgettable escapade
that caused Kayode to travel up and down the east coast. From there, he moved
to Atlanta, then to Baltimore and then later back to Atlanta-squatting with
various acquaintances in the process.
His luck was soon about to change for good. “I was ready
to go home because nothing was going on,” remembered Kayode. “Then I got a
call.”
While surfing the net, one of his teammates came across
Nigerian trainer Young Dick Tiger (nephew of former middleweight champ Dick
Tiger) in Los Angeles. He contacted Kayode’s other teammate, still staying in
Atlanta, and the three made another fateful decision.
“The three of us reunited and travelled together to Los
Angeles,” said Kayode. “Everything was good with Dick Tiger, but some things
happened. One of my teammates had problems with his eye so [he] couldn’t
continue fighting, and the other started a family, so he stopped boxing too.”
That left “Power” to fend for himself once more. But he
wouldn’t be alone in his quest to jumpstart his professional boxing career for
long.
It was at Tiger’s gym that he would eventually meet
Steven Feeder of Standing Eight Management.
“I was just minding my own business working out in Young
Dick Tiger’s Gym,” said Steven Feder. “Lateef was actually there that day to
meet someone else who was in line to be his manager, but he was kind of flaky.
We talked about managing him, and he liked what he heard. He was the first
fighter I ever signed [to Standing Eight].”
Feder wasted no time; he took Kayode to the famous Wild
Card Gym to spar where he met the legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach.
“We took him to the Wild Card Gym to spar, and he got
some good work,” said Feder. “Freddie liked what he saw, so we kept coming
back.”
“I like anyone with a work ethic and that’s what he has
and that’s what you always like to see right from the start,” said Roach, who
was named Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America in
2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009. “That’s what I look for in people and that’s what I
think ultimately will make him a better fighter: his work ethic and his desire
to be the best.”
Years down the line, Kayode has racked up 19 victories
from 20 professional fights, 16 of those from a knockout and 1 fight ended in a
draw. He holds the WBO NABO and NABF titles at Cruiserweight and is currently
ranked 5th in WBA’s Top Ten heavyweight ranking.
It all comes down to one fight, one night in Las Vegas,
against an equally strong opponent in Luis Ortiz. The Cuban is currently ranked
3 places higher than Lateef in WBA’s Top Ten heavyweight ranking. He’s a
southpaw, bigger, taller and undefeated. He weighs in at 233 pounds, more than
10 pounds heavier than Kayode. Regardless, Kayode is a more technical fighter. His style is well adaptable to fights like
this, his speed and combination would trouble Ortiz. We have a big fight on our
hands.
At the end of the fight, the WBA will have 3 heavyweight
champions. A WBA Interim Heavyweight title is the prize, the title that puts
the winner close to the Super Champion Wladimir Klitschko and closer to the
Regular Champion RuslanChagaev.
The entire nation of Nigeria stands behind Kayode. Go
Kayode! Go Power!
You can follow Lateef Kayode on twitter @Kayopower.
Facebook www.facebook.com/kayopower
Article by Yemi Dada. Follow him on Twitter - @YemiCastano
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