Love war at boxing camp: Boxer, coach fight over female boxer

   2015 All Africa Games gold
medallist, Femi Oyeleye, is
currently at war with the headcoach
of the boxing team, Tony
Konyegwachi, after he was snubbed
from the ongoing African Boxing
Championship in Cameroon, which
also doubles as the qualifiers for this
year’s Olympic Games in Rio.
The Point’s investigations revealed
that Oyeleye, who won gold for Nigeria
at the AAG in Congo last year, was
axed from the boxing team allegedly
for being emotionally attached to a
female boxer, Kehinde Obareh, who
is also alleged to be dating the boxing
head-coach.
He said, “When I first resumed
camp about two weeks ago, coach
Tony Konyegwachi told me that I
was now one of his enemies and I
tried asking him why? But he responded
by asking me to leave his
sight. He told me to leave a girl called
Kehinde; she is the female champion,
60 kg lightweight; they once had an
affair two years ago and I never knew
about it.
“Dating this girl has caused me a
lot of problem. He dropped me from
the team after he learned that I was
still dating the girl, despite asking me
not to date her again.”
He added, “I wish them the best but
I know God will judge him because
he never wanted to marry the girl.
Why would he not want anybody to
have anything with her? “Anybody
that has anything with the girl is your
enemy. I don’t know, maybe he still
has a crush for the girl.”
Oyeleye stressed that coach
Konyegwachi used the biting issue
that happened during the team’s trials
as a bait to keep him out of the
squad.
He said, “I guess it is a planned
work between the boxer (Christian
Abua) and the coach (Tony); he never
wanted me anyway because it is never
possible for a boxer to bite with his
tooth guard on.
“So, I don’t know how that happened;
it was just brought up because
I had a problem with the coach and he
dropped me for him who never came
for trials. He had to drop me, an All
African Games champion.”
However, the lady at the centre of
the storm, Kehinde Obareh, prefers to
tread cautiously over the double-dating
row between Oyeleye and coach
Konyegwachi.
“Oyeleye should leave me alone
and let me concentrate on my career,”
she simply said.
However, Christian Abua, who
was also alleged to have been used
by Coach Tony Konyegwachi to keep
Oyeleye out of the boxing team, feels
indifferent about the dating saga.
“When I was fighting with him
(Femi Oyeleye), I won in the first trial.
In the second trial, the fight was also
stopped because he had a swollen
eye; and in the third, he was prostrating
in the ring and had no choice but
to bite me. When I complained, the
doctors, the coaches and everyone
present saw it. He is just frustrated;
let him wait for his time. His time was
last season; he went to the All Africa
Games and won gold. This time is
for another person; let that be on his
mind,” Abua summed up.
Meanwhile, after several failed attempts
to get coach Konyegwachi’s
reactions, assistant coach of the boxing
team, Adura Olaleye, insisted
that there was no truth in Oyeleye’s
claims. He said, “I think that is a lie, a boxer
can’t just come to you and tell you this
or that. It was a decision from five
coaches. The doctor was there and I
was the centre referee during the trial.
“They had three fights and the guy
beat him. Let me tell you something,
Abua is a former national champion
before going back to school. He beat
Femi during the last championship in
Lagos.
“We called him last year but he
couldn’t make it. So this year, we had
to call him again.”
The Africa Boxing Championship
runs from Friday, March 11 to Saturday,
March 19.