BoxRec

Finally got around to watching last weeks ESPN fight of the week on CH5 (what a superb show it is, can't praise it enough) and saw Olajide for the first time.

Have to say I'm impressed. They say all he has is a left hook but what a bloody left hook it is. He also has good speed all round and nice footwork. Can't wait to see him break through, maybe they can match him with Verno Phillips who would almost certainly relish the oppurtunity.

Yeah that KO loss seems bad but from the clip of the Mendoza fight I saw the Columbian looks absolutely huge. Wouldn't mind seeing more of that guy too.


Middleweight prospect Willie Gibbs still has plenty to learn but puts his punches together very nicely. Worth keeping an eye on him.

I remember thinking the same thing all those years ago about Michael Olajade....

Goz wrote:I remember thinking the same thing all those years ago about Michael Olajade....

I always thought of Michael Olijade as the 'Michael Jackson of boxing' dunno why, maybe it was his hairdo?...

...hasn't Michael some connection with England, possibly Liverpool? My memory is as shot as my ability to have a fight.

i think he was born there.

I meant to post here last week about the other Olajide - he was being offered at 2-1 to win by KO, so I won a few quid.

Unfortunately my winnings came to about a third of my Cardiff hotel bar bill.....

Olajide had a very poor Jerry Curl hairdo, and i seem to remember him as being very flashy, and coming in the ring with silver shorts,

However it was when he screamed 'Heeee-heeee, Jamooon Muthafucka!' and started moonwalking backwards around the ring that I really got suspicious it might actually be same person.

Didn't he lose an eye or something, I'm sure it's him who went on to start that boxercise craze in America, there were pictures of him with an eyepatch on.

Yes Michael wears an eyepatch full time now, blind in one eye. He teaches boxing/aerobics, or something like that.

Tokundo is a real puncher, some of the guys he's KO'd have been out for 5 mins. Plays saxaphone at a nightclub too.
I saw his ko loss, and to me looked like was was ok till he twisted his foot while rising. I think his chin is ok.

Olajide's match with Larry Marks had a strange ending, Marks was asked by the ref if he was ok and as the ref wiped his gloves he slumped to his knee. Referee Tony Orlando rightly called it off and Marks and camp went berserk, the ref was correct IMO. Slumping to your knee for extra time is ok at 3 or 4 of the count but when you are asked if you are ok to carry on and you do it it is a sign of quitting, did anyone else see this fight and have an opinion?

Yes Steve, Marks had no valid argument at all. What was the ref supposed to do? He'd already reached 8 when Marks went down to one knee, was he supposed to say - "Okay fella, I'll give you a bit more time if you're not ready to go on yet". It was BS. If you don't at least demonstrate a willingness to continue by the end of the count then you're out of there!

Speaking of fellow 154-lb. contender Verno Phillips, he's fighting on ESPN FNF this coming Friday against Julio Garcia. The hard-hitting Cuban-born (but he didn;t take up boxing until coming to the U.S.) Garcia was rising meteorically in the Jr. Middleweight ranks until being given a boxing lesson by the experienced J.C. Candelo last July - Candelo lost his next fight to Kassim Ouma. Despite their current ratings, I don't see Phillips as being quite at the level of Candelo (at least not the Candelo I saw dismantle Garcia last summer), so this could be a real barn-burner.

Eric the Viking wrote:Speaking of fellow 154-lb. contender Verno Phillips, he's fighting on ESPN FNF this coming Friday against Julio Garcia. The hard-hitting Cuban-born (but he didn;t take up boxing until coming to the U.S.) Garcia was rising meteorically in the Jr. Middleweight ranks until being given a boxing lesson by the experienced J.C. Candelo last July - Candelo lost his next fight to Kassim Ouma. Despite their current ratings, I don't see Phillips as being quite at the level of Candelo (at least not the Candelo I saw dismantle Garcia last summer), so this could be a real barn-burner.

This match is set for showing Channel 5 next Satuday nite.
Phillips is having an 'indian summer' in his career, having previously looked like a worn out fighter. I think it was our own Silky Jones who delt with him on a visit to Blighty years ago.

Garcia has a cracking nickname "The Cuban Lover", but will have his arms full with the rejuvinated Phillips.

Yes it was a nice little preview they did for Phillips v Garcia, looking forward to it.

My sunday mornings just would not be the same without the Friday Night Fights!

Verno v Julio WILL be a cracking fight!!!!!!!

These are the guys i hoped Richard Williams would be facing before his loss to Martinez.

I think Richard could take Julio in a hard fight but i'm not to sure about Verno Philips.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Olajide had a very poor Jerry Curl hairdo, and i seem to remember him as being very flashy, and coming in the ring with silver shorts,

However it was when he screamed 'Heeee-heeee, Jamooon Muthafucka!' and started moonwalking backwards around the ring that I really got suspicious it might actually be same person.

Didn't he lose an eye or something, I'm sure it's him who went on to start that boxercise craze in America, there were pictures of him with an eyepatch on.

Yes, Tokunbo is a no nonsense puncher, unlike his lighter hitting, flashy brother who was more of a mover.


But unfortunatley it seems they both share the same genes when it comes to a chin...

E wrote:Yes, Tokunbo is a no nonsense puncher, unlike his lighter hitting, flashy brother who was more of a mover.


But unfortunatley it seems they both share the same genes when it comes to a chin...

What the f*** are you talking about? It wasn't his chin that gave out in his only loss, it was ankle. I'm not saying he has a granite chin, but he doesn't deserve to be called glass-jawed based on the unfortunate ending of the Mendoza fight.

Hey, editors, would it be possible to amend the record of that fight to say something along the lines of "Olajide breaks ankle while attempting to rise from knockdown"? If Vitali Klitschko deserves to get a special editorial note about his TKO loss to Byrd (and I think he does deserve that), Olajide/Mendoza also deserves an explanatory comment.

tokunbo is a class act an a soon to be great fighter at 54 n 60..he reminds me of julian jackson his power is almost nuclear!!! as for his loss to mendoza that will be avenged he broke his ankle quite badly n im sure he`ll get a re match n set the record straight.to even mention our light middles alongside tokunbo is lunacy his streaks ahead.id love to c him fight jermain taylor though...that would be a very interesting match