8th December, 2019
A retired Nigerian light-heavyweight boxing champion, Isaac Ikhouria, has applauded the Nigerian born British boxer, Anthony Joshua for defeating Mexican boxer, Andy Ruiz to reclaim his world heavyweight titles.
Ikhouria who won a bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 1973 All-Africa Games, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Benin.
“Nobody had expected Joshua loosing to him back then in June, I’m happy he has gotten back his titles, he has learnt a lesson from this competition, from all the details we heard before the fight.
“He trained so hard, he worked on himself by trimming down in size, lost some weight, it helped him to move faster.
“I’m particularly happy and proud of him that he has regain back his titles.
“There is no other option to hard work and discipline. If you are discipline and you listen to what your coaches are telling you, you will not fail,” he said.
The ex-international tasked upcoming athletes on hard work and discipline, saying that they should watch the type of food they eat so they can remain fit at all times.