Bash Ali defies sports ministry, vows to hold world title fight

Bash Ali
Bash Ali

Former cruiserweight boxing champion, Bash Ali, says he will continue with plans to stage a Guinness World Record title fight in Nigeria despite opposition from the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

Ali in a statement on Thursday insisted that all hands would be on deck to hold the much-talked-about fight.

The legal department of the ministry had written to the boxer to desist from peddling false claims about a non-existent approval from the office of the minister to embark on the fight.

“I have met with my lawyer to discuss what the Ministry of Sport sent to us yesterday. In paragraph 2, the Ministry admitted that President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Minister to meet with us. To meet with us to discuss what? Or to do what?” the 63-year-old queried.

The boxer added that he would continue to engage with the ministry and other stakeholders to make the fight a reality.

Bash Ali made history in 1985 as the first World Boxing Federation (WBF) cruiserweight boxing champion from Africa.

He is seeking to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest boxer to win a world title.

The former champion, who has not competed professionally for more than a decade, is seeking to take on an unidentified American boxer in a bid to clinch the world record.