Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Elizabeth Oshoba talks about how she started boxing, winning a medal against all odds at the CWG and more in this interview with PETER AKINBO
How did you start boxing?
It was actually my brother who introduced me to it. He came to me when I was 12 and said he wanted me to start boxing. He said, ‘I saw one video of a girl boxing and she is just like you, you both look alike, so, I would like you to try boxing too.’ But I told him I don’t want to box. Actually, I was into sports, then I was playing football, I played table tennis too, all the street sports. But I said I couldn’t do boxing, I didn’t want them to spoil my fine face, I can’t do it. My parents like sports as well, so they encouraged me. One particular day, my dad lied to me that we should go out to get fuel, but he drove me to coach Smart of Smart Boxing. It was when we got there that I realised it was a boxing gym. The coach encouraged me too, and I saw a lot of ladies like me boxing, so, I decided I could do it if the ladies could do it because I had the mindset that if they saw me outside, they could just beat me and go. And I can’t let that happen; that is when I started.
So, was it easy boxing, having been in sports before?
It was not easy at all, though I liked it when I started, and in that gym, a lot of ladies were there, so, it was always lively and sweet. It is also good for self-defence, the training and endurance requirements for boxing is not easy. I trained for around six months before my first amateur fight in the Lagos State Boxing Hall of Fame and I won. The training was tough and rough, not easy.
Did guys in your neighbourhood or school try to fight you?
Actually, when I started boxing, I was in a public school. Some of my schoolmates, who lived around the boxing gym where I trained, saw me there. The next day they came to school and told everyone I was boxing, but the guys in school did not want to accept that a girl could box. So, they started bullying me, and it got to a point where I had to fight back. Although it is not professional and boxers shouldn’t fight back, I had to just fight back. I fought with a guy in my class and he started bleeding and that was when they all knew that I was a good boxer and they left me alone.
What will you say is the highlight of your career?
My first amateur fight, which I won, made me really really happy and when I went for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, I couldn’t believe it. God did it, so, those are the best moments so far for me. I can’t believe I could make it to the Games and even win a silver medal. It was a very tough journey for me before I got to the Games.
Can you tell us about the tough journey to Birmingham?
First of all, I had to do a lot of trials to be able to represent the country and also went for the championships in Kaduna, where I won a gold medal. From there, we were called to camp, and there, we did some trials again, before they could be sure that they had picked the best for the Games. I won my trials. The reason I said it was tough for me was because a day to the trip to Birmingham, I was called, after I had already packed my bags. But it was when I was about to head out that the COVID-19 test I had done a week before came out positive, meaning I wasn’t able to travel with the team. I told myself, ‘but you did this thing a week ago, why is it just before the trip that you are saying I tested positive?’ Among all the athletes, even the ones who got decamped, I was the only one that tested positive. So, they left me in the hotel in Abuja and all went to the airport and travelled out but I thought it was a joke. So, it was until they got there and started posting pictures that I started crying, that how would I be the only one that would test positive among all the athletes, because it was not only boxers that were camped there, we had athletes from like six different sports, but I was the only one. I was praying and crying, my coach and colleagues over there in Birmingham started calling me and praying for me. Then one of my coaches, who wasn’t in camp with us, called me, and she started telling me what to use, and I did everything. When the doctor came back the next day to do the COVID-19 test again, it was still positive, and they said if they came back the third time, and it was still positive, that meant I would have to go home because they wanted me to go with the last batch. So, I kept on praying and crying. I couldn’t eat and I got so lean in those three days because something I had worked for and sacrificed a lot for was looking like going down the drain because of COVID-19. So, they later did the last one, and it was negative and I had to wait for the next batch to make the trip. Because of all these, I got to Birmingham a day to my tournament, so, I lost hope even though I believe in God. I lost weight, I did not train for that five-day period, I was weak, so, I just got there and I was like, ‘Thank you God at least for bringing me here, at least it will be there in the records that Elizabeth Oshoba also went to the Commonwealth Games.’ This is because I did not think I could win, following what I had passed through. I was even the one that fought first among all the female boxers from Nigeria, according to the schedule. I fought two days after I got there, so I was just like ‘let me just do it, if I win or I don’t win.’ And God willing, I won my first fight, although it was not easy, though nobody knew what happened to me because I could not tell anybody, they would laugh at me. I won the second and third fights too. I didn’t even believe that I would get to the final but I give God the glory.
How did your family support you during the COVID-19 trauma?
They were very supportive because when I was in Abuja I called my mum and told her that they said I would not go. She started crying. My dad was equally worried, they kept calling me almost every minute of the day to know how I was doing. They started encouraging me, telling me not to worry that I would go, they believed in me, that I would win something, so their encouragement helped me not to lose my courage.
How did you and the family feel when you won the silver medal?
I was the happiest person in the world when I won the silver medal. I thanked God a lot because after all that I went through, I did not expect this at all, I was even happier than the person that won gold, I was so glad, that is my happiest moment. Initially while I was training, I believed I would win the gold medal, but after what happened, being weak, losing weight, not training enough, I had a second thought, so I really value the silver medal. My family were watching the fight live and after I got my medal, they were so excited and happy for me.
How did it feel meeting athletes like Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume in Birmingham?
I met Tobi and the other great athletes after we were done competing, and it was a great experience, they were very lovely and encouraging. As an athlete, everyone was happy to see each other and make new acquaintances.
How was the experience with the English people during the Games?
The English people were very loving, they just like someone that is ambitious and winning, they will support, they don’t say because you are black or not English, they supported us.
Where is your medal now?
It is with me in the UK, I carry it everywhere I go, I don’t leave it in Nigeria, as well as the national honour I got from President Muhammadu Buhari after coming back from the Games. That is what I worked for, so, I cannot just handle it anyhow, I need to take care of it very well.
You are fighting profesionally in the United Kingdom, in the super-featherweight. How has it been?
It is going very well, soon I will be fighting for titles. I have won four out of four professional fights now, two fights in the UK and two in Nigeria; I will be fighting again June 3.
What will you call the lowest point of your career?
That will be when I lost in the semi-finals at the African Games in 2019 in Morocco. That was my first time representing Nigeria and I won the bronze medal then.
You have won bronze at African Games, silver at the Commonwealth Games, what is your next target?
A title fight is what I am aiming for now, and I am working very hard on that. I want to win the Commonwealth titles later this year, but the dates have not been announced yet. The last fight I won was the Commonwealth eliminator; I am going for the titles next.
