By Korede James
Head coach of the Nigerian national boxing team, Tony Konyegwachie, has highlighted certain factors that could have led to the death of former national and West African light heavyweight champion Segun ‘Success’ Olanrewaju in Ghana.
Olanrewaju passed away after collapsing during a fight in Ghana on Saturday, with the tragic incident captured on camera and shared in a viral video.
The 40-year-old was up against Ghanaian boxer Jon Mbanugu at Fight Night 15 of the Ghana Professional Boxing League at Bukom Boxing Arena when he collapsed without being hit.
“He never worked with me, I just saw him as a professional. I didn’t know him as an amateur, I just saw his name fighting as a professional. Occasionally, I saw him at the stadium training,” the 54-year-old former champion Konyegwachie told Sportingtimes.ng.
“When something like this happens, it could be hypertension or he probably did not prepare very well for the fight. I saw the video and he was punching and no punch landed on him. He took like two steps and fell down and that was it, so only God knows what happened.”
Konyegwachie dismissed the possibility of a spiritual attack leading to Olanrewaju’s tragic death.
“Olanrewaju was really doing well; he was not doing badly and you know people will start talking about charm,” he explained.
“In a platform that I belong to, people are saying it’s charm. African ways are always funny, they think everything is spiritual. So it’s either heart failure, cardiac arrest or he did not prepare so well for the fight; they just took it for granted and that was it.”
The former Olympian, who competed at the 1988 Seoul Games, added: “Incidents like this can happen in boxing occasionally.
“Like I said, if you are not so prepared or even if you are 100 percent prepared, if you get a solid punch at the wrong place you can go down and before you know it you have passed on.
“This punch is something else, that’s why you have to prepare very well and be prayerful. The moment you enter that ring anything can happen.”
