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Dino Duva’s cruiserweight champion Ola Afolabi, the NABO titlist, will make his long-awaited national television debut on Friday night, August 15, in an eight-round affair on ESPN2s Friday Night Fights from Ibiza Night Club in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. The card will be presented by Duva Boxing and Major Boxing Promotions.
Afolabi will make his first appearance under the Duva banner. The main event will pit Anthony Thompson, 23-2 (17), of Philadelphia against local product Ishmail Arvin, 14-1-4 (6), of Baltimore, MD, in the IBO/USBO Junior Middleweight title bout, a 10-round contest.
Afolabi, like Duva Boxing stablemate WBC heavyweight champ Samuel Peter, is a native of Nigeria with a big knockout punch. Afolabi gives Duva a powerful punching duo in his stable of fighters. Duva continued to tap into the extraordinary Nigerian talent pool when he signed Afolabi on May 1.
Afolabi was born in Nigeria, but his parents moved to London, where the heavy-puncher was raised. He now lives in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old cruiserweight has a 12-1-3 ring record with 5 victories coming by way of knockout.
In his last fight in April, Afolabi destroyed one of the most tal ked-about prospects in the world, Eric Fields, to win the NABO Cruiserweight title. Despite taking the bout with only a month’s notice, and fighting for the first time in over two years, Afolabi scored a convincing triumph.
“The most amazing thing about him is that for a man of his obvious tremendous skills, he never had an amateur fight!” says Duva. “I’ve never seen a fighter with incredible skills despite having no amateur background. This is the most excited I’ve been about signing up a fighter since my last Nigerian signup, Sam Peter, and that was seven years ago.”
