Since the visit by the history-making pugilist, Bash Ali OON to the office of the National Chairman, All Progressives Party (APC), Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje in Abuja, a lot has been said about his ambition to make history.
Some have called him all kinds of names; the most ridiculous being that of labeling him a suicide undertaker.
Rather than reduce him, the caustic comment by one Ahmed Salihu showed the common character and disposition that is typical of a Nigerian. Many of such among us need to be helped and re-educated.
The meeting was a moment for the World Boxing Federation (WBF) Cruiserweight champion, Bash Ali to inform Ganduje of the proposed Guinness World Record Boxing Championship scheduled to be held for the first time on the African soil, outside the United States of America .
Those who are in the same league as Ahmed do not know that Bash Ali is still a WORLD BOXING CHAMPION despite years of not fighting and defending his title.
The story may be long, but for sake of education, let us go down memory lane to refresh those who have continued to doubt the capability of the champion.
The hurt intended for the champion by the World Boxing Federation backfired long before it began.
Recall that on September 9, 2000, Bash Ali fought the then World Boxing Federation (WBF) Champion, Terry Ray, USA, where he knocked him out in the 8th round.
The camp of Terry demanded a rematch with a USD 1.9MD offer which was turned down and and later accepted a USD 2.1MD offer to fight another opponent in Canada.
The then President of the WBF, Ron Scalf secretly was managing Terry Ray. He stripped Bash Ali of the title and declared it vacant, and by that sanctioned a vacant Championship fight for the former WBF Champion, Terry Ray, and a boxer who was recently knocked out by him.
Terry Ray won by knockout to regain the Championship while Bash Ali became a former Champion without being defeated in a boxing fight. The case went to court in America.
A California Superior Court found the WBF guilty of wrongfully stripping him of the WBF title and awarded him USD 2.1M in loss of wages for the missed title defense in Canada and USD 5M in DAMAGES and a PERMANENT INJUNCTION that Bash can never again be stripped of the title unless he loses it inside a boxing ring.
He was paid the USD 2.1MD in full but the WBF appealed the USD 5MD damages which in 2013 was worth 9.7MD in January 2023 was worth over USD 62MD.
It is on record that Bash Ali was offered a 50MD buyout but he however refused. Right now, he is the SOLE OWNER of the World Boxing Federation to satisfy a California Superior Court judgment.
Those who have be laboured the case should now understand why Bash Ali is still a WORLD BOXING CHAMPION and would like to add to it by becoming Guinness Book World Champion.
So long as he is alive and not defeated inside a boxing ring, to be stripped of the title would be tantamount to asking for trouble. He remains the only boxer to own a WORLD BOXING BODY.
The link to the court verdict, Google: Bash Ali World Boxing Federation California Court judgment is alive and well respected.
It should be noted that Bash Ali is the ONLY boxer in the world to win a WORLD BOXING TITLE without first starting boxing as an AMATEUR.
That is not all, he is on record to have become the ONLY Boxer in the world to win every Cruiserweight Title CONCEIVABLE: California, United States Boxing Association (USBA), North America Boxing Federation (NABF), World Boxing Council International (twice) and the current World Boxing Federation Champion.
When he had his FIRST world title defense in Nigeria on December 5, 1987, boxing was dead in the country. He in fact resuscitated the game from the death, thus the harbinger of what is good.
On September 9, 2000, he intimidated, broke down physically and knocked out then World Boxing Champion, Terry Ray, USA, to win the World Title. Thus,he became the BLACK MOSES of Boxing because he took Nigeria to the Promise Land of game.
Now, Bash Ali is on the way to be in the Guinness World Record not only as the OLDEST BOXER to fight for a WORLD TITLE but to WIN it also.
At his age, it is beyond human comprehension, they say, where there is a will, there must be a way to get it. This is what makes Bash Ali truly an EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN BEING.
FASH PATRICK,
MEDIA AND PUBLICITY TEAM, BASH ALI CHAMPIONSHIP LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
