TRIBUNE
The first son of late Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Alaafin of Oyo, Prince Israel Adeyemi, has revealed how Oyo Mesi stopped the pugilist monarch from boxing.
Prince Adeyemi, in an interview with NIGERIAN TRIBUNE disclosed that the late monarch’s ascension to the throne did not end his boxing career.
The professional boxer turned first-class king, according to his son, created a boxing ring in a lush area within the palace which they call ‘Garden’ after he became king.
“He would invite boxers to come and spar with him. The Oyo Mesi and the townspeople felt so bad about this. They wondered how somebody would be pummeling their Oba. They had to beg him to stop boxing: ‘We can’t take it, watching you, in your high esteem, getting punched. Kabiyesi, please, stop’. And grudgingly, he stopped.”
Speaking about the late monarch’s career as a boxer, the first son revealed that “He was a professional boxer and he never lost any bout. They called him ‘Slumber Boy’. I asked him what that meant and he said, ‘I put them to sleep’. He loved boxing. I think the reason he developed interest in boxing was what he passed through and that was the only way he could vent his anger.
