Bashi Ali Title Fight: 200 Companies Turn Down Sponsorship Proposals

No fewer than 200 companies have turned down proposals for the
sponsorship of Bash Ali's "Guinness Book of World Record'' title
fight.

Bash Ali guns for Guinness Book of World Records Title Fight Project
Bala Ka'oje, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the
fight, disclosed in an interview in Abuja on Thursday.

He said that the development was a major setback for the staging of the fight.

"From what I can see, the hope of this fight taking place is very slim
because we have written and followed up letters in a number of places.

"More than 200 letters have been sent to both government and private
organisations, but we have not gotten any serious response. I don't
know why people are not convinced.

"I know that Bash can fight this fight and perhaps win it; it will
also be a history making for him and the country. But others might not
see it that way.

"We are still praying that God will touch the minds of Nigerians both
in government and private sector to come and support the project.

"This will enable the LOC meet with the objective for which it was
set-up,'' Ka'oje said.

Ka'oje, who was former Minister of Sports, also told NAN that Bank of
Industry (BoI) gave a false hope to the project.

"I don't know the arrangement Bash has with Bank of Industry (BoI).

"All I know is that we wrote them a letter but we never got a reply
from the bank, from my investigation I found out that they actually do
not have money to fund sports.

"They are supposed to fund Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
according to the act that established them; there is no provision in
their act to fund sports.

"However, the LOC is crawling,'' Ka'oje added.

He noted that the condition given by the International Boxing Union
(IBU), which mandated the LOC to pay $29 million before the fight
could be stage, was discouraging.

According to Ka'oje, the complaint to the IBU on its tough charges
necessitated the change of date for fight on several occasions.

He pointed out that no boxer even in America would remain in business
after meeting such conditions of the IBU.

The 58-year-old Bash Ali was scheduled to fight 32-year-old IBU
champion, Rick Camling of America.

--(NAN)