Saleh Gloves Promotions founder, Saleh Fawaz who manages National and West Africa welterweight champion, Taiwo Olowu has said that Olowu fought through an illness against WBO Africa welterweight champion, Charles Shinima of Namibia.
Olowu was not able to continue round six of the fight with Shinima after complaining numerous times of breathing difficulties and chest pains which led to a TKO win for Shinima.
Fawaz told The PUNCH about Olowu’s struggles due to the weather in Namibia.
“Olowu was struggling because of the drastic weather change in Namibia compared to the weather in West Africa. It wasn’t something that was bothering him much the day befire the fight. He was feeling some symptoms of flu but it wasn’t something that he looked at seriously.
“However, on the day of the fight, he was feeling the symptoms more than the day before. But his mind was so focused on the fight that he didn’t want anything to feel like a distraction and tried to overlook it.
“So, before the fight, he was thinking of telling them that he shouldn’t fight because of his health but at the same time, a part of his mind wanted to see how far he can go,” he told The PUNCH.
Fawaz told The PUNCH that the team had to end the bout after the fifth round ended and also praised Olowu for his bravery in going that far despite the illness.
“He pushed himself in the fight up to five rounds, then when it was time to come out for the sixth round, the team made a decision that his health matters more than the fight. It was disappointing that he couldn’t come out for the sixth round but at the same time, not so disappointing because it wasn’t a boxing injury, he couldn’t breathe so in fact, it was brave that he got up to the fifth round.”
