Photos: Nigerian boxer, Gifted Cole rated 13th in the world boxing middleweight ratings

Gifted Cole no doubt is one of the finest boxers to emerge from the continent of Africa. Recently he was rated 13th in the World boxing Middleweight by World Boxing Foundation (WBF). He was so excited about his recent success in the game of boxing and promised his fans that very soon he will be in the number one spot.

He is the only African to have won a World Boxing Federation, WBF title. But for him whatever he achieved as a boxer is secondary, rather giving back to the society and the less privilege is what is paramount in his mind.

 

The charitable boxer loves giving back to the society in spite of the fact that he himself is not churning in millions of dollars but he believes in helping the less privilege anywhere he goes. He is so particular and emotional about the plights of orphans, widows and the mentally disordered people in the society.

His charitable mind however did not go unnoticed and indeed has attracted the United Nations, UN that he was made the Peace Ambassador in 2014.

He however sees giving as to the less privilege as a lifestyle without asking for support for his charity. He’s planning to take is charity to parts of Africa and Asia, which will include Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda.

“Plans are on ground to visit widows and orphanage homes in Ethiopia in August after which we will hit Uganda and Kenya before the Asian trip,” he said.

Indeed, after his victory in Atlanta, he returned to the country and organised boxing clinics for young children between the ages of eight to 16 as a way of giving back to his community and also organised a boxing competition for them, which has been a huge success so far.

Sometimes last year, on the invitation of the state governor, Theodore Orji, to the government house in Abia State, Hitman, as the Abia State boxer is fondly called took time to visit and bettered the lives of pupils of primary school in a community in the state, which to him was more fulfilling than meeting with the governor.

"To me given back to the society is even worth more than winning a boxing title and I'm looking forward to even doing more," he said.

Recently he distributed exercise books to the pupils of Ogbokwe Primary School, Asaga Ohaifia, in Abia State, which interestingly, was the school his father, Reverend Cole Chiori attended.

"Distributing school materials is just an ice berg of what I plan for the community, my visit was just impromtu but I felt I could still do something in spite of the short visit, thus the distribution of exercise books to the pupils," Cole noted.

Cole's boxing career started in Ajegunle, a suburb of Lagos, but later moved down to Festac Town, where he became seriously involved in boxing. So, it was at Festac that he really learnt the art of boxing. He will always be grateful to senior brother, Peter, who he said had a lot of believe in him to be a successful boxer, even while still very young. He was the person that really pushed me to the height of my career as a boxer.