Badoo and Madoo: Kid boxers learning to punch their family out of poverty

In this report, kid boxers Raheem and Raheemat Animasaun tell IDRIS ADESINA about their goals and target in the sport

Maxwell Street, Mushin, Lagos, is the home of anything you need to make your shoes and leatherwork – from raw materials to finished products, you find it all there.

From Monday to Saturday, sellers and buyers in their droves do business on the street but on Sundays, it is usually quiet.

House Number 7, however, stands out, not for the shoes business though.

Rather, it is the home of two kid boxers and siblings – 10-year-old Raheem and five-year-old Raheemat Animasaun. They live with their father, Jamiu, who also doubles as their coach.

The family is popular due to the exploits of the kids. From the Mushin Bus stop to the street and beyond, Badoo (as Raheem is popularly known) and Madoo (Raheemat) need no introduction.

The Animasaun family

Attention was drawn to the family late last year when a video of their father training Raheemat went viral on the Internet. In the video, Jamiu was seen wearing the training pad while Raheemat was hungrily punching in obedience to her father’s instructions.

With a good foot work and constant dodging of jabs from her father, Raheemat drew loads of cheers from the excited crowd in the video.

The Animasaun family lives in a two-room apartment (popularly called room and parlour) on the first floor of the one-storeyed building. It has a two-seater chair, freezer and a flat screen television hung on the wall with a satellite TV decoder beneath it.

Just outside the apartment – on the balcony – hung the gloves and other apparels used by the kids for their training and boxing matches.

Jamiu, who is also a professional boxer, told our correspondent that he sustains the family with proceeds from the sport and part time tricycle driving. The 36-year-old became a full-time boxer in 1999 after his secondary school education.

Before then, the Mushin-born father, who is popularly known as Rotor, had discovered his passion for traditional wrestling and was introduced to boxing by his friend.

“I am an active professional boxer but I have a tricycle, which I ride some times to get some more money to sustain the family and my children. I compete in the middleweight category and my last fight was on December 22, 2018 at the Police College in Ikeja, where I finished third and was given a generator,” recalled Jamiu.

“I’m formerly a wrestler, who won some grassroots competitions here in Mushin. But after my secondary school education, one of my friends advised me to switch to boxing because he believed I had the skill. He took me to my first coach, who then lived in the Mushin bus stop area.

“After training with him for many months, I went for my first competition at the National Stadium, Lagos, which I won. After that, I began representing Mushin at Lagos State-organised competitions from 2001. After a few fights in the amateur ranks, my coach advised that I should become a licensed professional boxer and I have been doing that since 2010.”

How the kids started boxing

Jamiu’s greatest regret is not representing Nigeria at major competitions, the level he decided his children would surpass.

“Ignorance was responsible for some of the decisions I took when I was younger and also the lack of opportunity made it difficult for me to break into the national scene. These limited me to grass roots professional competitions,” said the boxer.

“I decided that whatever I’m not able to achieve, my children would achieve them and more. That is why I have been investing all I have in them.”

The journey to becoming kid boxing sensations for Raheem and Raheemat did not start in a day. Raheem started boxing at the age of four but did not show enough interest until he was five. Raheemat, however, started earlier – at three – and due to the exploits of her brother, she easily caught up with the training and has since been growing in the sport.

Jamiu said his wife never went along with the idea of introducing boxing to the kids at such a tender age but he rejected her protests and went on with the training.

He added, “Badoo started with football like every young kid of his age then. I wasn’t pleased with it; so, when he was four years old, I began to introduce boxing to him to take his mind off football. My wife didn’t like it because she believed he was too young to start boxing at that age.

“I didn’t flinch in my determination because I believed that if children are introduced to boxing early enough, they will go very far in it. I changed my method of training him. I began with giving him sweets and his favourite candy and drink then – Gogo and Bobo. Gradually, he began forgetting football and shifted his focus to boxing. Since then, he has loved boxing.

“His sister started at three with little jabs and knocks. She would see me training her brother and would imitate us. So, I began training her too and today, she is doing well at competitions for her age grade.”

Raheem is a JSS 1 pupil of Tenderfeet Schools in Mushin while his sister is in Nursery two in the same school. In 2015, Raheem had his first experience as a boxer at a Lagos State Government-organised grass roots competition for kids. He won the competition and from then, it has been from one competition to the other for the kid boxer.

However, his sister has yet to enter the big stage but she has also been competing on the home front in Mushin. The kids recently returned from a training tour of Togo.

“After intensive training, I entered him (Raheem) for his first competition in 2015, which he won. Since he started boxing, he has competed in many inter-state competitions. In 2016, he went for a competition in Ibadan, which he also won,” his father said proudly.

“His sister has not been that fortunate in terms of fights because there are not enough competitions for girls around but I ensure that anywhere her brother is going to fight, she goes along so that she can learn from watching him.”

Dreams and aspirations

Raheem has a dream; he wants to be a household name in the country and beyond.

“I have won a lot of trophies and medals from the competitions I attended. My mum keeps them for me. I want to be a household name in Nigeria and around the world. I want to represent Lagos State and Nigeria in major competitions before I become a professional boxer,” the kid boxer stated.

Training

With no gym and restricted to adequate training facilities, the Animasaun kids’ training regimen include jogging from Mushin to the National Stadium with the father on Saturdays and Sundays while they only do shadow boxing during the week after school.

Raheem said, “Boxing has not affected my education in any way; rather, it has helped me in school. My father always tells me that education is more important than any other thing and it will help me to be a better boxer.

“These words are always on my mind any time I want to go for competitions; so, I always make sure I am attentive in class. We don’t train much during the week but on weekends, we jog from our house to the stadium and back. After our jogs, we will be in front of the house, where we will train with the punch pads and sometimes, we spar with our dad.”

When asked how he came about the name Badoo, Raheem said, “When I was younger, I liked watching a particular type of cartoon, which was narrated in Yoruba. It was titled Badoo. Anytime I wanted to watch it, I requested Badoo to be played for me and gradually, the name stuck. It is from it that my sister’s nickname was also coined.”

Education

The kids know the importance of education and have their minds set on other professions after school. While Raheem wants to become a police officer after school, his sister wants to be a nurse apart from pursuing boxing professionally.

“I will like to become a policeman in future because my daddy told me that it is a job that I can do well and combine with boxing. He gave me the example of Samuel Peter and some other people. I want to fight in the heavyweight category like Mike Tyson and make a lot of money from boxing, so that I can help my parents and sister,” Raheem said.

Raheemat, who is eager to get on the big stage, said, “Anthony Joshua is my role model because I like the way he fights. Our daddy lets us watch a lot of boxing matches on television. I want to become a nurse after school, so that I can treat people and earn money to help my parents.”

Lessons from boxing

Despite growing up and living in an area notorious for vices, Jamiu has taught his children the values of life and instilled in them the spirit of sportsmanship.

Jamiu believes he needed to be the kids’ first role model because he knows that they would learn from him before anyone else.

He said, “Mushin is a tough place to raise children – especially the ones who have taken to boxing. The good thing is that there are many boxing clubs around but I needed to ensure that my children are in the best hands and would not pick up bad habits from learning the sport – which was why I concentrated on teaching them myself.

“I know that children learn from what they see rather than what you tell them. So, I ensure that I am well-behaved whenever they are around. I don’t drink or smoke. I keep giving them the little advice I can from time to time to ensure that they do not misuse their skills.”

Raheem also confirmed the father’s position. “I have learnt a lot from boxing and my dad,” said Raheem, still explaining the lessons he had learnt.

“He taught me that I should never let my environment impact whatever I do. He said I must always be a good representative of my family. He taught me that after every fight, either I win or lose, I must not bear grudges against my opponent. If I knock my opponent down, I must go to him and pick him up from the floor. He said I must always be humble and I should never get angry because anger makes one to lose focus. He also taught us to always be prayerful because success comes from God alone.

“There are many times that my mates in school would make me angry and I would feel like beating them. But I always remember my dad’s words that as a trained boxer, I must never fight anyone outside the ring. There was a day that someone annoyed me and bullied me in school, I could have beaten him very well but because I was a boxer, I couldn’t. So, I had to cry home because I was angry.”

Raheemat also narrated the lessons he had picked up from her father.

“My daddy told me that I must never fight anybody. He said if I fight people, that I will lose my boxing skills. He said I should always pray before I fight in the ring because God is the only one that can help us,” she added.

Challenges

Training two kids alone could be challenging, says Jamiu. But the boxer would spare no expense at ensuring Badoo and Madoo reach the skies.

The coach stated, “It has not been easy since I began this journey. Financially and otherwise, boxing is a demanding sport and their education is also important, although their school management has been supportive and understanding, especially when it comes to travelling outside the state for competitions.

“But there are still many things that need to be done.  I will like to train them in a standard gym where they can have access to modern training facilities and not the crude ones we use currently. Since our videos broke out on the Internet, a few people have been of help – like the person who sponsored us on the trip to Togo. I will keep doing my best but I believe that the government and individuals can help young talents like my children to achieve their potential.”

(PUNCH)