A MEAN SKYPE HOOK
BRIGGS TRAINS AFRICAN BOXER OVER THE INTERNET
IT’S Million Dollar Baby with a social media twist.
In a tale of sporting romance to rival the Oscarwinning Clint Eastwood film, boxing star Paul Briggs is guiding the promising career of a teenage girl from Nigeria – via Facebook Messenger.
Fifteen-year-old Blessing Dada reached out to the fighter-turned-coach last year seeking technical advice and the 41-year-old responded by sending the youngster a two-minute video shot at his Bonogin gym.
Nine months on, the pair now share video calls several times a week, their families have formed a special bond and Gold Coast apparel company Punish has provided the teen with a range of fight gear.
“I didn’t initially know where she was from but could see she was African and thought she mustn’t come from as much privilege as us,” said Briggs, who fought for a world title in 2005 and lost a controversial bout to Danny Green in 2010.
“After I sent the first video, she replied to say it was amazing and told me she was undefeated in 36 fights. I asked her to send me some footage of her boxing and thought ‘Wow, this girl can move’.
“She asked if we could do a video call and I said ‘Only if I talk to your parents first’ and they seemed beautiful people.
“Blessing’s father had stopped letting her train because her coach harassed a lot of young girls at their club. He said she was crying every day because all she wanted to do was box.”
Sensing the teenager’s unique blend of ability and determination, Briggs hatched a plan.
“I asked her father if he boxed and when he said he’d had four amateur fights, I said ‘You’re going to become her trainer’. As well as sending him videos of training drills, I’m in constant contact with both of them. We’ll do three or four video calls each week, although they can get a bit excited to show what they’ve learned. I sometimes have to remind them I have other clients but they understand.”
As well as his mentoring role, Briggs played Santa when he organised for Punish to ship a full training pack to the father and daughter, including pads, gloves, focus mitts and belly shield.
Not that Punish was alone in being moved by Blessing’s tale. “My daughter stood behind me during one video call and Blessing said ‘Who’s that’,” Briggs said of 14-yearold Aramea.
“They started chatting and suddenly Aramea started crying. I said ‘What’s wrong’ and she said ‘She’s so beautiful’ and then Blessing started crying. I thought ‘Geez – girls’ but they’ve formed a really cool connection.”
Briggs said Blessing was yet to have her first fight under his tutelage but the sky was the limit given her potential.
“Who knows where it’ll go,” he said. “I’ve got some contacts in boxing in the US so that might lead to something. Her father once said to me ‘Why are you doing this’ and I said ‘Why not’. I couldn’t have gone as far as I did in boxing without other people’s support and now I’m just trying to do the same.”
I COULD SEE SHE WAS AFRICAN AND THOUGHT SHE MUSTN’T COME FROM AS MUCH PRIVILEGE AS US BOXER PAUL BRIGGS