Monday, March 17, 2008

Cancun Punch Fest - Samuel Peter Beats Maskaev to Claim the WBC Heavyweight title

Last week was quite different. We were in the news a lot, and for the right reasons.
Mind you, when I say we, I mean Nigeria (Though I wouldn't mind being in the news a bit). This time, it wasn't about militants or scammers, or election tribunals and the various intrigues that continue to plague this democracy of ours. Rather, it was a different Nigeria that the world was shown. A country with billionaires and heavyweight ...I don't really know how to put that one.
Samuel Peters is much more than a heavyweight boxer. That guy is a punching machine, a bulldozer.
Last week I watched as he pummeled Oleg Maskaev into submission at the Plaza de Toros, Cancun's bullfighting ring and the venue of Mexico's first heavyweight title fight.

Peter stopped the Russian in the sixth round, pummeling him with 12 powerful punches to force a stoppage and claim the WBC heavyweight title.

The fight between Peter and Maskaev had been more than a year in the making, with a back injury to the Russian champion holding up the title clash. Seems Oleg finally got what was coming his way.

The four major heavyweight titles have been the exclusive preserve(there I go with big English again) of Eastern Europeans in recent years, and now an African has joined the ranks.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Aliko Dangote Is The World's Richest Black Man - Worth $3.3 billion

Okay, we're in the news again. Nigeria's own Alhaji Aliko Dangote made the Forbes list of the world's richest people. The Nigerian business mogul has been ranked as the 334th richest person in the world, and Africa's richest man. Dangote is richer than America's chat show host Oprah Winfrey, who has an estimated worth of $2.5 billion.

The only other African to make the list was South Africa's Patrice Motsepe, who is ranked 503 in the world.
The list features 1,125 billionaires, and Dangote's inclusion is a good sign for Nigeria, and indeed, Africa.

On the other hand, Bill Gates fell from first position on the list to third. His friend Warren Buffet is now the world's richest man with $62 billion. The second position is occupied by the mexican communications magnate, Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $60 billion

Some people are of the opinion that Aliko Dangote may be worth more than $3.3 billion, since Forbes' evaluation did not cover non-quoted companies that are privately owned by the businessman. Such investments include Obajana Cement, Dangote Cement, Alheri Engineering, Port Terminal Operations, Transport and Oil & Gas.
Thumbs up for Aliko Dangote.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Beyonce sings the Nigerian Anthem

I was going through some sites the other day and came across this video of beyonce Knowles singing the Nigerian National Anthem.
Sounds quite nice anyway, more like a funky rendition of our otherwise formal anthem.