BOXING

Buzzers Academies are proud to sponsor British Boxer, ARNOLD OBADAI.

Arnold is a two-time national amateur champion and makes regular visits to our Buzzers Academies to run Boxing workshops for the children. Within these workshops, Arnold demonstrates and explains the basic skills and techniques of Boxing, as well as taking questions from the children.

The Londoner gave up a promising basketball career in the United States and could have been playing in the NBA, but for his boxing love affair.

“I played college basketball in North Carolina, but I was torn between that and boxing. I picked boxing because I don’t have to rely on team-mates. In boxing, it’s down to the individual. You either crumble or rise to the occasion. I will never let myself down. I got a basketball scholarship and perhaps I could have gone on to play in the NBA where some of my mates are. One of my best mates Rayjon Tucker plays for Philadelphia 76ers and another friend Bam Adebayo is with the Miami Heat. You can make it as an individual in the NBA, but your team also carries you along the way. In boxing the pressure is on you. You can have an exceptional basketball game, but if your team-mates don’t play as good as you, then you can still lose and it takes away how well you played.”

Arnold took up boxing, aged 19, when he returned home from the USA in what he expected to be a brief visit. He often spars with close friend and fellow British boxing champion, Lawrence Okolie.

While boxing in the world famous Repton ABC vest, Arnold won a NABC title and the Class B 91kg+ crown at the National Development Championships in 2018.

“I had a goal that I wanted to achieve which was to go to the Olympics, but I ruptured my Achilles in early 2019 and that didn’t allow me to do that. When I had the injury, I looked at the time frame and my age, and decided that the best option was to turn professional. I am ambitious, I don’t mind the pressure, and I want the world."