Etinosa Godwin Oliha (born 13 June 1998) is an Italian professional boxer who competes in the middleweight division. He held the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) world middleweight title from 2023 to 2024.

Etinosa Oliha
Born
Etinosa Godwin Oliha

(1998-06-13) 13 June 1998 (age 26)
Turin, Italy
NationalityItalian
Other namesEl Chapo
Statistics
Weight(s)Middleweight
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights21
Wins21
Wins by KO9

As of September 2023, he was ranked as the world's 10th best active middleweight by BoxRec.[1]

Early and personal life

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Etinosa Oliha was born on 13 June 1998 in Turin to Patricia and Murphy Oliha, both of whom immigrated from Nigeria. When he was five years old, the family moved to Asti. Oliha has an older brother and two older sisters.[2]

After his school education, Oliha completed an apprenticeship as an electrician. He is single and lives in Asti.[2]

Amateur career

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At the age of 14, Oliha took part in an event organized by the city where the sports clubs from Asti presented themselves together. Here he came into contact with Skull Boxe Canavesana and Davide Greguoldo. Oliha was thrilled and joined the club, while Greguoldo took over his training. To this day he is a member of the club and Gregualdo is his coach.[3]

In his amateur career, Oliha amassed 59 fights, including 45 wins, 12 losses and two draws. 2016 Italian youth champion. His personal highlight was the gold medal at the Italian championship.[3]

Professional career

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Oliha began his professional career at the age of 19. He was and continues to be looked after by his amateur trainer Davide Greguoldo.

On 10 February 2020, he defeated his compatriot Carlo de Novellis and became Italian middleweight champion. It was Oliha's eleventh fight as a professional boxer. He defended the championship against Andrea Roncon and Francesco Lezzi. He then relinquished the title to fight Sofiane Khati for the more valuable International Boxing Organization (IBO) “Mediterranean Middle”. He defeated the Frenchman by retirement in the 5th round.

Agon Sports & Events invited Oliha as a sparring opponent for its middleweight and super middleweight boxers. Oliha convinced the AGON management with his performance and signed a contract with the Berlin boxing promotion in November 2022.[4] In his stable debut on 24 February 2023, he defeated Rafael Amarillas Ortiz and became Intercontinental Middleweight Champion of the WBO.[5]

IBO middleweight champion

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Five months later, on 1 July 2023, the IBO's Intercontinental Championship against the Chilean Julio Álamos, originally planned by AGON, was declared a world title fight by the IBO,[6] because the reigning champion Gennady Golovkin had relinquished his world title.[7][8] Oliha defeated Alamos on points and was thus the Berlin boxing stable's first world title holder. With his victory he also closed the gap between Italian world champions in the upper weight classes. Prior to this, Giovanni De Carolis had been most recently the world title holder of the GBU and WBA, who handed over both titles to Tyron Zeuge in November 2016.[9]

In his first title defense, Oliha faced Faton Vukshinaj on 25 November 2023. He won the bout by unanimous decision.[2]

On 14 September 2024, Oliha faced German Alexander Pavlov in a bid of an IBF middleweight eliminator in AGON Sport Park, Berlin, Germany,[10] in which, Oliha prevailed via 3rd round TKO victory.[11]

Professional boxing record

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21 fights 21 wins 0 losses
By knockout 9 0
By decision 12 0
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
21 Win 21–0 Alexander Pavlov TKO 3 (12), 2:30 14 Sep 2024 AGON Sportpark, Berlin, Germany
20 Win 20–0 Ismaël Seck UD 10 6 Apr 2024 Stadthalle, Falkensee, Garmany Won vacant IBF International middleweight title
19 Win 19–0 Faton Vukshinaj UD 12 25 Nov 2023 Cultura, Rietberg, Gwrmany Retained IBO middleweight title
18 Win 18–0 Julio Álamos UD 12 1 Jul 2023 Unihalle, Wuppertal, Germany Won vacant IBO middleweight title
17 Win 17–0 Rafael Amarillas Ortiz TKO 6 (12), 1:22 24 Feb 2023 AGON Sportpark, Berlin, Germany Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title
16 Win 16–0 Sofiane Khati RTD 5 (10), 3:00 10 Jul 2022 Sequals, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy Won vacant IBO Mediterranean middleweight title
15 Win 15–0 Francesco Lezzi UD 10 2 Jul 2021 Stadio Comunale, Asti, Italy Retained Italian middleweight title
14 Win 14–0 Bogdan Malinović TKO 2 (6) 19 Mar 2021 PalaErrebi San Quirico, Asti, Italy
13 Win 13–0 Francesco Lezzi PTS 6 5 Dec 2020 Palasport, Maclodio, Italy
12 Win 12–0 Andrea Roncon UD 10 21 Aug 2020 PalaDelta, Porto Viro, Italy Retained Italian middleweight title
11 Win 11–0 Carlo De Novellis UD 10 21 Feb 2020 PalaErrebi San Quirico, Asti, Italy Won vacant Italian middleweight title
10 Win 10–0 Santos Medrano KO 3 (6) 20 Sep 2019 Palasport, Schio, Italy
9 Win 9–0 Ricardo Pompeo Mellone PTS 6 5 Jul 2019 Grugliasco, Piedmont, Italy
8 Win 8–0 Jorge Ortiz TKO 3 (6) 14 Jun 2019 Palasport, Grumello del Monte, Italy
7 Win 7–0 Petru Chiochiu PTS 6 25 Apr 2019 Palasport San Filippo, Brescia, Italy
6 Win 6–0 Fabio Mastromarino UD 8 8 Dec 2008 PalaGeorge, Montichiari, Italy
5 Win 5–0 Srečko Janjić TKO 2 (6) 27 Oct 2018 Asti, Piedmont, Italy
4 Win 4–0 Giuseppe Rauseo PTS 6 14 Sep 2018 PalaSport, Cusano Mutri, Italy
3 Win 3–0 Mladen Jovanović KO 3 (6) 15 Jul 2018 Centro Sportivo, Sequals, Italy
2 Win 2–0 Vadim Gurau TKO 4 (6), 2:09 22 Jun 2018 Palasport, Corneliano d'Alba, Italy
1 Win 1–0 Jean Marc Yao Assouman PTS 6 19 May 2018 Palasport San Filippo, Brescia, Italy

References

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  1. ^ "BoxRec: Ratings". boxrec.com. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Wycisk, Wolfgang (26 November 2023). "Etinosa Oliha verteidigt WM-Titel". go4boxing.com (in German). Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  3. ^ a b Turgay Gül (28 November 2023). "Etinosa Oliha verteidigt WM-Titel". AGON SPORTS & EVENTS (in German). Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  4. ^ Orban, Jonny (8 February 2023). "AGON-Event: Boxt sich Etinosa Oliha in seinem Stalldebüt zum Titel?". boxen1.com.
  5. ^ Wycisk, Wolfgang (27 February 2023). "Björn Schicke verliert und Etinosa Oliha siegt am Tag 1 des AGON‑Double‑Features". go4boxing.com.
  6. ^ Wycisk, Wolfgang (21 June 2023). "Aus eins mach zwei – AGON gibt weitere Boxweltmeisterschaft für den 1. Juli in Wuppertal bekannt". go4boxing.com.
  7. ^ Wolfgang Wycisk (14 June 2023). "Gennadiy Golovkin gibt IBO Weltmeistertitel im Mittelgewicht zurück". go4boxing.com (in German). Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  8. ^ "In Germania Etinosa Oliha compie l'impresa! E' campione IBO . Gualtieri vince l' IBF". BoxeRingWeb.net (in Italian). 1 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Boxrec Eintrag WM Carolis vs Zeuge". boxrec.com. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  10. ^ Persson, Per-Ake (20 August 2024). "Promoter Agon line up Etinosa Oliha-Alexander Pavlov and IBF 168lbs bout between William Scull and Vladimir Shishkin". boxingscene.com. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  11. ^ "BoxRec: Etinosa Oliha vs. Alexander Pavlov". boxrec.com. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
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