An Interview With Southern Area Champion Jeff Ofori

An Interview With Southern Area Champion Jeff Ofori

By Oliver McManus

Southern Area champion Jeff Ofori was scheduled to travel down to the coastal town of Hampshire at the weekend for the first defense of his lightweight crown. With less than a week to go, however, the fight was postponed with Ballingall suffering an injury.

Frustrating but a feeling Ofori is used to; the adversaries were meant to meet in February before Ballingall opted to take a fight with Archie Sharp instead. A stay-busy fight with Jordan Ellison materialised and it was a contest that Ofori believes will stand him in good stead his future bouts despite the less-than-ideal circumstances.

“It was a good fight for me because I went into (it) having the defence fall through so that meant I wasn’t as focused as I should have been. In the first round he bust my nose, he was using these triple jabs and it was like ‘okay, (I’ve) got to switch on here’. He came out to show me he was a different level to what people might expect and it was a weird start and even all of my work mates were like ‘man, what happened in the first round?’. I knew I wanted to fight (after the original fight got cancelled) but I just couldn’t stay focusses and he really came for it, really looked like he had something to prove.”

“After that first round I knew it wasn’t mine, I had to change the tempo of the fight and go back to the drawing board. I had to switch the game-plan and stop being so lazy and I nearly dropped him in the second so I proved that I was capable of adapting. I wouldn’t say I was complacent in that contest because I feel like he brought his A-game knowing he was fighting a champion – it caught me off guard but you saw the rest of the fight, I had my wits about me.”

In the haze of combining training with a full-time job with the London Underground (well, sub-contracted for repairs) the 29 year old managed to sneak in a sky-dive: all for a good cause with funds being raised for The Ringside Rest and Care Home for ex-boxers with nearly £5,000 raised so far. An experience Ofori leapt at but was keen to keep as “once in a lifetime,” he explained.

“When I accepted it and there was no fear in me and I thought ‘this is nothing’ but once I got strapped in that suit, I’m gonna tell you man, I had second thoughts. When we did actually come out of the plan, I can’t describe it. I’ve ridden a motorbike before pretty fast and you get the wind brushing against you but this is just something else. I had my eyes fully open because it’s like you’re falling so you just want to see everything; It’s only a minute of the free-fall but its so fast and as soon as the parachute opens it’s okay from there. It’s that first free-fall where it just takes everything out of you – I didn’t breathe until the parachute opened!”

Back on terrafirma and the more comfortable, familiar surroundings of a boxing gym; training with Bevis Allen, part of London Community Boxing, Ofori has been fine-tuning the misgivings of his contest against Ellison with the Champion looking to produce a “break-through” performance – whenever he next gets the opportunity – in order to “make up for the frustration.”

“Training wise I’m more relaxed so this fight, I reckon, is going to be a step up in performance and we’re going to see a different type of performance when I get the chance – more composed because, as you saw in the last fight I had I was too calm in the first round (so) I had to come out of my skin, be more attacking and just try to destroy the guy. All my sparring has been great – I’ve sparred Archie Sharp, Ashley Theophane and Liam Dillon, the Southern Area super featherweight champion. I’m doing ten rounds with them and I’m just learning that I’ve got time, so, even though I’ll always go for the stoppage, I’m going to be more relaxed and composed in doing so from now on.”

Donations to The Ringside Rest and Care Home can be made via their GoFundMe page.