Diane
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« on: November 06, 2007, 11:18:16 AM » |
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Sakio Bika's dream a reality
November 07, 2007 12:00am
Melbourne Herald Sun
BORN into poverty, Sydney boxer Sakio Bika says he can finally strike gold today and make his son an almost million-dollar baby.
Bika will fight for more than $800,000 in the final of the American TV reality boxing show The Contender.
Bika, whose previous biggest purse was $130,000 to cut up and frustrate Welsh wizard Joe Calzaghe for 12 rounds last year, faces American slugger Jaidon Codrington at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.
At stake is The Contender's first prize of $812,000.
"It is a dream come true," Bika, 28, said yesterday.
"I have had a hard life but if I win I can buy a nice house for my wife and my little two-year-old Zidane, who I named after the world's greatest football player. We are already working out just what a great education that sort of money can buy for him."
Bika grew up in the impoverished Cameroon metropolis of Douala. He was working as a glass cutter in a factory there when he was selected to represent his country at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
He lost to Canadian light-middleweight Scott MacIntosh, but his strength and aggression caught the eye of Australian great Jeff Fenech who signed Bika and another beaten good thing from Armenia named Vic Darchinyan to professional careers.
Bika moved to Sydney, married and started a family, and for the next seven years did it tough as a touring professional fighter.
Sugar Ray Leonard's reality show gave Bika the biggest opportunity of his career.
He beat American Donny McCrary over five rounds in his first appearance on the show and then was matched over eight rounds in a rematch with Soliman.
Bika got his revenge by split decision to set up the final with Codrington, a tough talking 23-year-old from Queens, New York.
Danny Green, who fights for the world light-heavyweight title next month, is a huge Bika supporter.
"I sparred hundreds of rounds with Sakio and he is a human bulldozer," Green said.
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