Former Nigerian boxer and first-ever Olympic medalist, Nojim Maiyegun is dead. He died at the age of 83.
A confidante, Rudolfine F Soultan, confirmed the death of the boxer in a Facebook post on Monday.
The post read, “My Jimmy died. I can’t say more about this right now because it’s just horrible. The day after tomorrow, we would have been together for 17 years.”
Maiyegun, according to The Cable, breathed his last on Monday morning at his base in Vienna, Austria.
Before his death, Maiyegun reportedly battled an unnamed illness for a couple of months.
At 23, he won Nigeria’s first Olympic media (Bronze) in the light-heavyweight boxing category at Tokyo 1964.
Photos: Punch, The Nation, 234 Sporting