Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Big Brother Naija Season 7 winner Josephina Otabor, popularly known as Phyna, has revealed the tactical approach that led to her fourth-round knockout victory over Nollywood actress Nkechi Blessing in Nigeria’s first female celebrity boxing bout, disclosing that she deliberately avoided a power contest with her physically larger opponent and instead relied on speed, movement and a calculated plan to tire her out before going for the finish.
The fight, staged as the headline attraction of Balmoral Promotions’ “Chaos in the Ring” event, took place in the early hours of Friday, October 2, 2026, at the Federal Palace Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos. The bout capped weeks of escalating tension between the two entertainers, whose rivalry had moved from social media exchanges to a physical confrontation during a promotional press event before organisers intervened. When the bell finally rang, Phyna, the smaller and slimmer of the two fighters, relied on her speed and footwork from the opening round, landing sharp punches while avoiding prolonged exchanges.
Speaking in an interview with comedian Egungun in a video uploaded on Saturday, Phyna explained that her decision to avoid a power contest was deliberate. “Everything is not by gra-gra, everything is not by ‘I too get power pass.’ Sometimes, you need to apply what we call logic,” she said. She noted that Nkechi was physically bigger, and that as a smart fighter, she chose to apply wisdom rather than be led by anger. Phyna also revealed that she trained for only ten days ahead of the bout, relying on her coach to develop her boxing skills within that short period.
The turning point in her strategy came when she noticed that Nkechi was not adopting a conventional boxing stance. “When we enter stage to want fight, normally my coach teach me boxing. But as we dey stage, as we want start, I notice say she no hold her hand like who want box,” Phyna said. She interpreted this as a sign that Nkechi intended to engage her in a street-fight style rather than a conventional boxing contest. Phyna said she subsequently switched to a different strategy, with her coach repeatedly instructing her to keep moving during the bout. She added that she had promised to use the fight to run Nkechi around the ring and rub her to the ground. “I was having fun. It ended too fast. I promised her something. I said, ‘I go use you, I go use you run round, run round, run round, run round… I go use you rub ground,’” she said.
Nkechi Blessing, who was stopped in the fourth round, attributed her defeat largely to inadequate preparation. Speaking during a live social media session after the bout, she said she had trained for only two days. “I’m not a boxer and I only trained for two days. Do you know how long Phyna had been training?” she said. She also criticised Phyna’s movement in the ring, arguing that she could have won if the fight had unfolded differently. “She was running, I told her to come close… I would have beaten her,” Nkechi said. Despite the loss, Nkechi later fired back at critics on social media, reminding them that she was over ₦50 million richer from the bout.
The victory earned Phyna ₦50 million in prize money, a championship belt and a brand-new car. The bout was the first female celebrity boxing match organised under Balmoral Promotions’ “Chaos in the Ring” series, and it was powered by Bet9ja and streamed on DAZN and SuperSport. The event also featured a bout between skit maker Carter Efe and musician Speed Darlington, which Carter Efe won by technical knockout, as well as professional boxing in which Ghana’s Seth “Freezy Macbones” Gyimah defeated Nigerian champion Godday “Zodsolo” Appah by unanimous decision to claim the WBO African Light Heavyweight Continental Championship.
Phyna’s victory came a day before the anniversary of her Big Brother Naija triumph, having won the seventh season, Level Up, on October 2, 2022. Reflecting on the two milestones in a post shared on Friday, she wrote: “October 2nd will forever be a special date in my life. Today marks the anniversary of the day I won BBN, and now, years later, I’m celebrating another historic victory, becoming the first female boxer to step into this ring and win this fight”. She described her move from reality television to boxing as a reflection of her determination to test herself and break new ground, adding, “This one is for every woman who has ever been told she couldn’t. We can. We will. And we absolutely should”.
Following her victory, Phyna immediately called out Nollywood actress Etinosa Idemudia, challenging her to a celebrity boxing bout. Etinosa, who watched the contest from ringside, accepted the challenge. “I have been advising you to carry the Edo name with pride. We do not run from any fight. I accept the challenge fully,” Etinosa said. Phyna also ruled out a rematch with Nkechi, saying, “Rematch? There’s no need. In life, they say, ‘Children, obey thy parent so your days may be long.’ I don’t disrespect her, so make curse no follow me”. She mentioned former BBNaija housemate Wathoni Anyansi and Etinosa as the celebrities she would like to fight next, joking that she could face Etinosa in a one-on-one bout or “use her rub ground”.
The fight has drawn significant attention to the growing celebrity boxing scene in Nigeria, with promoters seeing it as a lucrative avenue for entertainment and fan engagement. For Phyna, the victory is both a personal achievement and a statement of intent as she pursues a potential career in professional boxing. As she put it, the win was not about power but about wisdom, and it was executed exactly as she had planned. “I came in, and I kept my cool and did the thing,” she said. For Nkechi Blessing, the loss is a setback, but one she has taken with a measure of defiance, reminding her critics that she left the ring with more money than most of them will earn in a year. The rivalry that began over a proposed collaboration has ended, for now, with Phyna’s hand raised and Etinosa waiting for her turn.
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