I loved every minute of my first arena bill, says Nico after loss

Nico Ogbeide…beaten for title. Stock pic by Manjit Narotra/BCB

NICO Ogbeide’s honesty following the ring bravery displayed against red-hot prospect Ibraheem Sulaimaan has to be admired.

On Saturday’s major Matchroom NEC show, the former white collar fighter was stopped in the sixth of an all-Birmingham battle for the vacant Midlands super-featherweight title.

Going into the scheduled 10 rounder, few gave Nico a prayer. During the contest, former amateur star Sulaimaan was too slick, sharp and accurate.

Now unbeaten in 10, “Spider” looks very special and is being guided to big things by Eddie Hearn.

With the battle becoming increasingly difficult from the fourth, Ogbeide could have looked for an exit door, but, instead, bit on the gumshield and took his lumps.

By the sixth, with Sulaimaan unleashing lightning-fast combinations to head and body and nothing coming back, referee Chris Dean called a halt at one minute 52 seconds. By then it had become a rout.

Ogbeide, who lost for the second time in nine outings, refused to trot out excuses like injury or tactical errors.

Sulaimaan was simply too good, a level above, he admitted.

“To be honest, I don’t think I could have done anything differently,” he told me. “There are levels to boxing and I knew how hard it was going to be. I gave it my best, he was too fast. Physically, I will never just give it up – that’s not in me, I was always going to be there. I’ve never been dropped and never intend to be.”

Southpaw Sulaimaan found a new gear with each round. A succession of lefts knocked Nico’s head back in the fourth and he was really sinking in punches to head and body in the fifth.

Sulaimaan had a point deducted in the sixth for a low blow, but the recovery time only delayed the bout’s inevitable conclusion.

Ogbeide said: “Spider’s a nice guy, we shared some food afterwards. I won’t say a bad word about him and hope he achieves everything Matchroom want him to achieve.”

Things did not go his way in the ring, but Nico relished his first taste of a televised arena show.

“I loved it, every minute of it,” he said, “the whole shebang. That was not a Midland level fight. Fighters like Sulaimaan don’t usually fight at area title level. I took it for the occasion.”

Nico’s immediate burning ambition is to claim a Midlands belt: he was outpointed by Brandon Bethell, who recently vacated the title, in a previous attempt this year.

He added: “I know for a fact I can win a Midlands title. Spider is going to vacate and I want to fight Brandon, the guy who beat me, for it. I know what will happen next time. I have this experience under my belt and the level change will be dramatic. I’ve stepped-up 10 levels.”