British-Nigerian boxer Patricia Mbata comes from the famed Finchley and District Amateur Boxing Club, the same place where Anthony Joshua began his amateur career. Mbata has mentioned how Joshua has been supportive of her and it was again evident after she won a gold medal at the African Games.
Taking to his Instagram story, Anthony Joshua shared a picture of Patricia Mbata and other medal winners standing at the podium. “Our @finchleyabc CHAMP,” wrote on the IG Story. Below his message, there was a picture of To the bottom, just above a Nigerian flag where he added, “Nigeria Stand Up.” Akon‘s ‘Mama Africa’ could be heard running in the background. The story was tagged with the original post shared by the Nigerian athlete.
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In Mbata’s post, she had written, “All African Games Champion 2024. Lovely jubbly! What a brilliant tournament to bring home gold, having my name go down in history as the newly crowned All African Champion and defeating IBA World Champion in True Mbata style along the way.”
In the 75-kg weight class, after defeating Rady Adosinda Gramane of Mozambique, Mbata defeated Ben Marbrouk Molka of Tunisia by points to secure an eight gold medal in boxing for Nigeria at the African Games. The 2023 All-Africa Games, also called the Pan-Africa Games, took place in Accra, the capital of Ghana, from March 8 to March 23. Over two thousand athletes participated in the event. In the end, Egypt took home the top honors. With 47 gold, 33 silver, and 40 bronze medals, Nigeria stood second.
The 28-year-old Mbata has been boxing for nearly five years and is hopeful of securing her passage to the 2024 Paris Olympics during the Africa Boxing Olympic Qualifiers running from 9-15 September.
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Patricia Mbata, like Joshua, is a British boxer of Nigerian descent. The former heavyweight champion remains an idol she looks up to always. Incidentally, she receives her training at the famed Finchley Amateur Boxing Club (Finchley ABC), which ‘AJ’ used to frequent during his initial years as an amateur boxer. The middleweight boxer fought her debut fight on December 7, 2019 and has talked about Joshua’s influence on her career.
In an interview with Olympics.com, Patricia Mbata talked about how Anthony Joshua’s journey inspires her. She said, “We started off at the same club. And it’s just very inspiring because, you’ve got someone that started at the same like pretty much any other boxer, but he’s just excelled, his career throughout amateurs and the pro game. And you can kind of see a path as to where your journey could be.”
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Mbata also mentioned that Joshua often interacts with her and other boxers when he pays a visit to the famous Finchley gym, located in Barnet, UK. She revealed, “We’re always having conversations when I see him, and he’s always just saying, ‘just do it, just do it’. And I feel as if I have that same philosophy of life. My mentality and my ethos and what I believe in is very similar to what Josh (Anthony Joshua) advises people – ‘just do it
Mbata is continuing her rise up the boxing ladder and has the support of her fans alongside Anthony Joshua. Joshua will hope to cheer her on at the Paris Olympics with a short immortality awaiting Mbata, if she qualifies.
