The President of World Boxing Federation (WBF), Wayne Wicker and his counterpart in International Boxing Union (IBU), Seon Bristol is visiting Lagos as part of the preparation for the Guinness Book of World Record fight between Nigerian Bashiru Lawrence Ali and John Keeton of Britain.

The unification bout will take place in Delta State on 25 April courtesy of Sir Wotar Despair Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which is sponsoring the fight in the oil rich state of the Niger Delta.

Wicker and Bristol are in Nigeria ahead of Ali's challenge; Keeton who will hit Lagos on Thursdayfor the World Press Conferences scheduled for Lagos, Warri and Abuja on the bout.

The boxing personalities will be in Nigeria fora week where they will pay a courtesy visit to the Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, whose state the fight will be holding.

They will also sign some necessary documents to tidy up all details to ensure a success staging of the bout, which has suffered several postponements due to the inability of Bashiru Ali to get the sumof 10 million U.S dollars needed for the staging of the fight in Nigeria.

“We believe that this time around the fight will hold because we have received assurance from the promoters of the fight that all is ready for the epic bout in Nigeria,” said the IBU chief Bristol.

In his own comment, WBF's president, Wicker corroborated his counterpart in the IBU noting that the fight will be the first unification bout in Africa and assured that his boxing world body is solidly behind the staging of the fight in Nigeria.

Speaking in the same vein, Bashiru Ali, the Nigerian boxer said the bout is going to be the first Guinness World Record fight in Africa, as more than one body is sanctioning it.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)