Fridays Story.. One fight from greatness.

Friday Ahunanya appeared to have a promising future ahead of him after turning pro in 1998 according to Johnny Tocco, I spoke to johnny often in his small gym off Charleston and Main in North Las Vegas , if anyone in this gym has potential it's the young Nigerian kid...  I met Friday that year, he was to become my friend..  In the next three years he would advance to 16 / 0 with the scalp of unbeaten US Olympian Nate Jones under his belt..  Friday hadn't made the 96 Olympics in Atlanta and set his sights on following his dream to America in pursuit of success in the paid ranks. Still unbeaten by 2001 Friday was matched in the biggest fight of his life on the undercard of the Rahman v Lewis rematch. Friday would tackle Belarus' Unbeaten Olympian Sergei Liakhovich in a championship eliminator. Friday would struggle with  Liakhovich's Height and jab and with eye damage had to concede for his first professional loss. It didn't deter Friday, who only months later slowed the unbeaten Roll of French Knockout artist Josue Blocus in Atlantic City..  Through 2003 Ahunanya would remain unbeaten. 2004 would bring a fight for the NABO and NABA titles against Lance Whitaker in Florida, Friday was leading comfortably for three rounds before running onto a short uppercut in the fourth, a replay showed the thumb of the glove stabbing Friday in his eye and he dropped to his knees and was counted out in what still remains the only stoppage blemish on his impressive record..  Until 2007 Friday wouldn't win a fight , mostly due to the level of competition... A loss on cuts to future champion Sultan Ibragimov in a fight where the Russian had been on the floor, followed by a draw with highly ranked Dominick Guinn in Las Vegas. Next was a foolish trip to Germany to box Olympic star and future world champion Alex Povetin in a fight first scheduled for 8 rounds then dubiously changed to 6 rounds on the day of the fight (and for less money.) Friday would be at a totally unfair disadvantage against the German based Prospect who ran out of the blocks  and never gave seasoned 12 round fighter Ahunanya any hope of landing in such a short bout. Friday had served as chief sparring partner for Mike Tyson on his comeback and for Lennox Lewis after his loss to Rahman, in fact Friday made headlines after knocking Tyson over in one particular sparring session, an incident Friday always played down until Mike publicly testified to. After such a bad run of luck, 2007 would bring a new chapter which would start with wins over Ramon Hayes and James Walton, followed by a very entertaining draw against Franklyn Lawrence and the chance to box another unbeaten prospect in New Zealand, Shane Cameron. Cameron was 19 and 0, and to fight in his own back yard brought shades of Germany to mind but with the PABA/WBO Asia Pacific/WBA NABA Heavyweight Titles on the line it was a chance we couldn't refuse. Friday was finding his mark with meaningful punches but falling behind on points, the telling shots however were taking their toll on Cameron's face, he had a history of cuts and as rounds went on Optimism for victory was high, the 12th and final round saw Friday rally and drop the sorry looking New Zealander and upon rising the writing was on the wall, Ahunanya would score his finest Win on foreign soil against all the odds as the referee stopped it at 2.14 of the 12th.
2008 brought a new challenge, Banner promotions heavyweight Alonzo Butler, another undefeated fighter posed the threat, Banner (Art Pelullo) promoted the event in Las Vegas on ESPN and according to the promoter, Friday wasn't deemed good enough to feature as Alonzo's Opponent, despite of his win over Cameron..  ESPN finally agreed to give a Ahunanya the green light to fight and in an upset Butler was dropped and out boxed over 10 giving Friday another unbeaten scalp.. This would be Fridays last victory.
In 2010 after a two year absence Friday would travel once more to New Zealand to box former world title challenger and national hero David Tua, losing on points in a tough fight, the following year Friday would lose on points to another former World title Challenger Chris Arreola in Atlantic City. Fridays final bout was at the Morongo Resort in California where he would lose a wide decision to Cuban prospect Mike Perez. During his career Friday was promoted by Don King, Warriors Boxing, Crown Boxing and Banner Promotions.. Managed and trained by Luis Tapia, Friday lost to 3 future world champions and faced 10 unbeaten fighters handing six of them their first loss..  Currently retired Friday lives in Las Vegas where he is married with children and occasionally spars with young prospects like Andy Ruiz and Joseph Parker..   Friday Ahunanya was an accomplished Amateur, Nigerian national champion at heavyweight, winning a bronze medal at the all Africa games in Harare.. Losing in the semi finals to Omar Ahmed of Kenya.  As a profesional his record stands ..
24 wins 8 losses 3 draws 13 wins by knockout.