Ferdinand Ekechukwu
Nollywood actress Nkechi Blessing Sunday and reality TV star Josephina Otabor, popularly known as Phyna, are set to take their ongoing social media beef to the boxing ring on October 1, 2026. The much-anticipated boxing match, tagged “Phyna vs Nkechi,” is part of the “Chaos in the Ring” fight organised by Balmoral Group Promotions.
The bout is the latest celebrity contest in the series, which has previously featured male entertainers including Portable, Charles Okocha, Speed Darlington and Carter Efe, Mr. Real Legbelegbe and Ido West. Both Nkechi and Phyna posted faceoff clips of the upcoming boxing show, which appears to be the first featuring female celebrity fighters, scheduled to hold in Lagos.
Meanwhile, fans have expressed willingness to see the organisers bring female celebrity rivals like Iyabo Ojo and Liz Anjorin, Toyin Abraham and Funke Akindele, Angela Okorie and Mercy Johnson, to the ring to settle their beefs. Ezekiel Adamu, CEO of Balmoral Promotions had expressed readiness during the pre-event conference to make the challenges become reality.
The growing celebrity boxing circuit has witnessed beefs; social media exchanges and entertainment become major parts of the promotion, combining celebrity boxing attractions with professional bouts. “We don’t create the beefs; the beefs just come up. My DM is full of other beefs; even female beefs. We just chose the ones that give us major eyeballs.” Adamu said.
“So, the female celebrities I think we are supposed to have one I’m still not sure we wouldn’t have one at this edition. We have quite a lot of beefs from the female sides. But it’s not just about bringing female celebrity fighters into the ring. We want real fight not gidigbo. So until we get one, and can get the female fighters to go train properly so when they get into the ring we can see proper fight.”
Other celebrities billed to box on same Independence Day are streamer, Carter Efe and singer, Speed Darlington. The contest will be the first boxing match between the boisterous Efe and controversial Darlington. “Carter fought already with Portable so Carter is the champion. He has a rematch clause. And Carter said Speed Darlington has been on his case.
“So, he wants to work on Speed so we granted that and we called Speed who agreed to the fight as well. And now we have a fight.” Continuing he said, “We expect Chaos as usual, we expect fight. Carter has shown he’s a fighter the last time he fought. Speed has shown he’s a fighter the last time he fought Portable he fought well but he lost due to a technical knockout having pulled out his hand.”
Speed Darlington will be looking to revive his fortunes when he steps into the ring against Carter, following an intense faceoff ahead of the highly anticipated fight. Besides, the fight is entertainment.
“The last time we done ‘Chaos in The Ring’ we had MI and Reminisce walking the fighters. So it’s just pure entertainment on the night, pure chaos, and pure fight from the professional boxers.
“This is not all about the celebrity fight, this is about the pro fighters but we need major eyeballs on it, the entertainment as well on the day besides the actual fight,” Adamu explained. “And we want people that will give us proper eyeballs. I think Carter Efe is till the number one streamer in the whole of Africa. I think he has the highest eyeball.”