Henry Akinwande was born of Nigerian parents in London, England and started his career as an amateur boxer. He represented Great Britain in the heavyweight division at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.
Akinwande made his professional debut in 1989 against Carlton Headley in London and impressively claimed victory in his first 18 bouts.
In 1996 the boxer faced American Jeremy Williams for the WBO World Heavyweight title which had been vacated by Riddick Bowe, a fight which Akinwande won via a 3rd round stoppage.
Akinwande went on to defend the belt twice, with victories over Russian Alexander Zolkin by TKO and Briton Scott Welch.
The WBO belt was then vacated so that Akinwande could pursue a challenge to WBC champion Lennox Lewis in 1997. Akinwande, however, lost the fight.
A proposed challenge to Evander Holyfield for the WBA belt in 1998 was later abandoned after Akinwande tested positive for hepatitis B. This meant a lengthy spell of recovery for him but he was finally cleared to return to the ring in 1999.
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Akinwande won his next eight fights against Orlin Norris and Maurice Harris, as well as Peter McNeeley, Kenny Craven, Russel Chasteen, Reynaldo Minus, Chris Sirengoand Najee Shaheed.
In 2001 Henry Akinwande faced Oliver McCall in a much-publicised fight but after a promising start, the Nigerian-born boxer eventually lost.
Akinwande recovered from this to win his next nine bouts, including notable victories against Timo Hoffman, Ed Mahone, Cisse Salif and Anton Nel, all for the IBF Intercontinental Title, as well as Curt Paige, Sam Ubokane, Raman Sukhaterin, Alexander Vasiliev and Tipton Walker.
Akinwande, never hiding his Nigerian heritage, brought one of his titles fights to Calabar in 2004, defeating South Africa’s Anton Nel via a 10th round technical knockout at the UJ Esuene stadium.
In late 2006 he dropped a split decision to Oleg Platov, about in which Akinwande received a point deduction in the eighth round for holding, and Platov received a point deduction in 9th for a head butt.
After that fight, he won another fight against Andriy Oleinyk in 2007 before losing to top prospect Ondřej Pála from the Czech Republic by unanimous decision on 4 July 2008, which turned out to be his last fight.
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