Nigerian-American martial Artist and Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has carved a niche for himself in the world of sports. The 33-year-old sportsman was born in Auchi, Nigeria. His father, who became a pharmacist in the US, brought his family to the country when Kamaru was only 8 years old.
In 2009, the FBI arrested Kamaru’s father and charged him with multiple healthcare fraud cases. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
According to Kamaru, his family had nothing while in Nigeria before moving on to greener pastures and finding his niche in his beloved sport.
Kamaru disclosed this and many more in a wide-ranging interview on a Channels TV program, Gist Nigeria.
In his words: “We grew up in the village. We farmed. As a small farm boy, I used to hawk Akpu and put hot Akpu on my head. I came from nothing,”
“There is a struggle every day; the struggle to, how are we going to eat next week, next month. What are we going to do?
“We owned a small store where we sold clothes, shoes, my mum sold bags, anything that we could sell, my mum was able to get and try to sell. My mum was a hustler, and that is one of the things I respect so much about her as a woman with three rowdy Naija boys.”
Kamaru and his Brazilian partner have a 5-year-old daughter name Samirah.
