A look at Jim McDowell’s continued efforts to bring high quality pro wrestling to African nations
“The Golden Boy” Jim McDowell, the current AIWF Golden Age heavyweight champion and titleholder, 3 time AIWF National Heavyweight Champion and the AIWF Latin America Champion, who runs the Golden Wrestling Federacy (GWF) headquartered in Florida, USA under the auspices of the AIWF world body has raised a voice that the activities of the Florida-based organization would revolutionize the grunt and groan mat game in Africa to what is obtainable in the western world.
The AIWF Golden Age Heavyweight Champion, who is a talented actor, producer, a stylish professional and a skillful wrestler of over three decades who is also a pronounced dentist, is a man of many parts who started his pro wrestling career over thirty years ago. It surprises anyone that cares to listen to his story on how he manages as a dentist and also competes favorably as a professional, wrestling mostly in Florida where he is based and around the US states whenever there are events which has been constant for a while now and he practices as a dentist. Some do call him “Jim of all trade and master of all” and I want to also believe in that wise saying.
“I have been to Africa. Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both aspects. I was in Douala and Yaoundé in Cameroon, Central African Republic in July 2023. I saw talented youths in Cameroon. I saw great potentials in Africa. Raw, able and agile youths waiting to be tapped into. Africa's population as a whole is very young, with 60% of the entire continent aged below 25, making it the youngest continent in the world, in relation to its population makeup. I saw in a rush the need to contribute a quota to the development of these raw skillful talents,’’ explained the Golden Boy.
“Africa's youth population is growing rapidly and will reach 850 million youth by 2050 and by 2063, young people will constitute half of the 2 billion working-age population. Africa will remain the world's youngest region, with a median age of 25 years. This research work has propelled me to want to contribute my quota through youth development through Professional wrestling. I see world pro wrestling champions if they are well trained, guided and promoted. That was my main reason of setting up the Professional Wrestling Training for West African Athletes, why myself with former AIWF World Champion and title holder, Damien Wayne, would be handling the training,’’ Jim emphasized.
Jim must have seen something, yes what some of us who are into the professional wrestling industry in Africa have not seen as an opportunity to be tapped out. Some West African nations have indicated interest to participate in the training of the young talents in February 2024. “On the percentage of unemployed youths in Africa, facts emerged in 2023 that 11.2 percent of the African youth, those aged between 15 and 24 years old, were recorded as unemployed. According to data from the International Labor Organization, this figure hasn't changed in the two preceding years as well. Now if we trained 20 youth members from 15 West African nations, 300 youths would have been empowered and 3,000 youths would be raised from the exploits of the 300 trained as they would see them as their role models and before you know it, lots of people would have been empowered,” the Golden boy concluded.
