Nkechi Blessing Sunday and Phyna did not wait for the bell. At a Victoria Island press conference on Tuesday, September 29, the Nollywood actress and the former Big Brother Naija winner confronted each other so hard that organisers had to pull them apart, with reports that the two exchanged punches in front of cameras and journalists. Their celebrity boxing bout is set for Thursday, October 1 at the Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos.
The fight is the first women’s celebrity bout on Balmoral Group Promotions’ Chaos in the Ring series, billed as an Independence edition. What started as an online row over a movie role has become the loudest sell on the card. Nkechi publicly called Phyna out over that production, criticised her for fighting too many people online, and labelled her attitude disrespectful. Phyna fired back that the actress had first approached her for the role, then the talk collapsed over how long she took to reply. A short physical clash at Morayo Brown’s studio last week already showed how personal it had become. Tuesday’s press meet made it worse.
Phyna did not hide what she wants to do on fight night.
“You know if a child beats a mother, they say it’s an abomination. This time I will publicly beat her because she does too much,” she said.
She traced the anger back to that role opportunity, then went further.
“Ogun kill Nkechi. What respect? I wanted to chill, but bro, I was on my own. I will disrespect her inside the ring. I will toy with her in round one before finishing it off in round two.”
Nkechi answered in the same temperature.
“I am all fired up. If she touches me here, we’ll start the fight immediately and she won’t escape whole. I will beat her with one blow. One blow, seven die. She won’t stand again. I swear on my late mother’s grave.”
The same press conference also boiled over on the men’s side. Carter Efe, who beat Portable by unanimous decision at the same venue in May questioned why Speed Darlington wanted this fight. Speed, who lost to Portable in 2025 and still disputes that result, went for the belt Carter won in May.
“Be careful with that belt. Your belt is mine. Do not scratch it now.”
An earlier press meet between the two men already needed security.
Balmoral founder Dr Ezekiel Adamu said the Phyna and Nkechi rivalry has turned genuinely personal and called this the biggest edition of the series yet.