Patrick Nwamu ( Patrick A. I. Nwamu, born August 10, 1972) is a retired professional fighter, who has held international titles in boxing, kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu. He has also coached and promoted boxing and martial arts, and has collected a small number of acting credits. His parents are members of the Nigerian royal family of

Asaba Asaba is the capital city of Delta State, Nigeria. It is located at the western bank of the Niger River, in the Oshimili South Local Government Area. Asaba had a population of 149,603 as at the 2006 census, and a metropolitan population of o ...

, Nigeria, and Nwamu was given the title of crown warrior prince for his accomplishments in professional fighting and his promotion of Asaba traditions and customs, as well as the creation of Tri Fighting MMA (Kwab-Je).

Education and amateur boxing career

After many years of training in various styles of martial arts, Nwamu was accepted to

Georgia Military College Georgia Military College (GMC) is a public military junior college in Milledgeville, Georgia. It is divided into the junior college, a military junior college program, high school, middle school, and elementary school. It was originally known as M ...

in 1998 and began amateur boxing as a student athlete. Nwamu won the 1998 Georgia State Amateur Boxing Championship and the 1998 and 1999

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

Heavyweight Championships sanctioned by

USA Boxing USA Boxing is the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing. It is overseen by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Boxing Association (AIBA), which sets its rules. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, USA Boxing i ...

, representing Georgia and New York, respectively. Failing to advance at the 2000 Olympic boxing West Coast trials, Nwamu left school to begin his professional career.

Professional fighting career

As a professional fighter, Nwamu won four world titles in three different styles of combat within an 11-year span: * International Boxing Association (IBA) – 2006 Super Cruiserweight World Champion *

International Sport Kickboxing Association The ISKA (originally International Sport Karate Association, later also called the International Sport Kickboxing Association) is one of the major international bodies regulating sport karate and kickboxing matches, and is based in the Unit ...

(ISKA) – 2011 Super Cruiserweight World Champion *

North American Grappling Association The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) is a grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) promotion started in 1995. NAGA Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments are held throughout North America and Europe. NAGA is the l ...

(NAGA) – 2015 Mixed Grappling/Jiu Jitsu Heavyweight World Champion (April 2015) *

(NAGA) – 2017 Mixed Grappling/Jiu Jitsu Heavyweight World Champion (April 2017) Nwamu was the first IBA super-cruiserweight world-champion professional-boxer to win the ISKA full-contact kickboxing world-championship title. He was also the first member of a royal family to win the kickboxing title, in the first kickboxing world-championship fight held in Africa.

Coaching, promoting and executive career

Nwamu has spent many years as a licensed coach at the championship level, teaching in various styles of combat including as a USA Boxing coach (ID# 498812) and a

USA Taekwondo USA Taekwondo (USAT) is the national governing body (NGB) of Taekwondo for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and thus the United States's official Member National Association of World Taekwondo USAT has complete authority over all dec ...

(USAT) coach (ID# 999798111). Nwamu promoted the IBA Super Cruiserweight Pro World Title fight in Madison Square Garden, New York City August 2006. He independently promoted the ISKA Super Cruiserweight Pro Full Contact World Title fight in Asaba, Nigeria January 2011. His most-significant contribution to martial arts is his creation of Tri Fighting MMA/Kwab-Je, Nigeria's national martial art and freestyle fight sport. In 2011, he was given the title of World Champion Grandmaster by the Intercontinental Union of Kwab-Je which also acts as the Nigerian executive board representing the World Kickboxing and Karate Association (WKA). In 2022, Nwamu was appointed National Representative of the WKA, as well as National Director of ISKA, for Nigeria.

Acting and production

Nwamu wrote, produced and starred in a biopic about his life, ''They're Just My Friends'' (2006). Rosedog Books (Dorrance Publishing) subsequently turned his screenplay into a book. A long-time member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, Nwamu has acted in commercials for HBO's ''

Boxing After Dark ''Boxing After Dark'' is an HBO boxing program, premiered on February 3, 1996, that usually showed fights between well-known contenders, but usually not "championship" or "title" fights. Unlike its sister program, ''HBO World Championship Boxin ...

,'' Met Life, VOOM and appeared in the

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is n ...

music video "Illegal". In the episode "The Art of War" of the 2016 HBO miniseries ''

The Night Of ''The Night Of'' is a 2016 American eight-part crime drama television miniseries based on the first season of ''Criminal Justice'', a 2008 British series. The miniseries was written by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian (based on the original ' ...

'', Nwamu helped choreograph the fight scene, in which he played the role of Dante and served as stuntman.

Family lineage

Patrick A. I. Nwamu comes from the royal family of

and descends from a line of asagbas (kings) listed here: * King Nwani of Asaba – 1870 (great-grand uncle) * King Okocha Nwokolo of Asaba – 1962 (paternal grandfather) * King

Joseph Chike Edozien Joseph Chike Edozien, CFR, JP, the Asagba or traditional ruler of Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria was born on 28 July 1924 in Asaba. Family His father was Nathaniel Okafor Edozien a direct descendant of Nnebisi the founder of Asaba, and one o ...

of Asaba – 1991 (Cousin, mother's side) In 2009, Patrick Nwamu received the title of crown warrior prince of the 'Kingdom of Asaba' by his people for his accomplishments in professional combat and martial arts, and his observance and promotion of Asaba traditions and customs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwamu, Patrick 1972 births Living people American male karateka Nigerian royalty