Standing 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) tall, with a reach of 85 inches (2.16 m), he fought in the orthodox stance and won 18 of his 23 fights, 16 by knock out, losing four and drawing one.

Oyebola was shot in the back of the neck and leg in the early hours of 23 July 2007 after an altercation in the Chateau 6 club at Fulham Broadway where he was visiting a friend for a drink.

He had gone to assist staff asking four customers in the rear courtyard to put out their cigarettes to observe the recently imposed smoking ban and was shot as they left the premises.

[5] Simon Block, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, paid the following tribute: "Throughout that time he was truly one of nature's gentlemen and to think of him lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life as a result of a cowardly and gutless attack by those who will not have been possessed of the same courage that he showed in the way he faced adversity, in and out of the ring, fills me with both sadness and dismay.

[7] It was announced at 12:39 pm on 27 July 2007 that James Oyebola had died, at Charing Cross Hospital, after his life support machine had been switched off.