Features
Ghana Boxing, a lesser Known sport or a lesser sponsored sport?
When I was a child, the generic name for boxing was Azumah Vs Gomez, probably coming from the uncompromising pugilistic brush up between Azumah and the Puerto Rican, Wilfredo Gomez. Gomez was the victim of a rally by Azumah who knocked him out in 11 elating rounds in San Juan on December 8, 1984.
Years later, my grandmother of blessed memory with years of boxing-watching experience tied to her tattered Kaba and slit (apologies to Araba Season) still remembered that festival of fists, with fond memories perhaps even in her grave.
Before Azumah feats, history has it that the late Eddy Blay, Clement Quartey, Sule Shitu, Roy Ankrah, D.K Poison, and many other unsung heros of Ghana boxing were a thorn in the flesh of other boxers across the world in addition to winning laurels for the country.
The first Ghanaian medal (a bronze) in any sport did not come through the global leather-football but rather through the effort of a high jumper, Robert Kotei, at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1958. Kotei marched on to become a Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and went “six feet” when the house cleaning euphoria rocked However, the first medal in the Olympic Games was delivered by Clement Quartey at Rome in 1960.
Eddy Blay blazed Ghana's gold medal trail in international competitions at the Perth Commonwealth games in Australia in 1962, a year before the Blacks stars dreamed of lifting the African Nations Cup. The legendary boxer repeated the exploit in the same competition at Kingston, Jamaica in 1964 another year before the Black Stars took Africa by storm to win the nations cup for the second time.
Then came in the heels of Azumah, the “Bazooka man,” Ike Quartey, who taught his opponents unforgettable boxing lessons and punched boxing out of the likes of Oba Carr, Ralph Jones and Verno Philips of the USA, Vince Phillips, of the Virgin Islands and Crisanto Espana of Venezuela.
Those were the days names like Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko , Barcelona , Abdul Razak, Shamo Quaye...did not tickle my fancy, not the least.
If there is any game that put Ghana on the world map and raised Ghana’s flag high among the commonwealth of sporting nation’s long before football started its magic in the country, it is boxing.
However, these days when a Ghanaian boxer mounts the ring, I play hide and seek with the TV set for fear of having a heart break; they keep my heart responding negatively to every punch delivered.
All due respect to Joshua Clottey and Joseph Agbeko (Ghana's brightest prospects at the moment) but ever since Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright outboxed Ike Quartey over 12 rounds, I lost the appetite to stomach what the current crop of Ghanaian boxers could do in the ring.
The question to ask is, is boxing a lesser known sport or lesser sponsored sport? The evidence is there for all to see. Today, the pugilist sport is chasing a pale shadow of its former self in Ghana ,trailing football in miles.
The game has lost the shine that puts it in a class of it own ; it is now clustered with table tennis, volley ball, basket ball and so on and labelled “a lesser known sports” of all tags.
Is not an irony that Ghanaian boxers in the name of training have to punch the rubber out of lorry tyres? In a world in which the diet of sports men and women are regimented, our boxers do not even know where the next meal will come from.
A visit to most gyms in the country should drive boxing fanatics banana; I am tempted to believe that necessity is the mother of inventions but to use car rims and lorry tyres as weight lifting equipment and punching bags is a bit overboard, especially when other boxers across the world consult their trainers on how many kilogrames to lift.
I continue to wonder why we play 'Kpalongo' when it comes to sponsoring boxing but expect the boxers to dance 'Adowa.' If the country does not change its attitude towards the sport and motivate out boxers to go all out, we will continue to add up to the numbers at events like the Olympic Games, the All Africa Games and other boxing competitions. I shudder to think that Ghana's glory days in boxing is gradually embracing history.
Ghana’s novelty boxing league is treading like a giant on the limbs of a mosquito (apologies to Chenua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart), it is not finding the going easy at all. I once witnessed an amateur bout at the Prison’s canteen where one of the boxers nearly sank through the platform, it took some effort to pull him out. The psychological effect alone will be enough disincentive, if were that boxer.
It takes thousands of the new Ghana Cedis if not millions to motivate members of the Black Stars in preparation for international tournaments through pre-tournament tours and all, on the other side of the coin, our boxers have to pre-finance their training outside the country and hope that they bring the title home and then crowds will be at the airport and then a presidential honour and then...
The Black Bombers, the country's boxing team, is another victim of neglect, I do not know if its because of the amateur status hanging on their neck but a lot needs to be done. I have on countless occassions heard the expatriate coach and the authorities in charge of amateur boxing in the country complain bitterly about the inadeqaute support it receives.
I was shocked to the core when two years ago, a boxing ring donated to the Ghana Amateur Association was seized by the Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS) because the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GAAB) could not raise GHC 10,000 needed to clear the ring. The situation was like rubbing salt into the injuries of the game at a time it funding was at its lowest (at least to my understanding).
The most embarrassing part of the whole affair was that the officials of the Haringey Boxing Club, the philanthropist, were witnesses to the palavar and were not amused because the ring was not of commercial value to the GAAB. A gift for Christ sake ! A gift!
If the nation could pump into boxing, a quarter of what it doles out to football, I have a personal conviction that the standards of the sport would move to another height and eclipse even the nation’s passion--football.
What prevents us from putting tax exemptions on sports equipment when musicians are benefiting from that package? It is time to do what will be of benefit to this country; exempt taxes on sports equipment.
In this regard, I find it heart warming that the Minister of Sports, Mr Rashid Pelpuo, announced that government was sourcing funds to construct a multi-purpose boxing gym as part of measures to develop the sport in the country.
I have every course to smile and hope that it is not another “political talk nor lip service” because when this comes to fruition, it would not only boost the morale of our boxers and ultimately raise the standard of the game in the country but also facilitate the country to play host to major boxing events and also encourage both individuals and institutions to partner existing bodies to support the sport.
Its also gratifying that the newly constituted Ghana Boxing Association has old and experienced hand like Azumah Nelson who knows the plight of the Ghanaian boxer.
My plea to the goverment is that it is time to back words with concrete steps so Ghana boxing can take its rightful place in the world sports hall of fame and not a Ghanaian clustered basket of lesser known sports.
When I was a child, the generic name for boxing was Azumah Vs Gomez, probably coming from the uncompromising pugilistic brush up between Azumah and the Puerto Rican, Wilfredo Gomez. Gomez was the victim of a rally by Azumah who knocked him out in 11 elating rounds in San Juan on December 8, 1984.
Years later, my grandmother of blessed memory with years of boxing-watching experience tied to her tattered Kaba and slit (apologies to Araba Season) still remembered that festival of fists, with fond memories perhaps even in her grave.
Before Azumah feats, history has it that the late Eddy Blay, Clement Quartey, Sule Shitu, Roy Ankrah, D.K Poison, and many other unsung heros of Ghana boxing were a thorn in the flesh of other boxers across the world in addition to winning laurels for the country.
The first Ghanaian medal (a bronze) in any sport did not come through the global leather-football but rather through the effort of a high jumper, Robert Kotei, at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1958. Kotei marched on to become a Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and went “six feet” when the house cleaning euphoria rocked However, the first medal in the Olympic Games was delivered by Clement Quartey at Rome in 1960.
Eddy Blay blazed Ghana's gold medal trail in international competitions at the Perth Commonwealth games in Australia in 1962, a year before the Blacks stars dreamed of lifting the African Nations Cup. The legendary boxer repeated the exploit in the same competition at Kingston, Jamaica in 1964 another year before the Black Stars took Africa by storm to win the nations cup for the second time.
Then came in the heels of Azumah, the “Bazooka man,” Ike Quartey, who taught his opponents unforgettable boxing lessons and punched boxing out of the likes of Oba Carr, Ralph Jones and Verno Philips of the USA, Vince Phillips, of the Virgin Islands and Crisanto Espana of Venezuela.
Those were the days names like Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko , Barcelona , Abdul Razak, Shamo Quaye...did not tickle my fancy, not the least.
If there is any game that put Ghana on the world map and raised Ghana’s flag high among the commonwealth of sporting nation’s long before football started its magic in the country, it is boxing.
However, these days when a Ghanaian boxer mounts the ring, I play hide and seek with the TV set for fear of having a heart break; they keep my heart responding negatively to every punch delivered.
All due respect to Joshua Clottey and Joseph Agbeko (Ghana's brightest prospects at the moment) but ever since Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright outboxed Ike Quartey over 12 rounds, I lost the appetite to stomach what the current crop of Ghanaian boxers could do in the ring.
The question to ask is, is boxing a lesser known sport or lesser sponsored sport? The evidence is there for all to see. Today, the pugilist sport is chasing a pale shadow of its former self in Ghana ,trailing football in miles.
The game has lost the shine that puts it in a class of it own ; it is now clustered with table tennis, volley ball, basket ball and so on and labelled “a lesser known sports” of all tags.
Is not an irony that Ghanaian boxers in the name of training have to punch the rubber out of lorry tyres? In a world in which the diet of sports men and women are regimented, our boxers do not even know where the next meal will come from.
A visit to most gyms in the country should drive boxing fanatics banana; I am tempted to believe that necessity is the mother of inventions but to use car rims and lorry tyres as weight lifting equipment and punching bags is a bit overboard, especially when other boxers across the world consult their trainers on how many kilogrames to lift.
I continue to wonder why we play 'Kpalongo' when it comes to sponsoring boxing but expect the boxers to dance 'Adowa.' If the country does not change its attitude towards the sport and motivate out boxers to go all out, we will continue to add up to the numbers at events like the Olympic Games, the All Africa Games and other boxing competitions. I shudder to think that Ghana's glory days in boxing is gradually embracing history.
Ghana’s novelty boxing league is treading like a giant on the limbs of a mosquito (apologies to Chenua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart), it is not finding the going easy at all. I once witnessed an amateur bout at the Prison’s canteen where one of the boxers nearly sank through the platform, it took some effort to pull him out. The psychological effect alone will be enough disincentive, if were that boxer.
It takes thousands of the new Ghana Cedis if not millions to motivate members of the Black Stars in preparation for international tournaments through pre-tournament tours and all, on the other side of the coin, our boxers have to pre-finance their training outside the country and hope that they bring the title home and then crowds will be at the airport and then a presidential honour and then...
The Black Bombers, the country's boxing team, is another victim of neglect, I do not know if its because of the amateur status hanging on their neck but a lot needs to be done. I have on countless occassions heard the expatriate coach and the authorities in charge of amateur boxing in the country complain bitterly about the inadeqaute support it receives.
I was shocked to the core when two years ago, a boxing ring donated to the Ghana Amateur Association was seized by the Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS) because the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GAAB) could not raise GHC 10,000 needed to clear the ring. The situation was like rubbing salt into the injuries of the game at a time it funding was at its lowest (at least to my understanding).
The most embarrassing part of the whole affair was that the officials of the Haringey Boxing Club, the philanthropist, were witnesses to the palavar and were not amused because the ring was not of commercial value to the GAAB. A gift for Christ sake ! A gift!
If the nation could pump into boxing, a quarter of what it doles out to football, I have a personal conviction that the standards of the sport would move to another height and eclipse even the nation’s passion--football.
What prevents us from putting tax exemptions on sports equipment when musicians are benefiting from that package? It is time to do what will be of benefit to this country; exempt taxes on sports equipment.
In this regard, I find it heart warming that the Minister of Sports, Mr Rashid Pelpuo, announced that government was sourcing funds to construct a multi-purpose boxing gym as part of measures to develop the sport in the country.
I have every course to smile and hope that it is not another “political talk nor lip service” because when this comes to fruition, it would not only boost the morale of our boxers and ultimately raise the standard of the game in the country but also facilitate the country to play host to major boxing events and also encourage both individuals and institutions to partner existing bodies to support the sport.
Its also gratifying that the newly constituted Ghana Boxing Association has old and experienced hand like Azumah Nelson who knows the plight of the Ghanaian boxer.
My plea to the goverment is that it is time to back words with concrete steps so Ghana boxing can take its rightful place in the world sports hall of fame and not a Ghanaian clustered basket of lesser known sports.
