That football is the king of sports at least here in Ghana (certainly becoming a cliché). An air of contention would have greeted what is fact back in the day, even though it took the effort of just one person so to do.
The pugilist act of self defense (better known as boxing) has ever reigned and eclipsed the high and kingly status of football. Names that come to mind in no particular order; Professor Barimah Azumah Nelson, DK Poison and Ike Bazooka Quartey.
The story today is nothing to write home about as lovers of the sport and the general Ghanaian society stay awake to watch ‘title contenders’ go into the boxing ring and leave us all scratching our heads and asking; what’s going on here?
More often than not boxers and their trainers have found solace in the fact that the media creates the impression that a particular boxer was robbed or better still given a raw deal on the score cards of judges. Excuse upon excuse, till the boxer returns to bring back defeat.
What happened to the popular word of Azumah Nelson in his days, that he was always prepared to take his own referee into the ring and to knock his opponent out (not to say that is as easy as said) but why the successive loss of titled fights.
Within the purview of this piece, I would narrow down to two Ghanaian boxers who always looked like bringing back the title only to fumble and crumble when it mattered most: Joshua ‘the hitter’ Clottey and Joseph ‘king kong’ Agbeko.
The latest to disappoint being Agbeko, he failed in his bid to regain his International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight title few weeks back, beaten on points by Mexican title holder, Abner Mares who won a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
Mind you this a rematch of an earlier bout in which Agbeko was supposedly robbed by the losing verdict. This time round, there was no controversy as from all indications the Ghanaian boxer had been beaten fair and square.
All three judges had scored the fight 118 – 110 for Mares, and the winner was more convincing this time he deserved the call.
In comes Agbeko who still lays claim to who did not sound too intelligible ‘retaining’ his claim he remains the ‘true champion’ and suggesting the results was unfair for the second time since the August fight.
Then in an interview with joy sports, he (Agbeko) turns to admit his disappointments of not been able to defeat the Mexican for the title but hope to return to being world champion again, what an irony!
“Mares is a tough fighter but i hope to be back soon. I have few issues around and I’m going home to sort all out and then see the way forward,” he added.
Mares, despite a close victory eliminated all doubts who the champion of the Bantamweight division is. As if by magic, these boxers almost always find a way to get matches that take them close to fighting for titles.
Agbeko is no different. In an image redemption move, his management is reportedly looking at the possibility of fighting World Boxing Association (WBA) title holder Anselmo Morena
The Clottey saga stands as more excruciating considering that, of all contenders the Ghanaian was handed an opportunity to face-off with the best in his division, Manny ‘the pakman’ Pacquiao.
Clottey went into the bout brimming with so much confidence, even though many a pundit was of the opinion that the Ghanaian had been offered a very tall hurdle and he had to be cautious lest the wall collapsed on him as he tried climbing over it.
At the end of the day, it turned out that the stout, strong and hard punching Filipino appeared to have more steam and firepower than did the lad from the Ghana’s boxing enclave, the infamous Bukom.
All of their losses have left a bitter taste in the mouth of lovers of the sport even though administrators and connoisseurs within the pugilist fraternity still maintain that there is a very bright future for the sport.
We delve into three perspectives on what we think should be done to better the lot of the sport in Ghana: The Ghana Boxing Authority and Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GBA/GABA), managers and promoters of these boxers and the media/fans are all under the microscope.
The Ghana Boxing Authority and Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GBA/GABA)
The Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) As the oversight body tasked with giving support to professional boxers, the GBA is by far the biggest stakeholder in the general scheme of events. The GBA as much as they would like to be hailed when a victory is secured must be ready for the reverse situation.
The Authority has in the lead up to most of these bouts given assurances of how they are in talks with the boxer and his management and how this or that title definitely coming back to the country and many other promises.
What the GBA must do is to be measured in their pronouncements ahead of these bouts and to track as much as possible the progress made by boxers, most of whom have taken to foreign camping bases ahead of their fights.
The GBA must also liaise with its feeder body, the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) in unearthing talents at the amateur levels.
Boxing promotions have become far in between due to the proverbial lack of funding swansong, yet when funds have been sought for one such, talents are not followed through into the professional ranks.
Allied to the GBA is the sector Ministry, which represents the efforts of government and its support to the dwindling fortunes of the sport that hitherto brought a lot of glory and fame to the country.
Managers/Promoters The management team of these boxers have suddenly become powerful overnight and are taking decisions that might necessarily not inure to the professional advancement of most boxers but rather to their finances.
These managers together with promoters, enter fights that might for the most times be under cards that rake in a few thousand dollars, they lose unfortunately and the crusade to land title fights becomes more steeper than before.
Promoters more often than not are after how much money they can make in that 12 rounds of exchanges. To which end, managers of our boxers must look beyond the periphery to know when to honor a fight and when not to.
These promoters are inextricably linked to getting fights but the question that remains to be answered is; shall our boxers continue to hanker after the thousand dollars whiles a little more introspection could land them in the million dollar bracket?
Media/Fans The media today has been identified as a major driving force for the transmission of any idea or concept: be it political, social, religious and of course sports. The sports component just like all others is with its own challenges.
Even local football in Ghana today is suffering from fans patronage at the stadia and even from the comfort of their homes, the fans of boxing are so few it seems that prime time cannot be dedicated to televising the action LIVE as it were.
Journalists cannot be left out of the issue as many of us (especially those on radio) have taken to the brazen critique of boxers and of the GBA (rightfully so) but for the most time without proffering any solutions to alleviating the current slump.
The few fans left are increasingly becoming disenchanted for all its worth. The game is not bringing any joy and perhaps together with the boxers themselves, these few loyalists are the last of the pugilist flame that is burning.
Something, preferably a stakeholders conference certainly would be a good first step to stemming the losing tide and salvaging what is left of the legacy that the Azumah Nelson’s the Ike Quartey’s and D K Poison’s bequeathed to the sport.
It’s high time we stepped away from being winners in the African Boxing Union flyweight, featherweight, bantamweight and heavyweight divisions but rather revive the spirit of times back, when we stayed late to savor what that man in the red, gold green and black trunks was gonna met out to the opponent standing in the way of the joy of some 22 million others.
We must win a unanimous decision against the low patronage of boxing, better yet knock out all stumbling blocks to the progress of the sport, jab them all here and there, a left or right hook and an uppercut won’t be a bad idea at all but till then; let’s get ready to rumble!!!
© Abdur Rahman Shaban Alfa HYPERLINK "mailto:newcguide@gmail.com" newcguide@gmail.com, HYPERLINK "mailto:alfarsenal@yahoo.com" alfarsenal@yahoo.com
- Abdur Rahman Shaban Alfa .
