Breaking up with Carl Lokko was difficult but necessary – Richard Commey

Reigning IBF Lightweight title champion Richard Commey has conceded that breaking up with longtime trainer and mentor Carl Lokko was a difficult but inevitable decision he had to make to push his career to the next level.

Commey parted ways with the veteran boxing trainer in 2018 ahead of his bout with American Alejandro Luna.

Renowned American coach Andre Rozier was contracted by Commey’s Streetwise management firm to train the boxer.

Commey won his first bout under his new trainer which set him up for a mandatory title bout against Russia’s Issa Chaniev.

Commey made light meal of the Russian boxer by giving a round knockout and he maintains that training under Andre Rozier was a major factor in his victory.

Commey in an interview with GhanaWeb TV eulogized his former trainer but also admitted that he has become a better boxer under his new trainers.

He stated that training with Rozier exposed him to some equipments and new training drills.

“I needed to move forward that’s why I split. If you know what you want to and you see yourself the you know what it feels like so if you get the chance to upgrade yourself, why not? Honestly speaking the level wasn’t the same so breaking up with him and going to the United State to continue the training was necessary".

"Some of the stuff that they thought me that I didn’t know, they expected me to know and I did not know, I felt very bad” “I went there and the way they train is different. Even though our coaches here are very good they lack certain equipment so the difference is clear’, he said.

Commey has been gifted a car and an amount of GHC50,000 by President Akufo-Addo and he has expressed his gratitude to the President.

He was billed to defend his title against Vasiliy Lomachenko on April 12 but the bout has been called off due to an injury to the Ghanaian boxer.

He is expected to complete his recovery this week and begin full training.