Insults from Ghanaians motivate us – Joseph Agbeko

Insults and harsh criticism from Ghanaians serve as inspiration and motivation for Ghanaian boxers, Joseph Agbeko, a former world bantamweight world champion has told GhanaWeb.

In a tell-it-all conversation with GhanaWeb’s Joseph Adamafio, the two-time world champion revealed that boxers are spurred on to fight and achieve success even at their breakpoint due to fear of abuse.

Like the proverbial success has many fathers and failure being an orphan, Agbeko has noted that when you win a bout, praises are lavished on you but when the result go south, Ghanaians turn on you with no mercy.

He claimed that the insults have become source of motivation for Ghanaian sportsmen as no one wants to be at the receiving end of such barrage of attacks.

“When going through tough times in the ring, the only thing that motivates and pushes you for you to be able to get that kill is for you take your mind back home and think about the people that will insult you if you lose. After you lose, that is when every one is going to be a coach. That is when everybody is going to coach you.

“When you win, everyone praises you but when you lose, you are unable to take the insults so whenever your mind goes back to Ghana and you are in the ring you give your best because you don’t want to be insulted.

Agbeko also detailed how he deals with defeats and appealed to Ghanaians to be a bit considerate with their criticism of athletes when they do not achieve intended result.

“Ghana is a tough side when it comes to sport. We don’t think about a lot of things when we are going to fight. The only thing we think about is home and our people so whenever you lose, you can’t sleep. When you lose, you start thinking of the excuse to give because Ghanaians will bash you,” he added.