Support for boxing not enough – Agbeko

Three-time former bantamweight world boxing champion Joseph Agbeko has called on government and corporate Ghana to help promote boxing by constructing ultra-modern gyms across the country to train talents in the sport.

He noted that there is no support for boxing in the country as facilities such as good gyms needed to help train people with interest in the sport are not available.

According to him, facilities such as gyms available to train Ghanaian boxers since the days of Azumah Nelson have been the same until now without any improvement.

“Facilities in boxing have been the same… we don’t have proper boxing gyms. The gyms I saw when I was a kid are the same gyms I see around today, there is no improvement,” he said on Entertainment Capital on Accra100.5FM on Saturday, 24 June, 2017.

The boxer told show host Bismark Boachie (DJ Premier) that good gyms are limited and all belong to private citizens.

“Only few people have been able to set up good gyms in Ghana. Where I trained belongs to Ambassador Ray Quarcoo at Roman Ridge. Our own boxing professor [Azumah Nelson] has a nice gym. Ghana Boxing Authority president Peter Zwennes also has a nice gym at the Naval Base behind the Arts Centre, so the good gyms are very few,” Agbeko said.

To help promote the sport, Agbeko called on corporate Ghana for support. He said: “Boxing needs a lot of support from corporate Ghana and government itself. The boxers and their managers have put in a lot of effort to promote the sport but the support from [government and corporate Ghana] is not coming as boxing deserves.”

Agbeko returns to the ring on 30th June when he fights Kenya’s Nick Otieno at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra.