Wisdom Gym dominates GAABA Champion of Champions

Accra, Dec 22, GNA - Wisdom Boxing Gym dominated the Greater Accra Amateur Boxing Association (GAABA) 3rd Quarter Champion of Champions Competition held at the Prisons Canteen in Accra on Thursday night. Wisdom emerged victors in five weight divisions in the highly competitive championship, which was lighted by a series of wonderful performances from the young boxers from seven gyms. The event, the final of the quarterly championships also served as the criterion for the selection of boxers into the Greater Accra Regional Amateur team.

Boxers who excelled in the two previous quarter championships qualified to participate in the final quarter. The agility of most of the youngsters saw many of the bouts travelling the full distance, four rounds of two minutes each. The most noticeable exception was when Jiblim Ahmed of the Wisdom Gym kayoed Emmanuel Tagoe of the Black Panthers in the first round of their Middleweight contest. Jiblim unsettled Tagoe in the opening seconds with punches, which forced Tagoe to kiss the canvas. Tagoe could not beat the count, forcing referee Henry Darko to end the bout. The most interesting bout of night was a catch weight contest between Bastir Samir, captain of the national amateur team, the Black Bombers, who represented Wisdom Gym and Mugano Kubanu, a Nigerian, who fought for Fit Square Gym.

Though the lighter Samir won by a split decision, a result which was booed by the fans, Kubanu gave the Black Bombers' skipper a good run for the trophy, as he made good use of his reach and defensive abilities. However, the younger of the Samir brothers, Issa who is also a member of the Black Bombers made mince meat of Annan Ampiah of the Attoh Quarshie Gym courtesy a unanimous decision to confirm his dominance in the Flyweight division. In the Light Flyweight competition, Duke Micah of Fit Square Gym defeated Sulemana Tetteh of the Wisdom Gym via a unanimous decision. Black Panthers duo of Ekow Wilson and Jackson Nortey were the winners in the Bantamweight division, just as Nayina Zakari and Emmanuel Quarshie, both of the Attoh Quarshie snatched the Lightweight and Welterweight titles respectively, as their opponents failed to appear. Emmanuel Omari Danso and Matthew Mandole of the Wisdom Gym were also declared winners in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions respectively, after their opponents were nowhere to be found.

Light Welterweight Moses Domenyo ensured Square Deal's only triumph in the championships with a split decision over Emmanuel Okine of the Black Panthers Gym, while Nii Armah Quaye defeated Nii Ofoli Tetteh in an all Fit Square Gym affair in the featherweight division. Winners of the various divisions were presented with a cash prize of 100,000 cedis, a trophy, a certificate of participation and some Christmas gifts, while the runners up received 70,000 cedis and some Christmas presents. Gideon Quartey, Vice Chairman of GAABA assured the gyms of more competitions next year and thanked other members of the association for their wonderful support towards the successful organisation of the event. Other personalities who graced the event were Moses Foh-Amoaning, Chairman of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), Solomon Offei Darko, Chairman of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) and representatives of the Ntaional Sports Council (NSC).