The Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) has entered into a partnership with the National Trust Holding Company (NTHC) in a bid to improve the standards of professional boxing in the country. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)signed by the two organizations, states that the NTHC will “provide inputs necessary to raise the standard of Boxing to world-class status”.
The partnership is expected to fetch the GBA several hundreds of millions of Cedis. An initial amount of 100 million Cedis will be deposited to run promotional boxing activities for the rest of this year. The GBA-NTHC deal translates into more lucrative fights for Ghanaian boxers.
The President of the Ghana Boxing Authority, Nii Quaye Mensah told MYJOYONLINE that the deal with NTHC has become necessary because government funding for professional boxing seems to have ceased. The decision to deduct a percentage from the purse of boxers after fights also proved non-plausible, as the incomes of boxers are rather low. Currently, some professional Ghanaian boxers earn 150,000 cedis per fight (about $21).
Under the deal,the National Trust Holding Company will assist the GBA with the publication of a newsletter on the exploits of Ghanaian boxers and also help in the organization of the International Day of The boxer. A computer will also be provided to support the GBA Website program aimed at providing quick and accessible data on Ghana’s boxing prospects.