Ghana’s Charles Adamu says the loss of his Commonwealth Super Middleweight title does not mean the end of his professional boxing ambitions. The man popularly called The Crusader says his dream to become a world boxing champion is still on and he will not rest until he realizes the ambition.
“Boxing is full of ups and downs and I am not very worried though I must admit my disappointment at losing the Commonwealth title. But things like this only make me stronger and I want to tell my fans that this is not the end of me. I promise to come back even stronger,” Adamu told SportsInGhana.com.
Adamu lost by a 6th round TKO to 21 year old Briton George Groves in their clash on the undercard of David Haye’s successful WBC Heavyweight title defence against John Ruiz at Manchester’s MEN Arena on April 3. It was supposed to be the first defence of the Commonwealth title the Ghanaian only won back last December 18 in London following a decision against another Briton Carl Dilks.
Adamu is gracious in defeat but furious at the referee for the decision to stop the bout when he did. The now former 2-time Commonwealth champion says Groves was the better man on the night but the referee did not get right the decision to count him out because Groves was not in control at the time. “I must admit that it wasn’t my day but I was not in any trouble when the referee stopped the fight. I already fell down twice in the earlier round but I was beginning to get back into the fight, both of us were tired and not throwing punches. So I wasn’t happy at all with the referee’s decision to stop the bout,” The Crusader said to SportsInGhana.com.
Adamu previously lost the same title in 2004 to another Briton Carl Froch when he first held the belt. The Crusader has not given up on revenge against Froch who is now the WBC Super Middleweight champion of the world. Defeat to Groves may have halted his march towards a possible rematch against Froch but Charles Adamu says he will not stop fighting until he gets the rematch against Froch and has become champion again.
“Things have just become a little more difficult but I am never weary. My dream is to beat Froch to prove to the whole world that I am better than him and I will not rest until I do just that. Now I rest for some few days and get back to training because I have to keep in shape and push for the next chance,” concluded the 32 year old Crusader.