Juvenile Boxing League unveiled in Ghana

Street Academy, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Accra, has launched another juvenile sporting discipline to promote sports in the country.

The Juvenile Boxing League is said to identify and nurture young budding talents to take up the mantle from the country’s ageing boxers.

According to the founder of the academy, Atta Lartey, the tournament is designed for boys between the ages of 12 to 16 years, to boost the falling standard of boxing in the country.

He said the programme will run for 54 weeks and the selected kids will be taught the techniques and basic rudiments of the game and also train to become used to the boxing equipment.

He added that these ‘wanna-be’ boxers will also be placed in one basic school to enable his outfit monitor their progress academically while they train to become professionals in the sport.

This monitoring, according to Atta Lartey, will be for a period of three years to enable him and his technical team to select the good ones for the programme.

The 54-week event would be held every Friday and would be witnessed by the life patron of the Academy, Mr Amarkai Amartefio.

He disclosed that two-time former world champion and top-rated IBF bantamweight Joseph ‘King Kong’ Agbeko was a product of the Street Academy and he was optimistic that the tournament would produce world champions like the ‘King Kong.’