London 2012: Paul Dogboe denies withdrawing son

Paul Kofi Dogboe, the father of Ghanaian bantamweight boxer Isaac Dogboe, has rubbished a Joy Fm report that claimed he threatened to withdraw his son from the Olympic Games after the Ghana Olympic Committee allegedly failed to secure tickets for his family to watch Isaac fight at the ExCel Arena in London on Saturday, 28th July, 2012.

Speaking to www.liquidsportsghana.com, Paul Kofi Dogboe denied ever granting an interview with the Ghanaian media on the said issue or threaten to pull his son from the competition altogether.

“This was a great opportunity for my son and I will never pull him out of this competition without even consulting him,” he said.

“I also asked my wife, her sister and close friends, and they have all said they have not spoken to the media.”

Paul Dogboe, who is a boxing trainer in the British Territorial Army, added that, "I don't know anything about the Ghanaian media. When Dominic Kankam (the Secretary General of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association) told me what had been published I said what!!"

Dogboe, who is based in the UK, was controversially declared loser in his bantamweight bout with Japan's Shimizu Satoshi on Saturday, July 28th despite winning the first two rounds of the three round contest.

Paul Dogboe, believes his son could have won the fight had he stuck to the game plan of staying in the pocket of his opponent and not giving him room to maneuver.

Dogboe left London for Accra on 10th February 2012 to take part in the national Olympic trials before gaining qualification to the African Olympic qualifiers in May.

He subsequently won a silver medal in the bantamweight weight division at the African Championship in Morocco to emerge as the youngest boxer ever to compete at that level in Africa.

Dogboe made history by becoming one of the youngest boxers ever to have fought on the Olympic platform last Saturday, 28th July, 2012.