Most Ghana bouts are 'fixed' – Pappoe

International boxing referee and judge Ataa Eddie Pappoe has alleged that many local boxing fights are fixed in the country.

Mr Pappoe, who doubles as a member of the Ghana Boxing Authority, made this revelation in an interview with Class Sports.

“We fix [bouts] here. I am telling you we fix [bouts] here. They know when they are going to win and vice-versa. You give them an opponent, they tell you they do not like that particular opponent. They want someone else and results are known before fights. This is the state we are in now. We have fights at the back of bathrooms and stuffs like that: fights that the public do not even know about. They arrange fights. There are certain fights when two boxers win on the night; two boxers fighting each other. How on earth is that possible? We have some boxers fighting people who are dead. We have boxers who fight promoters in Ghana and I have evidence of that,” he stated.

According to Mr Pappoe, boxing will continue to be on a perpetual decline in the country if the negative acts go unchecked.

“I am sorry we are no more near [the glory days of boxing] again. When you go to places like Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and all, you can see class. The way they go about their boxing and the way they go about their things, you can clearly see the difference. What we are doing now in Ghana is using our boxers for records,” he bemoaned.