Isaac “Royal Storm” Dogboe was named Ghana’s Sports Personality of the Year by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) at their 43rd annual awards last night in Accra.
Dogboe also earned Boxer of the Year honors. Last week, Dogboe stopped Mexican-American Jessie Magdaleno in 11 rounds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to annex the WBO world super bantamweight title.
At 23, Dogboe is Ghana’s youngest ever world champion, a title previously held by Ike “Bazooka” Quartey, who was 24-years-old when he won the WBA welterweight championship in June 1994.
Quartey, who attended the ceremony at the Accra International Conference Centre, was gracious toward the man who’d broken his record, evening accompanying Dogboe to the podium to receive his award from Nana Agyemang Badu II, chief of Dormaa in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana.
“First of all, let me congratulate Isaac Dogboe for winning the world title, I knew he could do it,” Quartey said. “Let’s forget about who is youngest or that talk. I want Dogboe to keep the title for a long time. With him at 23, I think he can keep the title for seven years because he fights like he doesn’t fear anyone. That’s me, I don’t fear anyone.”
Dogboe is following the footsteps of Quartey and other former Ghanaian world champions, like Azumah Nelson, Joshua Clottey, Joseph Agbeko and others who the revered SWAG award.
“It’s unfortunate that my father [trainer Paul Dogboe] is not here today but he has been the visionary behind all this from day one,” Isaac said. “He does everything to keep Team Dogboe going. He’s the captain of the ship and every day I count myself blessed to have a dad like him. I’m not being biased but I think he’s the best dad in the world.
“I always give all the glory to God in every situation. I see myself just as a vessel moving with God in control. We thank the old warriors like DK Poison, Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey, Joseph Agbeko and other previous champions who paved the way for us to also stand here today. And now that I stand here as your new world champion, I want this to serve as hope for us the current boxers and those coming up that with hard work and determination, we can achieve our dreams.”
–P. Dornu-Leiku
