Lawrence “Carl” Lokko, founder and lead trainer of the Bronx Boxing Club in Accra, Ghana, has kept silent now—until now.
On Tuesday, August 10, Lokko appeared on The Tracker, hosted by Benjamin Nketsia on the Ghana terrestrial platform, Citi TV.
The coach recalled how he got started in boxing, ultimately switched over to training and his work as technical adviser on the Ghana Boxing Authority.
But when asked about his split with former world lightweight champion Richard Commey, Lokko let loose, opening up about the separation which occurred approximately two years ago.
Lokko was Commey’s trainer from his amateur days up until 2018—prior to the fighter’s move to the U.S. In that time, the two fought for a world title in September 2016, losing a disputed split decision to American Robert Easter Jr.
Commey would lose his next bout, also via split decision, to Denis Shafikov in Shafikov’s native Russia.
Commey’s next bout occurred in Ghana at Bukom Boxing Arena, where he headlined versus Hedi Slimani in March 2017. Though he won a 12-round unanimous decision, his performance was lackluster at best.
After securing a promotional deal with DiBella Entertainment, Commey relocated to the US and began training with Andre Rozier while Lokko remained in Accra. However, the boxer opted to make the move permanent, a decision that still burns Lokko today.
“At the time, the trainer he is with now (Andre Rozier) was aware that Commey is my boxer,” Lokko said during the interview. “We were connected and we were always chatting. He was supposed to be the caretaker trainer until I arrived in the United States.
“That is when Commey’s manager had communicated to me until things changed. He called me over the phone telling me that Commey wanted to speak to me.
“I asked him why he would not do the speaking since he was the manger but he insisted that I speak to Commey instead.
“Commey told me that he wanted to upgrade himself as a boxer and thus wanted to train full time with Rozier. What can I say? I said it was cool because I believed in what I was doing but later he came back saying that he wanted to move fully to the camp of Rozier.
“I said, ‘wow, when did you have this change of mind?’ I cannot suppress his decision so I asked him to consider what people will say because, they know where I came from with him and what we were pushing for but he would not budge.
“Finally I told him that I would like to be assistant to Rozier since we could be both upgrade together but he told me that he wanted his privacy.
“How can a human being talk like this?”
Lokko went on to accuse Commey of attempting to ruin his gym and instigate boxers there to leave and go elsewhere.
Since leaving Lokko, Commey would go on to capture the IBF World Lightweight title in February 2019 and make a title defense. However, he would lose that strap via TKO to the undefeated Teofimo Lopez that December.
Commey is currently on lockdown in Ghana, awaiting word on his next bout. He and Lokko have not reconciled and do not speak to each other.
