Ghana national boxing team coach Kwasi Ofori Asare says poor preparation is the cause of Duke Micah’s defeat to John Riel Casimero last Saturday.
Micah, in his first world title bout, lost miserably to his Filipino opponent via third-round TKO.
Coach Asare described the defeat as shocking in a ghanaweb.com interview, blaming it on Micah’s corner which is spearheaded by coach Andre Rozier.
Coach Asare says Micah was not his usual self which makes him think that he was ill-prepared for the bout.
“We all expected victory but couldn’t get that. When I watched the fight, I felt that Micah was not himself,” said Asare. “You could see that the confidence wasn’t there so I think the preparation was poor.”
Coach Asare said that Micah’s defeat should serve as a lesson to other boxers and their teams.
He challenged Ghanaian boxers not to wait until a bout is approaching before they train as they are usually not given enough time to prepare for bouts.
“It should serve as a lesson to everybody to train harder,” Asare noted. “If you want to be a world champion, you have to beat the best. Other than that you cannot be a world champion. In our part of the world, you need to prepare and wait for the opportunity. You don’t have to wait for the opportunity before you prepare”.
He noted that, unlike Micah who appeared rusty and unfit, Casimero looked prepared to take on any boxer because he had been preparing for a unification bout.
“The guy was very fit because he was training for a unification bout and that didn’t come on. His fitness surprised Micah. Micah wanted a world title but was not fit. It’s a lesson for us all, we must prepare well ahead of bouts,” he said.
–ghanaweb.com
