The tired refrain that “Ghana Boxing is dying” has been spouted for years. Ghana boxing will never die. Sadly, in its current state, death may be the better option.
Two years into a four-year term, the Abraham Kotei Neequaye-led Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) has turned Ghana boxing into a banana republic. Be it quality or quantity, boxing events in Ghana are at an all-time low. Resources are sorely lacking. So too is a concrete plan to grow the sport. Morale has hit rock bottom. And the GBA’s self-serving approach is the driving force behind it all.
On Saturday, October 7, the Ghana Professional Boxing League, a fight league launched by the GBA in February 2022, held an event at Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra. On this card, Emmanuel Quartey (6-0-1, 4 KOs) of Bronx Boxing Club faced Jerry Lartey (2-0-1, 1 KO) of the Ghana Armed Forces in a welterweight contest.
After six hotly contested rounds, Quartey won a split decision. One day later, Neequaye announced that, following an emergency GBA meeting, he was changing Quartey’s victory to a draw.
“I was shocked to hear the GBA boss on IMAX Media a day after the fight saying the verdict had been changed to a draw because he did not even inform the interested parties,” said Lawrence Carl Lokko, Quartey’s coach and founder of Bronx Boxing Club.
“We only heard about it on television and this is not acceptable,” said Lokko, who is also one of the most well respected trainers in the nation and the one who guided Richard Commey for the bulk of his pro career, including his Fight of the Year 2016 world title bout against Robert Easter Jr. “My team will appeal the decision by writing to GBA because it is unconstitutional.”
Questions remain as to who attended this meeting—if one occurred at all. Naturally, the GBA president refutes this claim.
“I did nothing wrong with that decision because everyone at the Bukom Boxing Arena on the night of the fight was not happy with the results,” Neequaye told Asempa FM.
“After the fight, I sent the video to the biggest boxing judge in Ghana to score the fight and after doing that twice, he recommended that Lartey deserved to win.”
Neequaye says he opted not to involve related parties due to prior occurrences where judges were influenced through corrupt practices.
“Last year, we ensured that we sought opinions from all boxers and judges before we altered controversial results but we realized that most of the judges were being manipulated financially.
“Carl Lokko deceived the boxer’s mother and supporters into believing that I cheated Quartey but that was not the case. I had to act to save the image of the ongoing [Ghana Professional] League.”
The image of Neequaye’s league certainly needs salvation. Lokko believes Neequaye had other motives for his actions. Stakeholders in Ghana boxing whisper that the GBA head is acting as a promoter through the professional league and using his role atop the sport’s governing body to monopolize a market he was elected to regulate. Nearly all of the pro events in Ghana are under the auspices of the Ghana Professional Boxing League. Other promoters have few dates and little say as Neequaye.
The structure of the league is also of concern. Many of Ghana’s stakeholders, those who don’t benefit from being part of the GBA, are at odds with the organization. Hence, the bulk of Ghana’s best boxers do not participate in the league.
This has led to the GBA enticing underdeveloped amateur talent to prematurely turn pro to help fill their cards.
The result? Poorly matched professional bouts and a talent drain among the amateurs.
“What we need to do is to organize a talent search and hunt for amateur boxers, groom them, hone their skills for the national cause,” says Ghana boxing legend Ike Quartey.
Charles Quartey, founder and lead trainer of the Charles Quartey Boxing Foundation (CABF), agrees. CABF earned the 2022 “Best Gym” award from the professional league after a number of Quartey’s fighters impressed during the tourney. Yet Quartey has mixed feelings.
“I can’t say it is entirely good for half-baked boxers to continue turning pro just to be in the league,” Quartey told BoxingAfrica.com. “But then again you need to ask what they would be doing as amateur fighters since many will miss out on making the national amateur team.
Former welterweight world champion Joshua Clottey believes the pro boxing league has done more harm than good to both amateur and professional boxing in Ghana.
“The biggest problem is seeing very inexperienced amateur fighters making their debut against experienced boxers on the league and you ask yourself who sanctioned such fights,” said Clottey.
“This is killing the amateur arm of the sport because when a debutant loses to an experienced fighter, he can just lose his confidence and that would be the end of his career.”
Alex Ntiamoah-Boakye, CEO of Box Office Sports Promotions, is widely considered the biggest promoter in Ghana. Ntiamoah has been at odds with the GBA over a number of issues. In June, he was handed a two-year suspension by the GBA for “… violating a Ga State ban on drumming and noise-making.” Ntiamoah says the lack of activity and a clear-cut plan to get the best out of amateur boxers in Ghana forces amateurs to turn pro in order to make a living.
“When Samuel Takyi qualified and won a bronze medal at the Olympics, there was an amateur league in session which made most of the fighters active,” he noted.
“As it stands, all the amateur fighters in the country are running to fight on the pro league just to make a living and that is where we are now. It is very scary and we have to act to save the sport now.”
According to these respected voices, the system in place is ineffective and actively hurting the sport. Yet Ghana boxing stakeholders have done little to stop the bleeding in a sport currently on life support. Will we see change in 2024, a plan to develop talent and rebuild what was once the breadbasket of Africa boxing? Or will it be more of the same? Stay tuned.
