By Peter Quao Adattor
Introduction
Despite being a nation rich in boxing talent, Ghana has struggled to maintain its dominance on the global stage. Following the golden era of Azumah Zoom Zoom Nelson, Ike Bazooka Quartey, Joshua Clottey, and Joseph Agbeko, the country’s presence in world boxing has waned. The new generation, Richard Commey, Isaac Dogboe, and others, have fallen short in their bids for sustained international success while promising fighters like Emmanuel Game Boy Tagoe, Sena Agbeko, and Okunka Lawson have faded before reaching their peak. To make matters worse, Ghana’s performance in the Olympics and other international competitions has also declined.
The Problem
Challenges such as limited exposure, inadequate support, poor training facilities, under-resourced technical trainers, weak infrastructure, poor management, and biased officiating have all contributed to this downturn. Additionally, successive governments’ excessive focus on football at the expense of other sports, particularly boxing, Ghana’s most successful discipline on the international stage, has further deepened the sport’s struggles.
The Intervention
However, after years of setbacks, authorities in Ghana boxing fraternity are implementing new strategies to reclaim past glory. Leading this resurgence is the Ghana Professional Boxing League, now in its third season, backed by a five-year partnership between the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) and Imax Media Group. This initiative follows an earlier attempt with Ghana Gas that failed to achieve its desired impact.
Additionally, the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF) has introduced a competitive amateur boxing league with support from the Trust Sports Emporium, offering young boxers regular opportunities to hone their skills and prepare for the big stage. The pilot phase featured 36 participants across six weight categories, (Flyweight– 51 kg Men, 52 kg Women; Bantamweight- 54 kg Men, 54 kg Women; Featherweight- 57 kg Men, 57 kg Women; Lightweight- 60 kg Men: 60 kg Women; Light-welterweight- 63.5kg Men 63 kg, Women; Welterweight- 67 kg Men, 66 kg Women; Middleweight 75 kg Men, 75 kg, Women.) This initiative, which is set to launch on Friday, April 4, will span 15 weeks and is poised to become a permanent fixture on Ghana’s boxing calendar. But what are the intricate details of this initiative?
Video journalist and boxing analyst Peter Quao Adattor (PAQ) delves into the motivations behind this initiative, speaking with key stakeholders to understand their vision and the future of Ghana’s boxing renaissance.
In the first episode of my three-part series, I shine the spotlight on the Managing Director of the Trust Sports Emporium, Shirley Acquaah-Harrison.
PAQ; Now, tell me, what motivated you to go through this venture?
SAH: Okay soat Trust Sports Empodium, our mission is to build a pipeline of world champions. And as I keep saying, if you are building a house and the foundation isn’t strong, it’ll crumble. So as part of achieving our mission, we have to get to the root of boxing, which is the Amateur boxers. And one thing that made the case for us was when we hosted the boxers during the Africa Games. We realized that there were quite many gaps in our boxing so we discussed it with the GBF president. And it was something he had thought about so we said why not have a boxing league, where the boxers would be trained properly so that the winners would represent Ghana for the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, etc? So, they can win some medals. Because the moment we do that and they go and win the medals, we will have achieved our mission of building world champions. So that was the basis for this.
We also knew that people didn’t understand some of the reasoning behind the scoring.
Because they think that, oh, we’ve seen this person throw a punch, so the person should win.
But, boxing, just like football, has its rules and regulations. So, what we are going to do is to ensure that we create programs around the fight itself. So, we have pundits to come and discuss why this person won, etc. So, people understand the rules surrounding boxing. Then, in the long run, it will minimize the violence and confusion that sometimes characterizes these events. Because people don’t understand why somebody that they’ve seen throwing so many punches should lose. But technically, maybe where he was being hit wasn’t correct.
And someone may throw just a few punches but land at the correct places. So, we’ll be doing a lot of things to educate the public in general and also the boxing fraternity.
PAQ: What are you bringing on board as an organizing partner?
SAH: So, at Trust Sports Emporium, we have world-class facilities for sports and other events. So, we are using our facilities to promote this. So, what we want is for Corporate Ghana to come in and support us. Because the boxers need to be well-fed, the referees need to be paid, etc. So, if we want to have very good results, we ask Corporate Ghana to come and support us to ensure that we are building these future champions together. Some of the companies can decide to adopt various boxers as part of their sponsorship of the program.
So, we are open. Our doors are open. Anybody who wants to help should come on board and let’s do this together because it’s going to be a massive event.
PAQ: How long do you plan to do this?
SAH: Okay for this year this is the first one, every year we are going to do it. But what is happening is that there are going to be six weight categories, and for each weight category there are going to be six boxers, and there is a league so it’s like all play all kind of thing, and it’s going to go on for fifteen weeks, which is eight months. And next year we will start season two and it will follow year after year.
PAQ: You have been at the ringside today. What have you seen so far? Are you excited?
SAH: Yes, am highly excited.Very excited.I was telling some of my colleagues that if this is the justify your inclusion then I wonder how the real events would be because people are really fighting like this is the finals. So, I think it’s going to be a very promising activity. I’m really happy about it.
PAQ: So far, do you have any corporate companies showing interest?
SAH: Yes,a few have shown interest and it’s encouraging because as a marketer myself, usually, you want to be sure of an event before you put in your money.So sometimes when it’s something new, it’s difficult for people to easily come on board. But if it’s something that has happened before and they see the benefits, then it’s easier. But what I would say is that you can’t go wrong with boxing at the Bukom Boxing Arena because we don’t have less than 4,000 people at any event. This is one single event that’s going to give you so many people and it’s continuous for eight solid months. You just can’t go wrong by coming on board with this one.
PAQ: Thank you very much.
SAH: Thank you too.
By Peter Quao Adattor/PAQmediagh.com
