The conditions for boxing to become popular were present, he says, as many youth in the then Ga-dominated Jamestown and Bukom communities used to like fighting. Boxing quickly grew popular.<\/p>\n
National amateur boxing team coach Ofori Asare confirms this stating that before the sport was established here, Ghana had a culture of boxing referred to as \u201casafo atswele\u201d or \u201ccocoa asi atswele.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe culture of the people used to bring them together to fight,\u201d says Asare. \u201cThey fight at the beach. They fight when they\u2019re playing or they come together to see who can fight the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cocoa farmers from outside the town would visit Accra on business and challenge the men from the city to a scrap. Both the rural areas and the city had their own culture of fighting.<\/p>\n
In rural areas, foliage would fall under trees in cocoa farms to create a bed of leaves which provided the platform for farmers to fight on.<\/p>\n
According to Williams, in the city there were always quarrels in the streets and market areas and these quarrels would lead to fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cCocoase people were very physically strong. They would come to Accra and Accra people would use a psychological advantage, being from the city, to fight,\u201d says Asare. \u201cSo this kind of Cocoase and Asafo Atswele has molded Ghana into a boxing nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSurprise\u201d Sowah: The Godfather of boxing in Ghana
\u201cBeliever\u201d Williams\u2019 grandfather, Ebenezer \u201cSurprise\u201d Sowah Laryea is largely credited with helping to popularize the sport and for setting a precedent for a good boxing programme in Ghana.<\/p>\n
Sowah is a titan of boxing in Ghana who is revered as the patron saint of the sport here.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurprise\u201d as he was popularly called, earned his nickname for his unpredictable punches in his own career as a boxer.<\/p>\n
Although he was active as a boxer from 1932 to 1956, he started training in 1933 and continued to mold fighters until four years before his death in 1998.<\/p>\n
By the time he started coaching boxing was beginning to become popular in Ghana.<\/p>\n
Surprise helped popularize the sport by training many aspiring fighters and molding them into champions. \u201cHe trained all these great boxers you see in Ghana,\u201d says Williams. His coaching and training programmes established a standard for the quality of boxing in Ghana and set the precedent for today\u2019s boxing programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is the springboard for the present boxing level that we have in Ghana.\u201d According to Williams, most successful boxers in Ghana can trace their training to Surprise Sowah as he is credited with training many of today\u2019s coaches, most of who started out as fighters.<\/p>\n
Asare elaborated, \u201cAll the boxers that you hear about \u2013 Azuma Nelson, Ike Quartey, Nana Yaw Konadu and D.K. Poison \u2013 all of them have a link to Surprise Sowah.\u201d<\/p>\n
His sacrifice, Williams and Asare assert, over many decades went largely unrecognized by sports officials and the public outside of boxing.Still, Surprise\u2019s hard work, discipline and perseverance for the sport in this country is recognized in boxing circles as the foundation for subsequent generations.Jamestown: The Heart and Soul of Boxing in Ghana
The central Accra district of Jamestown and the neighbourhood of Bukom are synonymous with boxing. This fishing community by the ocean and one of the oldest districts in Accra is often equated with the sweet science in the public mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoxing is our everything,\u201d says boxer Emmanuel Adootei Addo. \u201cIt\u2019s our main sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
When pressed to tell why boxing became popular in Jamestown, Coach Williams offered: \u201cJamestown is mostly overpopulated. You\u2019ll see very young boys fighting amongst themselves. So when boxing was introduced, it made the game much more popular.\u201d<\/p>\n
The area is mostly populated by the Ga tribe, who are the indigenes of Accra. \u201cThe Gas like fighting and boxing is about fighting,\u201d says Williams plainly. \u201cSo they took to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addotei Addo buttressed Coach Williams\u2019 statement. \u201cThe Ga people like boxing very much. We are known to be called the atswele or fist people. Gas have the strength in fighting, they have the capacity, they have everything,\u201d says Addo.<\/p>\n
There are roughly a dozen gyms in Jamestown spread out over the district, some of the more popular ones being Attoh Quarshie, Bukom, Will Power, Akotoku Academy, Wisdom Boxing and the Black Partners boxing gyms.<\/p>\n
Posters and billboards of neighbourhood natives are plastered on walls throughout Jamestown. Being there in the afternoon, one is likely to spot Clottey orBanku walking around or playing football with friends and family.<\/p>\n
Many youth aspire to follow in the footsteps of former and current Jamestown greats such as Azuma Nelson, Ike Quartey, Joshua Clottey and current Africa Light Heavyweight champion, Braima Kamoko aka Bukom Banku.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The young people] like to fight. If you are a young person here, you either know how to fight, to play football or both,\u201d says Bukom Banku, as a group of about 15 boys quite literally stomped a kid out on the ground not more than 15 metres from where he sat with DAILY GUIDE.<\/p>\n
Though there are gyms in several regions, Jamestown has made Accra the crux of boxing and has sustained the sport in terms of creating competitions and events.<\/p>\n
Lack of Support
Twenty five year old national super featherweight title contender Emmnauel Addotei Addo is well versed in the politics of boxing in Ghana. He is aware that even with outstanding performance there is a need for promotion, financial support and a little luck to propel him to the international stage.<\/p>\n
He cites many problems with the business of boxing \u2013 there is little money in the sport here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economy is very hard here,\u201d says Addotei Addo. \u201cEvents are not properly advertised and boxers are not promoted outside of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The management structure is inadequate and boxers are left to rely on themselves and their coaches to handle business affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cGhana has great boxers but no management,\u201d he laments. \u201cWe should have many world champions but they end up doing street work, stealing or construction work because of no good food, no support and nowhere to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addotei Addo considers himself one of the lucky ones. He\u2019s set up a small business and through the internet has even managed to garner the interest of managers in the US who have expressed interest in signing him to a management contract.<\/p>\n
Most boxers rely on contributions from family and community members to get by.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf somebody in the community likes you they give what they can,\u201d Addotei Addo says.\u201c[Other times] people overseas may hear of you and donate but it\u2019s not much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many promising prospects languish in anonymity, working doggedly to fashion out a good record in Ghana while awaiting some sort of miracle that will enable them get discovered globally.<\/p>\n
Given the conditions of the industry, it seems like there is little motivation to box.However, Coach Williams chimes in and explains why young people continue to take up the sport in large numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost boxers are poor. They enter boxing feeling that they can become very successful,\u201d Williams begins.<\/p>\n
Jamestown and Bukom are coastal areas and most in the community become fishermen.<\/p>\n
There is little money or opportunity for growth in fishing so the young people take their chances with boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople feel that when they enter into boxing, they will become very popular and make a living out of it. So fishermen who see that their young ones are very strong and have the ability to fight, push them into the sport,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Light heavyweight champ Banku confirms this: \u201cmy father put me into boxing because I didn\u2019t go to school. He told me I should learn to box and be like Azuma and Ike Quartey.\u201d<\/p>\n
The few that do manage to succeed internationally, like Azuma, Quartey and Clottey serve as a huge inspiration to the youth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey realize that some of these boxers have achieved something in the game,\u201d says Williams.<\/p>\n
Besides fishing there is virtually no other industry in Jamestown and Bukom. Most people, if they are not fishermen, are petty traders selling \u2018pure\u2019 water, food and snacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no industries,\u201d says Williams. \u201cThe industries bring about work but there is no industry in these areas so most of them have to do buy and sell. The youth opt for boxing or football.\u201d<\/p>\n
The industry sustains itself by generating a little revenue from competitions. Coaches and boxers are able to earn some money which they either reinvest into their promotions or equipment.<\/p>\n
The gyms in Jamestown, like boxing gyms throughout the country, have aged and rundown equipment.<\/p>\n
A network of voluntary coaches contribute what money they can to sustain boxing gyms and provide rings, heavy bags, head gear and other protective equipment for fighters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the basic things in our gyms.\u201d says Williams. \u201cIt\u2019s very risky. You see our boys train on the bare floor sometimes. They don\u2019t even have money to buy gloves, so they improvise gloves. It\u2019s very risky.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to state that sometimes boxers spar without gum shields, risking serious damage to the teeth.<\/p>\n
Boxers and coaches alike assert that the government should make financial contributions to the industry, as it does with football and assist in erecting a proper institutional structure for the sport.<\/p>\n
The sport of boxing is underfunded, under equipped and disregarded by government and the public at large.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur leaders must make good use of the potential the country has and invest in boxing,\u201d says coach Asare.<\/p>\n
Boxing is often overshadowed by football which receives massive support from government and the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment keeps making promises to support boxing but they only have an eye for football,\u201d says Addotei Addo.<\/p>\n
Coach Asare confirms this. \u201cWe are all football crazy, even boxers, but we should know what talent we have in boxing, what we can do and what we can sell and work on to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ghana is one of the premiere boxing nations that has produced multiple champions despite the lack of adequate boxing programs in the nation. Young prospect Adottei Addo feels that with good support, there is no limit to the potentials of boxing in Ghana.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur leaders must do the right thing and develop boxing,\u201d he says after another long day at the gym. \u201cYou must know what you have.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n