The Ghana Boxing Association is asking the general public to ignore threats by the Ga Traditional Council to scuttle the judgement day bout between Bukom Bank and Aryittey Powers.
President of the Association Peter Zwennes said the position by the Council is most unfortunate.
The Traditional Council in a statement issued, Wednesday said the organisers of the bout have been warned to reschedule the bout or be held responsible for any mishap on the night.
Acting President of the Traditional Council Nii Duodu Nsaki in an interview with Joy News said the bout, if allowed to go on, would contravene age-old custom and tradition of the Gas.
He said the “two boxers come from Accra. The supporters come from Accra and most of the people come from Accra. So when the boxing starts the noise will start from Accra.”
But in a sharp rebuttal, the GBA President Peter Zwennes said the concerns of the Ga Traditional Council are misplaced and untenable.
He explained the Boxing Authority, which respects the Ga traditions, sat with the Osu Traditional Council, the council under whose jurisdiction the bout would be held and agreed that the bout would be shifted from the original date of Friday May 16 to Thursday May 15.
The ban on drumming and noise making within the Osu Traditional Council is set to begin on May 16, a reason why the bout date was brought forward.
Peter Zwennes found it intriguing that the Ga Traditional Council which has a separate time table for placing and lifting a ban on people living within their catchment area would now jump into the fray and demand that a boxing bout in another jurisdiction be cancelled because they have placed a ban on drumming and noise making.
“The GBA is not an appendage of the Ga Traditional Council. The Council has no power to cancel any bout arranged by the boxing authority.”
He said the GBA has no “intention of complying with the directive from the council,” adding the public must “ignore the press release; the fight will surely be on.”
He also described as ridiculous explanations that supporters who would come to Osu to watch the bout would carry the noise over to Accra where the ban on noise making had been imposed.
He said if that were the case boxing bouts anywhere in the world would have to be postponed during the period of the ban on drumming and noisemaking in the Ga Traditional area because such bouts would also generate some amount of noise and controversy.
He said the Ga Traditional Council must rather take it upon themselves to educate the residents living there to respect the ban and stop riding on the back of this bout to seek cheap popularity.
He insisted the bout would come on as planned.
He also described as a hoax, reports that the two pugilists are asking for 50,000 cedis each before honouring the bout.
This article has 0 comment, leave your comment.