Ghanaian boxing hampered by lack of top domestic fights, says promoter

A leading boxing promoter has voiced serious concerns about the state of Ghanaian boxing, arguing that a reluctance to pit the nation’s best fighters against each other is significantly hindering their development and chances of international success.

Isaac Adu Amankwaah, General Manager of Ace Power Promotions, made the frank assessment in an exclusive interview with Le Press Box, highlighting a long-held belief that undefeated records in domestic bouts translate to greater financial rewards on the global stage.

Amankwaah emphatically dismissed this notion, stating that it prevents crucial match-ups that would test and ultimately improve Ghanaian boxers.

“The best boxers are not fighting the best boxers in Ghana because there is this notion that if my boxer has a good record,” he asserted.

“When I get an opportunity for him to fight in the United States or, let’s say, in the United Kingdom or anywhere, because he has never lost any fight before, because he probably has a 9-0 [record], so he has not lost before, they will give me more money, but that’s a lie and it’s not true.”

He illustrated this point with examples from the featherweight division, noting the absence of a contest between highly rated fighters John Abaja Laryea [14-0, 11 KOs] and Holy Dorgbetor [12-0, 7 KOs].

“The best boxers in featherweight have never met in Ghana… Abaja fought in the US recently; he’s one of our best in the featherweight division… Holy Dorgbetor, he is one of our best… the two of them have not met. Why haven’t they met? They should have fought by now. It’s because everybody is trying to protect his boxer, sort of.”

Beyond the issue of fighter pairings, Amankwaah also pointed to a critical lack of funding as a major impediment to the growth of Ghanaian boxing and its ability to compete internationally.

“There’s a problem of funding. So, for example, promoters don’t have enough money to stage enough fights to make our fighters competitive; that’s a huge problem.”

He further elaborated on the funding shortfall within the Ghana Boxing Federation, drawing a stark comparison with the development of boxers in other nations.

“By the time an American boxer gets to the Olympics, at minimum, he has fought 150 times… But here, the maximum we fight, even if you get 30, that’s praise God.”

Amankwaah’s comments come ahead of his “Uplifting Ghana Boxing” seminar, scheduled for Wednesday, 26 March, at the Trust Sports Emporium’s Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra.

He explained that the event aims to address these multifaceted problems with key stakeholders in the Ghanaian boxing community.

“We feel that the problems of the game is multifaceted, and we feel that by being frank and telling ourselves that, listen, we have been doing this the wrong way; let’s benchmark it to other places and see how they do it and ask ourselves if we have been doing it right,” Amankwaah concluded.

He stressed that the current lack of world champions is a result of a “systematic problem” that needs to be addressed urgently through open dialogue and a change in approach.