Willpower boxing tournament extended

The maiden Willpower Amateur Boxing Tournament which got underway on Tuesday at the premises of City Engineers at James Town in Accra has been extended by one day due to boxer glut. The competition would now end on Friday instead of Thursday.

Speaking to the GNA Sports during the during the tournament, Napoleon Tagoe, the chief organiser said they were compelled to add a day to the schedule because of the unexpected high response it has received from boxing clubs in the Greater Accra Region.

He said many more boxers have registered than the organisers had anticipated and because they did not want to discourage any of them, the planners had to accept all registrations despite the loaded schedule, adding that under the circumstances, 30 bouts would be staged a day in order to give every one the chance to fight.

"There are 120 boxers on the roll and we have to make sure that we get a champion for each division and the only way to do so is to stage 30 fights a day."

Meanwhile there were a few protests and disenchantment on the first day of the tournament as some clubs, Akotoku Academy and Sagacious Club threatened to pull out due to unfavourable decisions by the officials.

Coaches Godwin Kottey and Samuel Lamptey deplored the attitude of the judges, claiming that their decisions did not reflect the trend of the fights and that if they continued the way the did, the young boxers who were expected to benefit from the exercise would be discouraged and compelled to quit the sport.

Colonel John Sharpe, former chairman of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) and chairman of the Amateur Referees in Ghana corroborated the position of the two coaches.

He however tried to exonerate the Referees' Association by saying that his outfit did not select officials on duty at the contest, as the GABA did not officially communicate to his association to appoint referees and judges for the tournament

In some of the fights determined on Tuesday, there were three stoppages in the light flyweight division. Emmanuel Aryeh (Attoh Quarshie) stopped Amadu Tetteh (Wisdom Club) as Awura Davies (Fit Square) halted Lankai Mills (Sparta Club) and Oblitey Commey (Attoh Quarshie) impeded Isaac Owusu (Akotoku Academy).

Bantamweight Daniel Larbi (Attoh Quarshie) stopped David Marfo (Akotoku Academy) while Godwin Aryee (Attoh Quarshie) gained a 2-1 decision over Renner Larbi (Willpower) and Tico Alusah won a unanimous 3-0 verdict against Kwesi Attah of Fit Square club.

In the featherweight category, Emmanuel Abikai of Panix Club prevailed over Mustapha Goligo of Saga Club and Yakubu Alhassanof Attoh Quarshie won against Raymond Commey of Panix Club.

The most interesting fight of the day was a lightweight contest between Solomon Tetteh of Willpower Club and Sampson Agbettoh of Wisdom Club. For the three rounds that the fight lasted both boxers stood toe to toe and bombed each other to keep the large crowd on their feet.

In the end Solomon got a 3-0 unanimous decision on the score cards.