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Editorial News of Monday, 15 February 1999

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Daily Graphic

The Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey World Boxing Council Welterweight title fight last Saturday, takes the centre stage of the Daily Graphic. It has a front page headline which says: "Ike, gallant loss...A wild final round derailed his efforts". The paper says unlike most boxing fights which fail to live up to the hype, the Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey WBC welterweight Championship at the Thomas and Mack Centre in Las Vegas, United States, was a classic worth its billing.

The Graphic reports that most commentators and fans agreed that it was the most competitive welterweight bout in two decades. According to the paper, the split points result which ensured that the American "Golden Boy", De La Hoya, kept his crown and his unbeaten Record while Ghana's Ike Quartey was handed his first defeat, will remain a subject of controversy and debate for a long time to come. The verdict could have gone either way, the paper adds. Two of the three judges - Japanese Ken Morifa and John Keane of England made Oscar the winner by 116-112 and 116- 113 respectively. The other English judge, Larry O'Connel, however, had Ike winning by 115-114. The Graphic reports that about one hour after the fight, the Ghanaian challenger emerged from the dressing room to vehemently protest that he had been given a raw deal. "I did all the fighting and allDe La Hoya did was just ti survuve to be given the verdict", Ike is reported as saying. The paper says some ringsiders and commentators agreed with his assessment but the majority were of the view that the bout was so close that a draw would have been a fairer result.

In another front page story headlined "Report cases of sexual harassment to CHRAJ", says the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has advised victims of sexual harassment to report such cases to the Commission to enable it to investigate them. Mr Francis Emile Short, Commissioner of CHRAJ, who gave the advice is reported as saying that the Commission is aware that sexual harassment is prevalent in the Ghanaian society but victims are reluctant to report such cases because they fear victimisation and reprisals. He defined sexual harasment to include any unwelcome sexual advances, request ffor sexual favours and verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. The Graphic quotes Mr Short as saying that sexual harassment constitutes sexual discrimination which is against the law and impressing upon victims to report such cases to enable the Commission to investigate and take the appropriate action.