Allotey and Lartey win WBA titles

Accra, Aug 5, GNA - Ghana's Lartei Lartey and Kpakpo Allotey overcame South African opponents on Sunday morning at the Globe Cinema in Accra to annex WBA titles.

Lartey won a unanimous points decision over Kaiser Mabuza in a super lightweight fight to win the African Boxing Union (ABU and the World Boxing Association (WBA) International titles, which were at stake, while Kpakpo won the WBA Pan African lightweight title via a fifth round stoppage of Gabriel Phakula.

Lartey started fiercely and sought an early end to the fight but the South African proved he was no mincemeat as he countered with precision and scored as much as Lartey did in the first two rounds. In the third, Lartey increased the tempo of the fight and gained some respect from his opponent as Mabuza got stunned midway through the round with a powerful left hook.

But the Ghanaian failed to press further and allowed the South African to recover.

The fourth saw Lartey chasing his opponent from one side of the ring to the other but unfortunately, he failed to time his punches and missed a couple of good opportunities to land effective punches. The tide changed from the fifth as Mabuza gained in confidence and became the aggressor. The taller South African silenced the Ghanaian crowd as he delivered combinations and forced Lartey to the back foot. The Sough African's dominance continued in the next three rounds as Lartey appeared exhausted and vulnerable on all fronts. The fight took another turn from the eighth round as a resurgent Lartey regained the driving seat and began piling pressure on his opponent. Lartey decided to fight from close quarters and his tactics paid off, giving him the advantage to hammer Mabuza with his solid left hooks.

Tiredness began to show in the performance of the two boxers and the fight lost a great deal of its shine from the ninth. But it was Lartey who kept on pressing and delivering the harder punches as he forced the match into a brawl, which the South African found difficult to contain.

The pattern remained in favour of the homeboy in the last three rounds as he kept up the pressure and chased Mabuza round the ring hitting him with sturdy right and left combinations till the final bell. In the end judge Ataa Eddie Pappoe scored the fight 119-111 while Adorn Bertin made it 117-111 and Emmanuel Brenya registered 117-113 all in favour of Lartey to give him a unanimous decision.

When Kpakpo Allotey mounted the ring against Phakula, both boxers showed a lot of respect for each other and this caused the first round to end without any of the boxers landing an effective punch. Indeed Phakula threw three, which failed to connect while Kpakpo did not throw any punch at all, though he chased his opponent round the ring through the entire duration of the round. The second round was also a very tame one, which lacked any real action.

Kpakpo got out of his shells in the third and threw a couple of right shots but Phakula was very much alert and ducked effectively to avoid any danger.

The bombs of the Ghanaian began landing in the fourth and Phakula winced and grinned at the impact of the punches.

Early in the fifth, the South African hit the floor from a right hammer and referee Roger Barnor administered the count, which terminated at eight when Phakula showed his readiness to continue fighting. Soon after that, Kpakpo attacked the South African fiercely and after about four un-replied punches, referee Barnor went in between the two boxers to signal a stoppage, thus giving Kpakpo a fifth round technical knockout.

And true to expectation, the South African complained about the stoppage.

Manny Fernandes, coach of the two South African boxers said "the referee stopped the fight prematurely because my boxer was not in any danger at the time he stopped it."

He said it was a title fight and it would have been fair for the referee to allow the fight to continue a bit longer since his boxer was still very strong and was in a position to defend himself, adding that "may be the referee saw it differently."

Phakula also said he was not in any danger and blamed referee Barnor for stopping the fight.

He said he still had a lot of energy in him and was surprised that the referee stopped the fight at the time he did. The South African said he would like to fight Kpakpo again, preferably outside Accra.

In the under cards, Herbert Quartey recorded a sixth round technical knockout victory over Alfred Quaye in a super bantamweight fight over eight rounds, while Prosper Ankrah gained a unanimous decision over Daniel Quartey in another super bantamweight fight over eight rounds.

Kofi Manu won by TKO against Joe Nyame when they fought in a super welterweight contest over eight rounds and George Ashie also recorded a TKO victory over Aminu Turkson when they fought in a lightweight contest over eight rounds.

In a female lightweight contest over four rounds, Amerley Turkson drew with Gifty Ankrah while Ayi Bruce knocked out Collison Quartey in the fourth of their scheduled eight round super lightweight contest.