Bukom Fist of Fury: new Ghana boxing league bells off tonight

The countdown is over and beginning tonight at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra, the new Ghana boxing league christened Bukom Fist of Fury returns with juvenile, amateur and professional fights scheduled to run every two weeks. Accordingly, there will be a total of 26 shows per year, 13 for the first round and another 13 in the second round interspaced by a few weeks’ break.

Fight action will be complemented by best of Ghanaian music, fashion and food bazaars to provide the platform not just for boxing to fluorish, but also for other Ghanaian brands to sell themselves to the world on a show that will be screened live on national television, all aimed at promoting brand Ghana to the world through the boxing ring.

The brainchild of Moses Foh-Amoaning, a former Chairman of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) under whose tenure a previous Mortein Boxing League launched and took place successfully in the mid-2000s, the re-launched league has been earmarked to remain on the Ghanaian boxing calendar for years to come, all in the bid to develop the sport to produce more world champions from Ghana than ever before.

“Years ago, we started this boxing league and it was very successful producing good boxers like George Ashie, the Amidu brothers and many others. Unfortunatley we couldn’t continue the process, it was cut short due to financing but thanks to our former Chairman, Moses Foh-Amoaning who was appointed by the GBA as a consultant to this project last year, we’ve managed to secure sponsorship and we are delighted to bring back the league,” said GBA President, Peter Zwennes at Wednesday’s final press conference ahead of tonight’s bell-off.

“This new league is comprehensive and involves the GBA working in collaboration with the Ghana Boxing Federation and the Juvenile Boxing Board which was recently inaugurated to help promote the sport at juvenile level. We thank God that GNPC, ADB and others have volunteered to sponsor this competition, the boxing league is here to stay,” Mr. Zwennes added.

In the event of the maiden show tonight, four professional fights are scheduled, Delali Miledzi faces Iddrisa Amadu for the Ghana super middleweight title, Daniel Lartey against John Akulugu in a Ghana super welterweight championship, David Kotey versus Success Tetteh in a featherweight contest and Theophilus Ofei Dodoo AKA Bukom Shitto against Isaac Tetteh at middleweight.

But at the core of the Bukom Fist of Fury is juvenile and amateur fight action which will involve 14 boxing gyms in Accra, some fused to compete against each other on a points grading system. 4 fighters from each gym get to compete on each night against another team. Victory accrues 3 points, one point for a draw and zero for a loss. There are also moderate finacial remunerations for all participants each fight night.

“When we went to the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, we realised our boxers were very disadvanataged against most of their opponents in terms of fight experience, but for that we believe we could have won more medals. We just finished our individual championships and this league will be a big plus for the selected boxers because most of them will be taking part,” George Lamptey, President of the Ghana Boxing Federation which runs amateur boxing in this country, noted.