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FEATURE: Sports Ministry must act now to save our boxers!
I support the views shared by veteran boxing promoter and administrator, Alhaji Muritela Tofik, when he said the Minister of Youth and Sports had not showed any commitment in helping boxing resume in the midst of the COVID-19 fight.
It’s been six months since the government placed an embargo on all contact sports in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19.
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During this period, boxers, trainers, promoters and managers have had to be idle without a living. It has really been a difficult moment for stakeholders in the boxing fraternity.
They keep training with the hope of making a ring return but to no avail. In President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s 16th national address on the COVID-19 fight, I expected to hear a positive news on contact sports but nothing was mentioned.
Is that to say that the government isn’t hearing the cry of these fighters who solely depend on boxing to survive?
Well, even though I blame the government for the treatment meted out to these boxers, I think the ministry’s commitment must be questioned.
What has been done to show their commitment to helping the sport return? I asked because the government takes decisions based on engagements with stakeholders and if you are unable to convince them, it will be impossible to be given the green light. Is that the case?
Engagements
I know there have been consultations between the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) and National Sports Authority (NSA) on the preparedness of the sanctioning body should the government give the free light to return.
What became of those engagements because I’m aware that the GBA presented a document to support how it intends to meet the government’s COVID-19 protocols.
Subsequently, the GBA decided to present a petition to the government to inform it about its readiness to meet the protocols should boxing return.
What really informed the decision to write directly to the government shows that the GBA feels it had to fight for itself in this difficult times.
I don’t blame them. Sometimes, you have to air your grievances to the highest authority when you feel your channel of meeting them is not working, and that’s exactly what the GBA did.
As a body, the Ministry of Youth and Sports should ensure it fights for the interest of all sportsmen and women, and boxers are no exception.
They have been crying for long to be heard but nothing is being done about their plight. It is a very difficult situation for some of us who are so close to these fighters, and we feel their pain.
Maybe the ministry is fighting hard to ensure boxing returns but we are not seeing anything and it’s disheartening. The onus lie on it to make the boxing fraternity feel it is really fighting its cause because the more the ban keeps long, the more the sport suffers.
Losing positions
I want to laud the President for opening the borders for travels because it will really help most of our fighters. For instance, Emmanuel “Gameboy”
Tagoe lost world title eliminator fights because he couldn’t travel to the US due to travel restrictions.
My only concern has to do with the plight of local fighters who are highly rated by sanctioning bodies but are not able to fight. It is a setback to their careers.
Joseph King Kong Agbeko, Wasiru “Gyatabi” Mohammed and Manyo Plange, among others, are all in the WBO and WBA’s top 10 ratings in their respective weight divisions.
How will they maintain or move up in these ratings when they are not being competitive due to restrictions from staging bouts in the country? I feel their pain whenever I see their opponents in the ratings fighting in their respective countries.
This is why I feel the sports ministry hasn’t done enough for our fighters by convincing the government to bail boxers out by giving the green light for them to begin fighting.
With the way things are going, I foresee most of Ghana’s highly-rated boxers dropping in their ratings when the next rankings are released. It is obvious that they will definitely drop when they are inactive.
The earlier government chose to give way for contact sports to commence, the better for our professional fighters. I hope the relief comes as soon as possible to help them out.
In all these, the ministry must act to help fast-track the process. The ball is in its court to save the careers of our boxers!.
