Boxing Front In Turmoil - Mass Boycott Looms

Ghana Boxing plunges into further crisis this week with resolutions and threats of a mass boycott of the Men Only tournament slated for May 26.

In the latest twist to the stand-off between Chairman Foh-Amoaning and the boxing constituents opposed to his leadership, ring officials, boxers, coaches and managers have all given the chairman conditions he must meet, failing which would lead to a boycott of the Men Only league.

At an emergency meeting held in Accra last Wednesday, the Ghana boxing ring officials warned that they would withdraw from the remaining tournaments of the league “if the chairman continues to keep us in the dark as far as officiating fees are concerned.”

Their resolution to that effect was circulated yesterday to other members of the authority, some of whom were said to be unaware of the financial details of the sponsored programme.

Simultaneous to the ring officials' meeting in Accra, representatives of the various gyms comprising coaches, boxers and managers held their own meeting at Bukom and demanded direct dealings with Metro Television, the tournament promoters.

A spokesman for the managers and coaches, Rashid Williams said they are opposed to the arrangement where the GBA chairman plays the role of a middleman between the promoters and the boxers/managers.

Affirming their position in a resolution to the promoters, the stakeholders alleged that in his current role, the GBA chairman played the role of promoter, manager of all the boxers as well as the match maker.

They alleged that it was the chairman who decided which boxers to engage and how much to pay them.

“The most dangerous of all is that most of the boxers enter the ring without them or their managers seeing their contracts. God forbid, if an accident should occur in the ring.”

Mr Williams confirmed that they resolved at the meeting to petition Metro TV and demand direct dealings with the promoters since “Moses has no contract to manage or promote any boxer.”

While the managers/coaches and the GBA chairman have been at it for sometime now, trouble over officiating fees broke out between the GBA chairman and the ring officials after the Ghana @ 50 Boxing tournament in Accra last March.

After that programme, the officials rejected the total of ¢2.2 million offered by the GBA Chairman to be shared among the 11 officials who handled the eight-bout programme including a Commonwealth elimination bout.

Accusing the chairman of persistent refusal to discuss financial matters at this critical stage, the ring officials warned that in future their continued participation in the Men Only tournament would depend on “our full participation in the financial negotiations.”

Thirty per cent of the Men Only net proceeds goes to the Ghana Boxing Authority with the remaining 70 per cent going to Metro Television.

Story by Sam Okaitey