Agbeko not mentally ready for May 26 IBO title bout

Former IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko says he is not mentally ready for the IBO title bout on May 26 even though he is well conditioned.

Agbeko made this revelation exclusively on the May 12 edition of the Joy Sports Link during a discussion concerning the reactivation of the otherwise cancelled world title fight.

“In terms of training I have been in the gym for the last 15 weeks so I am fit but I am not mentally ready for the fight,” he revealed.

This was Agbeko's response to certain claims made by the bankroller of Golden Mike Promotions, Mr Henry Manly-Spain about his passive attitude towards the bout on the same programme.

According to Mr Manly-Spain, the bout was originally supposed to come in February but had to be rescheduled to May 26 because Agbeko said that date was more suitable for him.

“The problem came from Agbeko's camp. We demanded certain things from his camp to help us to beef up our organisation process but he failed to provide them. That's the reason why we encountered problems,” Mr Manly-Spain said.

Agbeko has already stated that he has been training in Accra for more than two months but major disagreements with Accra-based Golden Mike Promotions concerning aspects of organisation of the May 26 event affected his psyche.

He earlier mentioned to Joy Sports during a visit to the Bridge Boxing Gym where he was training that he was very unhappy with the way the bout was being publicised with limited time remaining for the fight night.

Joy Sports gathered that a crunch meeting which took place on Friday May 11, saw both parties resolve to go ahead with the bout on the originally scheduled date of May 26.

As things stand now, the May 26 bill will come off at the El-Wak Stadium with other big supporting bouts.

WBO Africa light heavyweight champion Brimah Kamoko, the Bukom Banku will defend his title against Vitaly Rusal of Ukraine.

Joshua Okine the Bukom Tsatsu will fight Rafael Sosa Pintos of Uruguay for the WBO interim super welterweight title.

Emmanuel Tagoe, the Game boy will face Italy's Antonio De Vitis for the IBF intercontinental super featherweight championship while Samuel Amoako takes a shot at the WBO Africa lightweight title against Ramon Esperanza of Paraguay.

Golden Mike promotions has been the most prominent boxing promotion outfit in the country in the last three years putting together big bouts to promote boxers, including Bukom Banku, Joshua Okine and Emmanuel Tagoe who have as a result won titles to give them good international ratings.

Golden Mike has also attracted credible boxers form Europe and South America to fight Ghanaian boxers over the period.