Ambition and Nii Armah boxing syndicate disintegrates

Accra, Aug 25, GNA - Ambition and Nii Armah Boxing Promotion Syndicate, one of the most active and most successful boxing promotion outfits in the country has crumbled. The disintegration stems from disagreement over a Commonwealth super welterweight title fight between the holder, Osumanu Yahaya and Osumanu Adama, the youthful challenger.

Alhaji Muritala Tofik who sits over one half of the promotion syndicate under the designation of Ambition manages Yahaya, while Nii Armah who is the custodian of the other half manages Osumanu Adama. Announcing the split in Accra on Wednesday, Nii Armah said he was disappointed that his partner would try to dribble him after they had agreed to make their boxers fight for Yahaya's title on October 30. Tendering a copy of the unsigned contract papers to buttress the rift, he said his camp had signed the contract but Alhaji Tofik's camp had failed to respond.

A close look at the contract papers revealed that instead of the usual "Ambition and Nii Armah Boxing Promotion Syndicate," the documents carried only "Nii Armah Boxing Promotion Syndicate." Nii Armah said partnership thrived on trust and when that trust was abused, it became very difficult to work together. In his response, Alhaji Tofik said he was surprised that his partner had changed the business name to include only his name without informing him. He said in their last promotion which was to assist Adama, Nii Armah's boxer to improve upon his record, they incurred a loss of 21 million cedis and "though I did not have a boxer on the bill, I did not complain."

Alhaji Tofik said maybe Nii Armah was peeved because of the loss and had decided to go solo adding that, " everybody knows that Nii Armah and I partners." He said if it became necessary for the promotion syndicate to split, the right thing must be done. On the botched fight, Alhaji Tofik said the immediate future of his boxer was tied to Tommy Gilmore, a British promoter who gave Yahaya the opportunity to fight for and win the title. He said by the dictates of the contract, Gilmore would have to promote two fights of Yahaya before any other promoter would get the chance to arrange a fight him. Alhaji Tofik said Nii Armah knew of the existence of the arrangement with Gilmore and wondered why his partner wanted to make an impossible fight.