Ghana's Emmanuel Tagoe Stripped Of IBO Lightweight Title

Ghana’s Emmanuel ''GameBoy'' Tagoe has been left disappointed after the IBO stripped him of his lightweight world title.

Tagoe, who boasts a 28-1 record with 14 knockouts, lost his IBO belt for his failure to fight mandatory challenger Fedor Papazov.

Tagoe was mandated by IBO to defend his belt against Papazov not later than June 17th, but the James Town native failed to comply with the body’s order.

A letter from IBO to the Ghana Boxing Authority, which was signed by the body’s President Ed Levine read:

“I regret to inform you that on May 21st the IBO Championships Committee ordered that the IBO World Lightweight title held by Emmanuel Tagoe be vacated due to his failure to comply with the requirements of the IBO Championship Rules and Regulations.”

Tagoe won the IBO belt in December 2016 after claiming a one-sided unanimous decision win over Mzonke Fana.

He made his first defence of his belt January this year – he stopped Argentina’s, Fernando Saucedo.