As the month of January slowly came to an end, many a salaried worker who incinerated through their savings during the Christmas festivities in the land of Christmas (Ghana) prayed for February to come quickly, athletes were being honoured close to the nation’s Parliament.
The 47th Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards took place on January 28 and major stakeholders congregated on the night to celebrate sporting excellence beyond just football as it almost always happens here.
While football is given all the major attention especially financially, it was quite interesting to note the latest iteration of failure of the sport was taking place at the same time far far less financed sports were highlighting their major achievements.
The Black Galaxies lost to Niger and crashed out of the CHAN during the SWAG Awards but the biggest scoop from the green carpet came from Ghana Boxing Authority President, Abraham Neequaye Kotei.
After getting recognised as one of the five best performing sports federation in the year under review, there was more hardware on the mind of Mr. Kotei.
A few weeks in the making, three boxers had scheduled bouts in the upcoming months that were bound to put the Ghanaian sports spotlight on boxing.
George Ashie, Richard Commey and Isaac Dogboe were primed to battle across multiple divisions in boxing with Dogboe as the sole fighter with an international belt on the line.
However, the GBA, according to its president, recognized two members of the trio leaving Commey out in the cold.
His reason was down to the Authority’s long standing feud with Commey after the Azonto Boxer’s consistent failure to pay dues to the GBA unlike the others particularly Dogboe.
“We recognise George Ashie and we recognise Isaac Dogboe. We don’t recognise him- Commey” were the words of President Kotei on the red carpet at the SWAG Awards.
Three men, each fighting in a different division, for something different at a different stage of their respective careers would end up forming the foundation of the present state of Ghanaian boxers in the sports international space. Fast forward to April and all three boxers lost their fights and served up what Ghanaian boxers are: either cannon fodder or gatekeepers.
In his American debut fight, 39-year-old Ashie took on Alexis Rocha and was brutally beaten up en route to suffering a knock out in the seventh round. Ashie took the fight on very short notice (a week before the fight in exact terms) and moved up in weight class from junior welterweight to welterweight to face Rocha.
Ashie failed to take advantage of a cut above Rocha’s left eye in the sixth round as he got battered by the Golden Boy Promotions stable member. Essentially, Ashie was cannon fodder for the fast rising 25-year-old Rocha who bettered his CV with the emphatic win in a fight Ashie had realistically no chance to win as an older, slower and less prepared fighter.
Emmanuel “Gameboy” Tagoe was vanquished by Ryan Garcia in similar fashion in the latter’s first outing after a long period of inactivity in 2022. Beating up Tagoe to score a second round knockout was nothing more than a tune up fight for Garcia who is getting ready to take on Gervonta Davis.
Seemingly, the GBA’s “Golden Boy”, Isaac Dogboe can do no wrong in the eyes of the GBA President and the association. He pays his dues unlike Commey, always speaks about Ghana in a positive light and his British connections gives him a far wider marketing reach than any Ghanaian boxer at the moment.
With Neequaye Kotei making the trip to the States to witness Dogboe’s WBO featherweight title fight, the stage was set for Dogboe to win his second world title.
However, what followed was a unanimous loss in a competitive bout against Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez.
The reasons for Dogboe’s loss are all too well known: weak defense, failure to fight off his back foot, not making proper adjustments to handle a southpaw as an orthodox fighter, inefficiency and poor fight management.
At various points in the fight, Ramirez paced himself but Dogboe failed to do so as he turned down opportunities to be aggressive when Robeisy was pacing himself after staying aggressive in previous rounds.
Dogboe has three losses in his professional career and all three have come at the hands of fighters who are regarded as being at the top of the crop. After losing to Ramirez and Emmanuel Navarette, it is safe to say Dogboe has slipped into the category of a gatekeeper; a fighter who is good enough to give a proper test to the best prospects but not good enough to beat them.
Gatekeepers like Gabe Rosado are a measuring stick for promoters to know whether a boxer is ready for the big time bouts or not much like what media folks do in determining what is great for the public to consume or not. Shawn Porter Jr. slid into the “gatekeeper role” after losing to big fishes Errol Spence Jr., Terrence Crawford and Keith Thurman and retired at age 33. Yordenis Ugas is one of the men Porter Jr. defeated in his career and now ranks as an active gatekeeper.
While he is the big bad wolf in the eyes of the GBA, Commey also falls into the gatekeeper category after losing to Robert Easter, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez and Jose Ramirez but good enough to beat the likes of Jackson Marinez and Ray Beltran.
Against Ramirez, Commey needed to fight from range and like Dogboe, fight better off his back foot while protecting his body in a more secure way than he did as Ramirez pounded away to force the 11th round knockdown.
Through a combination of poor decision making and a myriad of problems bedeviling the Ghana Boxing Authority, Ghana boxing is in a sorry state and the chances of an upturn in fortunes remain bleak.