Future of Ghana boxing looks very bright with proactive leadership – John Manfo

Ghana Boxing Authority board member,  boxing promoter and manager, John Manfo writes:

As a Boxing Manager, I have the responsibility to overseeing the career of professional boxer(s). I make sure the boxer is properly set up for fights,negotiate his payments and promote the boxer to make him marketable and attractive to the public especially members of the boxing fraternity.

My passion for boxing got ignited when I joined the management team of former world champion Isaac Dogboe.

At a point when my desire to become a boxing promoter got to the crescendo,I upgraded my knowledge in the business aspect of the sport regarding the difference between a boxing manager and a promoter.

John Manfo – the writer

I vividly realised that the Manager’s job is to look out for the interest of the boxer and the Promoter’s job is to look out for the interest of the Promoter.

I did a Promotion way back in 2018 at the Bukom Boxing Arena with the main event involving Wasiru Mohammed and Isaac Sackey in a WBO Africa Title championship.

Believe it or not the fight ended with vandalism,hooliganism and crowd trouble after Wasiru stopped Sackey in the 4th or 5th round.

Of course I had to pick up the pieces with a hefty bill which I begrudgingly sorted out,
but, that didn’t stop me from putting up another promotion some months later, because the GBA at the time put their foot down, investigated the incident and duly punished those who were deemed to have incited the crowd, and responsible for the chaos.

That’s water under the bridge now, but I learnt a valuable lesson that night, and that was not to take any fight for granted and a new found respect for match referees and officials. But boxing life still goes on…

Just to clarify what I was saying the other day on hooliganism at the current ongoing Ghana Professional Boxing League at the Bukom Boxing Arena.Human emotions sometimes get the better part of us, but that does not excuse such behavior and should not be tolerated.

My point is within the context of Ghana Professional Boxing League currently hosting up to 20 promotional fight nights in a year. Wow! If we work out through Probability, they should expect to see crowd trouble at least a few times in a year, mainly through human error or misunderstanding of the rules or other nefarious reasons.

Nevertheless this shouldn’t be accepted or encouraged as the norm.

I know GBA and IMAX Promotions are serious to eradicate this blight from our sport and constantly working in progress with security and safety measures for each show.

The proactive leadership shown by GBA and Imax Boxing Promotion is what Ghana professional boxing needs to revisit the glorious days of Ghana boxing.

Boxing, although very popular already in the country, is the fastest growing sport in Ghana at the moment, and to be honest, IMAX Media via Max TV, Adepa TV, lMax FM and all affiliate media outlets has really helped with the exposure of the sport to the masses and given a wider platform for boxers to showcase their talents to a wider audience.

Coaches and gyms are also making good name for themselves.So I get quite emotional when I see or hear unfair comments, especially with no comprehensible reasoning behind it.

Let’s support this huge opportunity that has landed firmly on the boxing landscape,enjoy the moment and look into the future with hope.

Credit: John Manfo