When Samuel Takyi decided to challenge an opponent in a boxing contest as an 11 year old in 2012, little did he know that he was lacing up his gloves towards becoming an Olympian eight years later.
The 19-year-old had accepted a challenge to fight a youngster simply known as ‘Obama’ near the Accra General Post Office on his way from playing football at Osikan Beach in 2012 only to lose and gain interest in a sport which he said had helped build his confidence.
Takyi recounts how ‘Obama’ pummeled him into submission after wearing the gloves for the first time in his life but he vowed to come back a better boxer, which he did three months later.
The youngster’s rise to fame has been a tremendous one since shunning football to take up boxing and he finally got the chance to make the national amateur team, Black Bombers, in 2018.
Takyi lives with his grandmother at Atukpai, a suburb of Accra, where boxing was the order of the day for the youth, but he never dreamt of taking up the sport until that challenge he took to fight the then best boxer near the Accra Main Police Station.
The quest to become a better fighter in order to avenge his painful defeat became a motivation for the then 11-year-old who needed the bragging rights to stand tall among his peers.
Taking up boxing
It was his eagerness to prove a point against ‘Obama’ which led to a spectator gaining interest in his fighting skills and taking him to the Discipline Boxing Academy where he began to learn the basics of the sport.
“I was leaving at Atukpai in Bukom but left with my mother to Oduman, near Ablekuma, but came back to my grandmother after the demise of my younger brother.
“I once went to play football at Osikan Beach and then found myself around the Accra General Post Office where there was a boxing bout ongoing,” he narrated to the Graphic Sports.
“Issah Issaka, who was coordinating the bout, threw a match for Obama and I volunteered to fight him without any expertise in boxing so I lost but that gave me the confidence to continue training,” he added.
To Takyi, what started as a mere challenge between him and ‘Obama’ brought out the best in him after training consistently with his coaches at the Discipline Boxing Academy.
After three months of extensive training, a determined Takyi got his revenge to the surprise of many when he defeated ‘Obama’ in splendid fashion.
It was a deserved victory for the young lad who put in so much effort to avenge his first defeat but according to him, the win became the turning point of his young career.
Joining Black Bombers
Having started gaining prominence within his neighbourhood for his exploits, Takyi continued training and fighting on amateur cards without a defeat until the chance for individual selections into the national amateur team came.
It was during this period that he chose to give it a try but a tough task to challenge the captain of the Black Bombers, Sulemanu Tetteh, became the turning point for him to be picked by the national team coach, Kwasi Ofori Asare.
“I never lost an amateur fight until I got chance to fight the captain of the Bombers, Sulemanu Tetteh, during the individual national selections.
“He was expected to go past me because of his rich experience but I gave him a good contest and in the end the fight had to be stopped to avoid a clash between our supporters.
“It was during this period that I was picked to be in the Black Bombers team and I can say it has been a tough road even though I never expected this smoothness,” he noted.
Olympics bound
Takyi defied all odds to land himself a ticket to the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo in August in his first international championship at the African qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.
He joined Sulemanu Tetteh as the two representatives to qualify for the global showpiece despite having 10 participants from Team Ghana at the continental competition.
With the Olympics slot secured, Takyi remains grateful to coach Asare for the immense impact he has had on his career with the Black Bombers and has targeted winning a gold medal at the Olympics.
Describing the Olympics stage as a bigger and tougher one, Takyi called on the government to ensure early camping and get international fights to prepare them adequately towards winning medals for the nation.
Takyi said he was looking forward to using the experience gained at the African championship as a tool to make an impressive bow during the Olympic Games.
“My first international competition with the Black Bombers, and I qualified through my trainer coach Ofori Asare who has been an inspiration to me. The focus now is to win a medal at the very big stage and I believe I can achieve that.”
“We need to camp early and get international fights and training camps to prepare us adequately to be able to win medals for the country.
“With everything done, I am hopeful of coming back with a gold medal with the right support from the government and all stakeholders,” Takyi stressed.
Credit: Bernard Neequaye