A huge brawl broke out at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra-Ghana when referee Adoin Betin ,from Benin brought hostilities to a halt in the 3rd round of the WBO Africa Bantamweight bout between challenger Wasiru Mohammed and the now former defending Champion Isaac Sackey.
Make no mistake the fight lived up to the billing, in fact the very strong, smart and talented Wasiru Mohammed gave a better account of himself.
He showed class, confidence, agility, ring generalship and panache. He ticked all the right boxes as far as this bout was concerned. He was leading on all cards.
On top of it , he got a brutal knockdown in the third round which fortunately and unfortunately resulted in the TKO.
Isaac Sackey on the other hand did not just come to the party. He looked stamina suspect, lacked the confidence. On the night, Wasiru was just peerless and the better boxer by far which brings to question why the referee stopped the fight.
Wasiru was boxing and brawling on all counts and was virtually schooling the Champion with his flurry of punches. The more the fight travelled the better the self styled ‘Gyatabi’ got, hence the knockdown came as no surprise at all.
I am not going to Center on the fight itself but the lapses and characters that must be held to account.
The brand “boxing” in Ghana was defeated and it’s essence nearly thrown into the mud and unless these questions and punishments are meted out to the culprits, I am not sure people will feel safe to pay their hard earned money to buy tickets let alone go watch a boxing bout.
Security
Security for me was not enough, there was a lot at stake in this bout hence it needed at least some military presence.
Ring supervisor/Technical adviser
I really wonder who was supervising the ring and it brings to question who really was the technical supervisor of the first Undercard.
It totally fell short of a professional bout. Lame punching more like amateurs so it’s pretty weird and the Ghana Boxing Authority must answer.
Promotional Manager
Promotional manager and the GBA must come out to tell us why there was that huge security lapse. If we really want to promote the sport of pugilism then perhaps such security gap must never happen again.
The Referee
Adoin Betin, the Beninois referee appointed for the bout was just a peel shadow of himself, perhaps the fight was bigger than him.
Granted, Isaac Sackey never gave a good account of himself but under no circumstances should the referee have stopped the bout without the mandatory count.
After all Wasiru was still in his element, causing a lot of havoc to the champion. Frankly, I really doubt if the fight could have travelled the full length of the rounds.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Vincent Akai Nettey and Rabbon Dodoo must be fired from their various portfolios because of their unprofessional conducts.
RABBON DODOO
A whole big man like Rabbon Dodoo throwing plastic water bottles and actually aiming it at the referee was totally unacceptable. I mean if somebody of that repute and stature is/was able to go that low, not thinking about peoples safety and the brand Ghana Boxing, then he most certainly have no business in boxing.
Vincent Akai Nettey
He was the catalyst that sparked the whole melee. For an assistant coach of national team, the black bombers with all the experiences chalked over years to have rushed on the referee the way he did and in the process offered the supporters the impetus to go on rampage like they did was totally unacceptable.
It’s a shame that he holds such a position. His unprofessional conduct put all of us at risk. Believe you me, it’s not funny but you should have seen big dignatories running for their lives. I really do not want to mention names but this memory is going to stay with me for ever.
It really was an eye-sore, such impudence and show of bravado which was totally unacceptable.
Remember this is just the preamble of my report, there is more to follow soon.