GBA to train coaches, cut men
Assistant Technical Director of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), Mr Lawrence Carl Lokko has hinted that the local boxing regulatory body would soon organise a refresher course for major stakeholders of the sport as it aims to uphold safety standards.
The move is in reaction to the untimely death recorded Wednesday in the USA of boxer Patrick Day who died of a brain injury four days after being knocked out in his defeat against Charles Conwell.
Day was the fourth boxer to die this year after competing in professional fights.
According to reports, the 27-year-old American was treated on the canvas before being carried out on a stretcher and then placed in a coma but he never woke up.
His untimely death followed those of Russian Maxim Dadashev and Hugo Alfredo Santillan from Argentina who died in July and Bulgarian Boris Stanchov who passed away in September after a fight.
In all these instances, Mr Lokko believes the incidents could have been averted if Seconds and other ringside officials have maintained safety standards.
He said it was in the light of this that the GBA conceived the idea to retrain its major stakeholders to avoid such situations in Ghana.
The GBA, he said, has commenced discussions with UK based Tandy Boxing to arrange regular training programmes for licensees of the GBA to maintain its position as one of the best boxing destinations in Africa and serve as role model to other countries.
The event will target mainly coaches, trainers and cut men and others that work closely around boxers during competitive fights.
“These are the first group of people that come into contact with boxers. The safety of a boxer depends on them. They must be in a position to know when a boxer’s life at risk or not and that is what the courses will teach them,” Mr Lokko told the Times Sports yesterday.
“The Ghana Boxing Authority deemed it necessary through my effort as the Assistant Technical Director to organise periodic seminar/courses for some of the officials in order to prevent such incidents from happening in our part of the region.”
“I strongly believe that with proper education and awareness, we can save boxers from some of these situations.”
BY ANDREW NORTEY