Prospect of winning world title bleak – Clottey
Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) world welterweight champion, Joshua Clottey, has passed a hopeless verdict on Ghana’s prospect of landing a world title by the end of the next decade.
The hard-hitting boxer said the present generation of Ghanaian boxers do not inspire hope.
Speaking on Max TV during the Ultimate Legacy boxing bonanza under the auspices of Legacy Rise Sports, Clottey noted that the current state of boxing in Ghana was far from the standard set by the pacesetters.
“Trust me, I don’t know when any of our current boxers will become a world champion. They have the quality, but lack the discipline to make it big out there.”
He wondered whether the present-day boxers were aware of the demands ahead of major fights, adding that, “they must have at least six weeks preparation to be able to give off their best.
“Some of our boxers now refuse to do six weeks of training and would rather go in for two weeks training for a major fight. This is a big problem affecting them these days.”
Clottey wrote his name in Ghana’s boxing folklore on August 2, 2008, when he defeated Zab Judah in nine rounds to become Ghana’s seventh world champion at the time, annexing the IBF welterweight title.
According to him, it would take a very long time for Ghana to produce a world champion.
“Trust me, it is going to take a very long time to get a world champion. I don’t know about five or 10 years’ time but it will be very difficult to get a world champion anytime soon.”
“To tell you the truth, I don’t see anything now or in the next five years, but all I know is that it’s going to be fine,” he told the station.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
