Team Prince ‘The Buzz’ Larbie grateful to SparBar and Hard One

Coaches Daniel Larbie and Nii Amoo Cofie of the Will Power Boxing Gym at James Town have expressed their sincere gratitude to SparBar and Issaka Issah for supporting them with modern boxing equipment.

Coach Larbie, dad of Boxing Writers Association Ghana (BWAG) Juvenile Boxer of the year 2020 who is care taker and manager of the Will Power boxing training center said he is so happy and most grateful as he expects greater things to happen.

He noted that they have started humbly and hope to come out great, big and special.

He thanked the BWAG for identifying his son and recognizing his son with an award that they would cherish for ever.

Assistant coach Nii Amoo Cofie who has had the experience of travelling to some countries through boxing said Ghanaian boxers are very talented and skillful, but lack financial support.

He appealed to the government to support boxing as it is the only sport that has awarded the nation real champions.

He also advised boxers to be very disciplined to attract sponsorship.

He said Prince ‘The Buzz’ Larbie has the qualities to become a world champion in future and they are doing everything possible to groom him as the most loved star.

“We appreciate SparBar and really thank them. We also thank Issaka Issah aka 'Hard One' for his encouragement in supporting the gym which is undergoing refurbishment. We pray that Prince will be one of their greatest Ambassadors” he stated.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Australia based Ghanaian boxer, Issaka Issah also known as ‘Hard One Lee’ has presented boxing equipment to the Will Power Gym at James Town in Accra.

The items which include body protector, punching pads, mouth pieces, gloves and bandages were presented by Mr. Joseph Armoh, a boxing enthusiast on behalf of Issah and received by Coaches Dan Larbie and Nii Amoo, trainers at the Will Power Gym. Vice President of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) was there to witness.

Issaka Issah told Yours Truly in an exclusive chat that he was touched by the current state of the Will Power Boxing Gym when it was reported that they need help.

According to the ace kickboxer cum boxer, he has trained at the Will Power Gym before, and if they need help, he must try his best to support. He praised the late Napoleon Tagoe for setting up the gym and urged others to support as boxing is the major sports business in Bukom, James Town and Accra in general.

The Will Power Gym is the training center of many young boxers including the sensational 8 years old Prince ‘The Buzz’ Larbie, who was recently appointed an Ambassador by SparBar.

Known for unearthing juvenile boxers with his Sunday afternoon street fights at the Accra Post Office some years back Issaka Issah said he is very proud that his initiative has produced many young boxers like Samuel Takyi aka ‘Ring Warrior’ who has qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, John Laryea aka ‘Expensive Boxer’ who is the current featherweight champion of Ghana and Philip Kotey aka ‘ Bukom Bomber’, just to name a few.

Issaka Issah, born and bred at Cowlane in Accra Central was a member of the Power Zone Kick Boxing Club, the leading kick Boxing organization in Ghana, before moving out to become a boxer in Australia.

Since moving to Australia, he has fought some of the best Australian boxers in the lightweight division, including an opportunity to fight for the Australian title and the NSW States title.

His current record in boxing is 9 fights, 3 wins, 6 loses and no draw.

He is happy that Ghana had has produced great boxers like D.K. poison, Azumah Nelson, Ike Bazooka, Nana Yaw Konadu, Alfred Kotey, Joshua Clottey, Joseph Agbeko, Emmanuel Game Boy Tagoe, Issac Dogboe and there are many rising stars on the block who can become champions .

Issaka Issah was awarded for professional excellence in boxing at the Canterbury League Club Level 1 Blueberry Room in Sydney, Australia on December 8. 2018.

He commended Nii Adotey Dzata 1, former President of the Ghana Kickboxing Association and Switzerland based Lawrence Nyanyo Nmai, another top world kick boxing champion and trainer based in Switzerland for their vision and motivation to support boxing gyms in Ghana.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Teofimo Lopez took a gamble on himself for his latest fight, and boy did it pay off. ‘The Takeover’ is well and truly underway after Triller bid six million dollars for his services.

After being offered a lower purse from Top Rank, Lopez decided to see out the purse bid. Lopez was more than happy with the outcome.

Explaining to WBN how the process went down, the Internation Boxing Federation sent World Boxing News the bidding information.

 “A Purse Bid was held in this office on Thursday, February 25, 2021, to determine who will promote the IBF lightweight mandatory defense between IBF Lightweight Champion Teofimo Lopez and IBF number one lightweight contender George Kambosos Jr.

“There were three bidders. Triller Inc. bid $6,018,000.00. Matchroom Boxing bid $3,506.000.00. Top Rank bid $2,315,000.00.

 “The Purse Bid split will be 65% for the champion Teofimo Lopez and 35% for number one lightweight contender George Kambosos Jr.

” More than trebling his money with 65% of the six million-plus stake, the undisputed lightweight champion will now feature on an upcoming Triller card. The only downside to all this is that he won’t be the standout main event. Lopez is set to be part of a forthcoming event, possibly in May, and could feature Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield on top billing.

Despite knowing he won’t be the feature name on the poster, Lopez was still ecstatic with the outcome.

He said: “$6Million from Triller! Goodbye world,” in a social media post, adding: “Had to risk it all to win BIG! God doesn’t make any mistakes.” TEOFIMO LOPEZ on TRILLER Triller boss Ryan Kavanaugh had earlier outlined his vision, “Triller Fight Club is a new entertainment platform which pairs four-quadrant entertainment with boxing that even the staunchest purest will love,”

“This fight will undoubtedly go down as iconic, and TFC will make sure it is presented with entertainment for every audience, from the diehard to the casual fan.

“These two undefeated stars transcend their sport not just in the U.S. but around the world. We are working to reshape the vision of excitement and storytelling in a sport we love.” ✕ Where this all leaves Top Rank and Lopez is anyone’s guess. Bob Arum will still get his share of the profits, but the future remains uncertain for one of his star boxers.

A win for Lopez pushes him into the realms where he can pick and choose his opponent. Much bigger purses could be further down the road.

Phil Jay is the Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2018. Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay.

Source - World Boxing News

MTN Ghana’s contribution to the fight against the pandemic continues unabated in 2021 following huge investments it made in 2020 to support the country deal with the effects of COVID -19.  As at the end of December 2020, the cumulative value of MTN Ghana’s efforts to fighting COVID-19 was GH¢139 million.

Commenting on the support so far, the Ag CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr Sam Addo said, in addition to last year’s initiatives, MTN Group has formed strategic partnerships to secure vaccines for the people of Africa (with Ghana included) as we fight the spread of virus.

He said, “In January 2021, MTN Group announced its $25 million donation to support the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. The donation will help secure up to seven million doses of the vaccine for health workers across the continent, contributing to the vaccination initiative of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

“MTN Ghana is pleased to play its part in this initiative to support the Government of Ghana”, he confirmed.

The Ag. CEO reiterated the commitment made by MTN Group that MTN will play its part to keep people safe and facilitate an economic recovery.

MTN is working closely with Africa CDC and the AU Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) regarding the order in which the seven million doses will be allocated among AU Member States and are intent on enabling distribution from as early as end February 2021.

With the arrival of Covid-19 Vaccines in Ghana, MTN is happy to reiterate its commitment to the country once again. 

In the last few days, MTN Ghana Foundation’s ‘SAVE A LIFE’ blood donation exercise was replaced with the donation of PPEs to 15 schools and 29 health facilities across the country. Some of the items presented include face masks, sanitizers, hand washing soap and gun thermometers to further support reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana.

Also, MTN Ghana provided zero-rated several public websites providing health and other COVID-19 related information as well as over 200 websites for academic use by public and private educational institutions. The government agencies and educational institutions will continue to enjoy zero rating on the sites until the end of the pandemic. 

Other educational campaigns such as the ‘BE WISE’ campaign MTN’s global ‘#WearItForMe’ marketing initiative were undertaken to build awareness around the importance of correctly wearing a face mask to combat the spread of the virus.

MTN remains focused on its core mandate of providing superior network connectivity to enable customers live a digitally connected lifestyle while brightening the lives of customers.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Dreams FC put up a fine display to edge AshantiGold SC 4-1 on match day 16 of the Ghana Premier League at the theatre of Dreams, Dawu Thursday.

Summer signing Joseph Esso scored his first hat-trick of the season before Agyenim Boateng added the fourth to complete the rout.  David Abagna scored the consolation goal for the former champions.

Dreams FC took the lead through a spot kick as early as the 7th minute. Joseph Esso put the Still Believe lads firmly in control of the game with two nippy goals in 8 second half minutes to put the game to bed at Dawu.

Esso doubled the lead in the 50th minute and then completed his hat-trick three minutes later.

Premier League winner David Abagna pulled one back for AshantiGold in the 87th minute to reduce the deficit.

With a possible comeback in sight, Agyenim Boateng put the nail in the coffin to restore the three-goal advantage in the 90th minute, landing a free kick straight into the top left corner.

The 4-1 thumping brings Dreams FC back on winning ways after losing 1-0 to Berekum Chelsea to end their unbeaten run-on Sunday.

Dreams FC have now moved to second place in the standings with 26 points. AshantiGold are 11th with 21 points.

GFA

The Ghana Football Association (GFA), will introduce Referees Assessors and Independent observers for the second round of the Ghana Premier League.

This is part of efforts to improve officiating and to maintain sporting integrity. As guardians of standards and quality service, the Referees Assessors are expected to help the referees to improve and become better. They will also help in the promotion, development and retention of referees in the course of the season.

Independent observers play an important part in maintaining sporting integrity. They are expected to monitor the matches objectively and submit report to the GFA for further action if need be.

This decision was taken by the Executive Council at its meeting in Accra on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS

The current Executive board elected at the last congress is made up of:

President: Ben Nunoo Mensah

Vice Presidents: Paul Atchoe, Yeboah Evans, Nii Adote Din Barima I

Secretary General: Richard Akpokavie

Deputy Secretary General: Richmond Quarcoo

Treasurer: Frederick Lartey Otu

Assistant Treasurer: Theophilus Wilson Edzie

Members: Herbert Mensah, Emmanuel Nikoi, Leanier Afiyea-Obo Addy, Albert Frimpong, Isaac Duah, Joseph Kweku Ogah, Melvin Brown, George Owusu Ansaah, Mawuko Afadzinu, Jerry Ahmed Shaib

Hon. Mustapha Ussif, Youth and Sports Minister-Designate has disclosed the government will take advantage of the 2023 African Games to establish a University for Sports Development in Ghana.

He said the university will help uplift the image of sports by training athletes and sports personalities such as referees in the country.

“We are going to put up an Olympic Village, which will include facilities that will serve as the University for Sports Development after the African Games ends,” he told the Parliament Appointments Committee during his vetting.

According to him, this facility will be the first in West Africa and second in Africa as a whole.

He prayed that Ghana will host the best African Games in his tenure as Youth & Sports Minister, and the athletes would win more medals than the previous event in Morocco in 2019 where Ghana placed 15^th on the medals table.

He further disclosed that plans are far advanced to revive the Sports College in Winneba.

“Government is in the process of reviving the Winneba Sports College to meet international standards and bring in modern facilities to help reach the intended purpose of setting up the facility” he said.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Minister of Youth and Sports designate Hon. Mustapha Ussif took his turn to answer questions from the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Thursday.

The Member of Parliament for Yagaba-Kubori in the North East Region gave the assureane to be a minister for all sporting disciplines and restructure of bonuses and wages national stars receive after international tournaments.

According to Hon. Ussif, when given the nod to lead the Ministry of Youth and Sports, he will give equal attention to all sporting disciplines by developing infrastructure.

“Given the opportunity, all sporting activities will be given attention as a minister, especially when it comes to Para-sports, and I have already even engaged them – the Para Federation, to see their plans, so I will engage with them to see how we can improve.

“Because the problem we face as a country is the facilities for our brothers who are disabled, so we have to improve them so that they will be able to get the facilities to train, because they are winning medals for us when they go for Olympics and Commonwealth Games. So, it is something that given the opportunity by this august house, together with the honorable members, we will see how best we can improve them,” he said.

On bonuses which has been a major issue in Ghana for some time now, Hon. Ussif stated that he will hold stakeholder engagements to put up a comprehensive bonus structure that will be used during every single tournament under his watch.

“I will engage the stakeholders; GFA, National Sports Authority, Parliament and even the Ministry of Finance and even Attorney General to get a comprehensive bonus structure.

“So that when we have it, it is not when we have a tournament that we will now have to discuss bonuses; it will be known to all sportsmen and women in the country, so that we will not put bonuses ahead of representing our countries like I have seen in the past,” he added.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

The Black Satellites of Ghana qualified to the semi-finals after beating Cameroon’s young lions 4-2 on penalties.

Cameroon kick off on a fast pace, controlling the game with power, creating some chances by their midfielders.

The Black Satellites had to fight back from their lethargic play.

The Ghanaians only tried their opponents goalkeeper from free-kicks and Barnie mistimed his chance to put the side in the lead.

In the second session, both sides adopted to press and attack but could not yield the results required.

Cameruon’s petit Lions drew first blood in extra time through Kevin-Prince Milla in the 103rd minute, but the purposeful  Ghanaians equalised a minute later through Frank Boateng.

The match ultimately went to penalties and Frank Boateng, Frank Assinki, Precious Boah, and Daniel Barnieh converted their kicks whilst Cameruon missed two as goalkeeper Ibrahim Danlad save one kick. Frank Boateng Boateng who came off the bench to get the equalizer for the Black Satellites in the first half of the extra time was named Man of The Match.

Ghana, world champions in 2009 in Egypt have now qualified to the semi finals, and their chances of winning the African Youth Cup is high.

Coach Karim Zito expressed his pride in his team and joy over the victory.

"I am very proud of the boys and also proud of myself for qualifying," Zito said in his post-match speech

"I want to take this opportunity to thank my fellow coaches at home who never stopped trusting in me; giving me all sort of encouragement that we can make it and true to their words, we have made it and I can say we have qualified for the World Cup.

"And this is a big achievement for me and the boys themselves too" he said.

By Sammy Heywood Okine