Veteran boxing coach and match-maker, Abdul Rasheed Williams, says Ghana’s boxers risk losing their top positions in the rankings of the various international boxing associations if they fail to circumvent the COVID-19 and secure bouts.
“Their colleagues in other countries and continents are fighting and moving up in the rankings so if they don’t also get to fight, they will be left behind in the ratings,” he stated.
In an interview with the Graphic Sports in Accra, he lamented how local fighters had been heavily hit by the Coronavirus.
“These boxers feed their wives and children, as well as their families with the sport; now they can’t fight again, they can’t spar, they can’t train, and they are not making any money from their profession,” he noted.
Mr Williams therefore appealed to the government, through the Youth and Sports Ministry, to allow for boxing competitions in indoor arenas where everybody could be tested prior to entering, after entering and when exiting.
According to him holding such events to be screened live on television and sponsored by corporate entities will go a long way to ameliorate the sufferings these boxers are going through currently.
“If this is not done our boxers will be in dire straits and their inability to eke out a living could put them in jeopardy,” he explained.
He called on the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) and other stakeholders of the sport to carve out a response to the COVID-19 crisis to enable boxers to earn some income.
Source: Daily Graphic
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