Death of boxer must bring reforms
Ghana’s boxing fraternity is in shock. Questions are being asked following the tragic death of Nigerian boxer Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju, who collapsed mid-bout during a fight with Ghana’s Jon Mbanugu in a light heavyweight contest at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra last Saturday night.
The heartbreaking incident, the first-ever in a Ghanaian ring, has exposed serious concerns over the sport’s medical protocols and emergency preparedness, prompting urgent calls for tighter health and safety measures in the sport.
The 40-year-old Olanrewaju had been trading blows with Mbanugu in the third round when he suddenly lost balance, appeared disoriented, stumbled into the ropes and went down, triggering immediate medical intervention.
Despite the swift response by the ringside physician and emergency evacuation by paramedics to the nearby Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Olanrewaju was declared dead on arrival.
The shocking incident has ignited a fierce debate around the adequacy of medical screening and emergency care protocol in Ghana’s professional boxing circuit. Critics argue the system is riddled with gaps that could expose boxers to fatal risks.
The Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), which sanctioned the bout, has maintained in a statement that Olanrewaju had provided the required medical documentation and was duly cleared to fight.
The GBA says it is awaiting the official autopsy report to determine the next steps.
However, the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control has launched a scathing critique of its Ghanaian counterpart, accusing the GBA of negligence for allowing the fight to go ahead a day later than scheduled and without adequately enforcing safety protocols.
The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, has pledged a full-scale probe into the incident, promising that “no stone will be left unturned”.
The incident has galvanised calls from across Ghana’s boxing community for stricter and more comprehensive pre-fight medical checks, echoing international standards.
The tragedy is a pivotal moment for the sport and it should mark the beginning of major reforms regarding the safety protocol for boxers.
The Daily Graphic is adding its voice to calls for a more stricter regime for medicals and must include tests such as MRI scans and ECGs, which international sanctioning bodies demand for Ghanaian fighters abroad.
Ghana currently lags behind countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), where the British Boxing Board of Control mandates MRI scans, ECGs and thorough eye tests for all fighters.
In the UK, pre-fight requirements include mandatory MRI and eye tests.
The question remains; why are we not matching that standard here?
The Daily Graphic takes the view that this tragedy must be the spark that compels our authorities to raise Ghana’s standard.
Although such a tragedy is unprecedented in Ghana’s boxing history, it exposes glaring weaknesses in regulatory oversight. We must dig deeper into what went wrong. Who sanctioned the fight? Was every protocol followed?
This is a wake-up call for all of us. Ghanaian boxing cannot allow another incident like this.
In the past Ghanaian fighters such as Napoleon Tagoe and Braimah Kamoko (Bukom Banku), were denied the chance to fight for world titles abroad after failing mandatory eye tests —yet allowed to fight locally under less stringent conditions.
That’s the level of leniency we need to fix as a country.
The GBA, as the sport’s regulatory body, has come under intense scrutiny. It has a promotions committee responsible for vetting bouts before they are cleared by the GBA Executive Board.
As investigations unfold, the public deserves transparency as to whether every safety box was ticked before Olanrewaju’s ill fated bout was approved.
As the boxing fraternity reels from this devastating loss, there is a growing consensus that Ghana’s regulatory framework must evolve—urgently and comprehensively—to protect the lives of fighters who risk it all for glory in the ring.
