GBA must crack whip on Bukom Banku, Ayitey Powers — Foh-Amoaning

Mr Moses Foh-Amoaning, a former chairman of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), has urged the authority to punish Braimah “Bukom Banku” Kamoko and Michael ‘Powers’ Ayitey for their unprofessional conducts to deter others from engaging in similar acts in future.

“Image is one of the biggest problems in boxing. Looking for sponsorship is about image and if you have a situation where boxers are people who are supposed to be liked but they are misbehaving, then they are not selling out the right image,” he said.

Mr Foh-Amoaning, who spoke in an interview with GNA Sports, said the GBA, as an authority, must not let such misbehaviours go unpunished because boxers were licensees of the authority and are thus subject to its rules.

He said the name of the boxing governing body in Ghana meant it had been entrusted with the power to discipline.

“We have code of ethics which must be adhered to by the boxers. They must not go out and misbehave. The GBA must rework its rules and publish those rules because the boxers know that they are not supposed to be fighting and misbehaving outside the ring,” he noted.

“Which sponsor would want to be associated with a sport that has a negative image? So, if they misbehave, they must be subjected to the GBA code of ethics so they can be punished,” he stressed.

The former GBA boss, however, advised the media to focus on upcoming boxers such as Isaac Dogboe and Duke Micah since they are the right boxers to sell the image of the sport to the world.

“The good news is that Banku and Powers are at the latter stages of their career. There are other young and great boxers like Isaac Dogboe, who just won the WBO super bantamweight title in a brilliant fight in the USA. There are other great boxers like Richard Commey, who is a world title contender,” he added.

Reports last month indicated that a Circuit Court in Accra issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Braimah Kamoko, popularly known as “Bukom Banku,” for failing to appear before it.

The boxer was reported to have been facing charges of assault, causing damage and two counts of causing harm but he failed to go to court when the case was called on Tuesday, April 17, together with five others, four of whom are at large.