GBA stands accused

The Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) stands accused for sanctioning the Ayitey Powers-Joe Sarbah bout without the GBA certified medical doctor.

Some members of the GBA, who were present at the fight staged at the Kotobabi Wembley, are raising eyebrows over the absence of Dr. S.A Quaye, the certified Medical Doctor of the GBA.

Their worries come after a South African boxer, Mzwanele Kompolo, died in the ring after being pummelled by his opponent, Siphenathi Qampi.

Kompolo, according to reports, went into a coma for some days after the bout before passing away.

 Only last week an Australian boxer, Dawy Browne Jnr., died in his IBF super-featherweight clash with Carlo Magali of the Phillipines, provoking fresh calls from the Australian Medical Association to ban the sport.

Alhaji Tawfiq, member of GBA, who spoke with the Graphic Sports on the issue said there were growing numbers of such bouts which had been staged without the involvement of the GBA medical doctor.

“Sometimes it’s about bouts that have been staged at the blind side of the GBA at some obscure venues”, he lamented.

According to him, there are promoters who are quick to circumvent the regulations and rush boxers into the ring for title fights and fears the worse for the sport in the coming days.

He argued that the absence of Dr. Quaye from the fight between Powers and Sarbah was in breach of the regulations that stipulate that a certified medical officer of the GBA must always be at the corner before a referee allows a fight to be staged.

“And in this case the only doctor mandated to be at the corner is Dr. Quaye and not any doctor”, Tawfiq argued.

But Ako Patterson, the match maker, inisited that there was a medical doctor, Edward Asante,  in charge of the fight which saw Powers demolish  Sarbah in the fourth round.

There was no way that referee Roger Barnor would have been involved if there was no referee at the white corner”, he argued.