BANKU RETAINS TITLE

 First Published in the Ghanaian Times

Golden Mike Promotion’s night of ‘Moment of Truth’ nearly turned to be a ‘Moment of Shame’ when fans expressed dissatisfaction with some of the verdicts last Saturday.

One of such verdicts was the controversial win of the night between Ghana’s Ebenezer Lamptey and his Ecuadoran opponent Eduardo Flores for the Super Lightweight Championship. After the 12 rounds, many fans expected the verdict to go in favor of Flores but the judges scored the bout 115-112, 114-113 and 117-108 in favour of Lamtey. This result angered some of the spectators who in response shouted “Ecuador… Ecuador” to register their displeasure.

Lamtey’s body language after the fight proved that he was defeated as he could not even jubilate as expected after the judgment was given.

In the main bout, of the rather charged atmosphere, Braimah ‘Bukom Banku’ Kamoko retained his WBO African Light Heavyweight title when he knocked out his Ugandan opponent Hamza Wandera.

Hamza refused to continue the fight in the second round of the bout when he could not stand the barrage of punches from Bukom Bankum, which opened a cut on his left cheek in the first round of the fight.

In what he describes as unfair, Wandera believes his cut was due to a head butt. However referee Roger Barnor said that cut was not a head butt.

Wandera who declared earlier to eat Banku live in the ring quickly called for a rematch but called for international officials to officiate that match.

Ghana’s Samuel Amoako also defeated his Namibian opponent Martin Haikai in the WBO Africa Super Lightweight title. Amoako got his revenge as he lost this title to Haikai last year in Ghana at the conference centre.

The National Featherweight bout saw Ishmael Aryeetey also known as “Game Boy” put up a splendid performance to knockout Hope Mawuli in 30 seconds of the fifth round. The hefty punches from Aryeetey opened a cut above Mawuli’s left eye.

Another exciting 12 rounds of boxing saw Ghana’s Joshua Okine aka bukom Tsatsu retain the Interim WBO Africa Welterweight bout by a score of 119-109, 119-109, and 119-108 over his Argentine opponent Amilcar Funes. This win means Okine has successfully defended his title and extended his unbeaten record.

Miguel Caceres from Argentina was humbled by Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe by a unanimous decision of 98-92, 100-89 and 100-90 in the Super Featherweight contest.

In the Super Bantamweight contest, Emmanuel ‘Akufo Addo’ Quartey technically knocked out Galley Cudjoe in the fourth round of their eight rounds fight.