Ghana’s super middleweight boxing campaigner, Prince Oko Nartey, has signed a managerial contract with a businessman and boxing fanatic, Mr. Daniel Ayikwei at the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) Secretariat at the Bukom Boxing Arena.
The three-year deal signed yesterday, will see Mr. Ayikwei, who doubles as an Executive Board Member of the GBA, support the boxer with monthly stipends and other needs.
Announcing the partnership witnessed by the GBA, Mr. Ayikwei said the decision to go into management was informed by the desire to help the young boxer to realize his potential.
“It was a big decision for me to make because the behaviour of boxers in such relationships is not encouraging but I conducted my own checks and concluded Nartey is a disciplined boxer and different.”
According to him, the relationship will be more like “a father and son or one of brothers. I don’t want that boxer-manager relationship that sometimes creates some anxiety for the boxer.”
“I have studied the contract and will abide by all the demands in there. I want to assure the boxer that my support for him will go beyond what is captured in the contract. All I demand from him is that he will keep working hard to be named among the former world champions of Ghana.”
Mr. Ayikwei also promised to get the boxer a personal doctor and other important things he would need to reach the height of his career and called for the support of the GBA and his technical team to play their respective roles to make a new champion for Ghana.
Responding, the boxer who trains at the Black Panthers Boxing Foundation (BPBF) under the tutelage of Coach Ebenezer Adjei, expressed gratitude to his new boss and pledged to repay the confidence reposed in him by getting to the top of his career.
Mr. Abraham Kotey Neequaye, President of the GBA in a solidarity message urged the two parties to work hard to push the boxer to the international stage and urged them to dialogue when they have issues.
BY ANDREW NORTEY
