Isaac ‘Royal Storm’ Dogboe was named Ghana’s sports personality of the year by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) at their 43rd annual awards last night in Accra.
Dogboe who only last week destroyed Mexican-American, Jessie Magdaleno in 11 rounds in Philadelphia, USA to annex the WBO world junior featherweight championship, was also named the boxer of the year.
The new world champion became at 23, Ghana’s youngest ever global titlist, dethroning former WBA welterweight champion, Ike ‘Bazooka’ Quartey who held the record for nearly 24 years since beating Crisanto Espana in June 1994 in France. But the now 48 year old Quartey was very gracious to the young champ by not just turning up at the lavish ceremony at the Accra International Conference Centre but even accompanied Dogboe to the podium to receive the big prize from Nana Agyemang Badu II, chief of Dormaa in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana.
“First of all let me congratulate Isaac Dogboe for winning the world title, I knew he could do it. I said it over a year ago that he’s the only prospect we have in Ghana now and he’s made it. Let’s forget about who is youngest or that talk, for me I want Dogboe to keep the title for a long time. With him at 23, I think he can keep the title for seven years because the way he fights, he fights like he doesn’t fear anyone. That’s me, I don’t fear anyone,” Quartey said at the ceremony.
Dogboe followed in the footsteps of not just Ike Quartey but other former world champions like Azumah Nelson, Joshua Clottey, Joseph Agbeko and others who at various times also won the much revered SWAG award. The young champion took the opportunity to pay glowing tribute to his dad/trainer, Paul Dogboe who was quite unusually absent at his son’s latest coronation.
“It’s unfortunate that my father is not here today but he has been the visioner behind all this from day one. He does everything to keep Team Dogboe going, he’s the captain of the ship and everyday I count myself blessed to have a dad like him. I’m not being biased but I think he’s the best dad in the world,” Dogboe told the gathering.
“I always give all the glory to God in every situation, I see myself just as a vessel moving with God in control. We thank the old warriors like DK Poison, Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey, Joseph Agbeko and other previous champions who paved the way for us to also stand here today. And now that I stand here as your new world champion, I want this to serve as hope for us the current boxers and those coming up that with hard work and determinations, we can achieve our dreams,” Dogboe added.
