By Prince Dornu-Leiku: Ghana’s world title hopeful Braimah Kamoko may finally be getting the recognition for a crack at the WBO Light heavyweight belt when he receives the WBO’s African boxer of the year award later this month.
Kamoko, famously called Bukom Banku has been nominated for the top award which will be given out at the WBO Congress slated for Puerto Rico October 24 to 29, we can exclusively reveal. It is an opportunity Banku relishes to state his case for a fight against incumbent world titlist Nathan Cleverly of Ireland who only last Saturday successfully defended the title against Briton George Bellew in what should have been a fight with the Ghanaian hot prospect.
“I say I’m ready to be the world champion and not even Nathan Cleverly can stand in my way. You know he is running away from me but I don’t think he can continue to hide,” a frustrated Bukom Banku says.
Bukom Banku who fights under promotional outfit Golden Concepts will be travelling for the WBO Congrees with the GoldenMike Boxing Promotions team which will be led by Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) Board Member Henry Manly-Spain and includes CEO Michael Tetteh, Benjamin Okai and Emmanuel Commey.
Alexander Povetkin faces Cedric Boswell on December 3rd
Unbeaten World Boxing Association (WBA) Heavyweight Champion Alexander Povetkin (22-0, 15 KOs) will make a first defence of his title on December 3 when he takes on Cedric “The Boz” Boswell (35-1, 26 KOs) at Helsinki´s renowned Hartwall Areena. In the co-featured main event, WBA/WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius (16-0, 11 KOs) will face an opponent to be announced. Povetkin and Helenius headlined Team Sauerland´s big heavyweight show in August, with the former beating Ruslan Chagaev to claim the biggest prize in boxing and the latter completing his KO hat trick of former champions with a TKO win over Siarhei Liakhovich.
“This is going to be a true night of heavyweight explosions,” promoter Kalle Sauerland said. “The newly-crowned heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin is one of the most exciting and fastest heavyweights since many years. He will prove his worth against Boswell, a world-class contender with an excellent record. On top of that, KO specialist and world-ranked number one challenger Robert Helenius has set the bar very high for another massive performance after KO’ing three former champions. It is going to be a real advertisement for heavyweight boxing!”
Povetkin is currently shaping up in his home city of Chekhov, Russia. “Winning the world title was like a dream coming true for me,” the 2004 Olympic gold medal winner said. “Now I need to prove myself against quality contenders out there. I look forward to fighting Boswell. He is a tough opponent. But I have worked so hard to become champion there is no way I will allow him to take the belt away from me. I can promise my fans an exciting fight in Helsinki on December 3.”
Boswell, who has won 14 straight fights since suffering his only loss at the hands of Jameel McCline, is ready for glory. “My entire life I have been waiting this moment,” he stated. “Now the big day has finally come. Povetkin is a good kid but he is a kid and he will be in trouble once we are in the ring. I have the experience and the strength to beat him. I will shock the boxing world on December 3 when I take home the WBA Heavyweight Title to America.”
Tickets for the heavyweight doubleheader at Helsinki´s Hartwall Areena will go on sale on November 1.
Team USA’s Queen Underwood Loses Tiebreaker at the 2011 Pan American Games
Team USA’s Queen Underwood Loses Tiebreaker at the 2011 Pan American Games
(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Lightweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.) hoped to turn the tide for her U.S. team on Saturday night at the Pan American Games, but lost her opening bout on a tiebreaker decision in Guadalajara. The 2010 World Championships bronze medalist faced Puerto Rico’s Kiria Tapia in her Pan American Games opener on Saturday night at the Expo Guadalajara Arena.
Underwood battled both her opponent and a hostile Mexican crowd cheering for her Puerto Rican opponent throughout the contest. The score of the bout was close from start to finish with the two boxers tied at two after the first, and Underwood holding a 5-4 advantage at the halfway point of the bout. Underwood pushed her lead to an 11-8 margin after three rounds of boxing and looked to add to her lead in the fourth round. Despite her constant holding and Underwood clearly being the more active boxer, Tapia managed to pull the bout to a 14-14 tie in the final round of boxing. The Puerto Rican boxer was named the victor of the bout, based on her 48-41 total punch count edge.
“It was not one of my better fights. I expected to do a lot better than what I did in there and I expected to come out with a win,” Underwood said. “It’s very disappointing not to. I know I will have to prepare harder next time. It’s hard being at the top and losing.”
Despite the devastating loss, Underwood attempted to learn from her Pan American Games contest. “I’m more of a clean boxer and I have to work at more of the grabbing. When somebody grabs you, it’s a lot of struggle and a lot of work,” Underwood said. “I have to work on being rougher in the ring. A lot of these South American boxers are more physical in the ring, so I just can’t be the pretty boxer and expect to win in a clean way.”
The lone remaining U.S. female boxer will take the ring on Sunday. Middleweight Franchon Crews (Baltimore, Md.) will compete for her team’s first victory on Sunday in a bout with three-time World Champion Mary Spencer of Canada.
Terra is showing a live stream of the full duration of the Pan American Games and fans can watch live action at http://deportesus.terra.com/road-to-2012/2011-pan-american-guadalajara/live/.
U.S. Results
132 lbs/female: Kiria Tapia, PUR, dec. Queen Underwood, Seattle, Wash./USA, 17-17 (48-41)
USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).