Ghanaian boxing referee Roger Banor says boxing in Ghana has over the years has declined and has therefore called on cooperate Ghana and the sports ministry to come on board and develop the ancient game to its desirable state.
Ref. Bannor having seen it all in boxing was once a juvenile boxer that his mother never supported which his love for boxing lead him chose the other way round of becoming a boxing referee which he expressed enjoys doing.
Speaking exclusively to SportsWorldGhana.com stated “Ghana boxing for the few years passed have been dwindling, but l believes strongly with the staging of different categories of high-rank bouts like that of Bastie Samir and Briamah Kamoko (Bokom Banku) will help bring up Ghana boxing back to its feet,” he noted.
Comparing how the talent has been so far for Ghanaian boxers with regards to the European and American boxing highlighted “the European and American boxing are cooperate bodies which puts in lot of money to their bouts, unlike ours that promoters will do everything solely by themselves. It actually depends on the budget fuse-in to determine the quality of boxing we will be having. And now that Supersports has come on board, if cooperate Ghana and other TV stations is to join will contribute handsomely in we getting quality boxing talents and interesting bouts.”
On the criticisms leveled against his work as boxing official and how helpful it has been for him said “as every job we do under this sun is bound to face criticisms, makes is part of the job and l enjoy it because at the end of the day if you have no one fighting you, you will think the world is there for you to control, but whiles you have people criticizing and telling to your face the things you does wrongly and good, at end of the day hardens you in everything you do”
“Beneficiary it has really helped me in opening doors for me to meet interesting people from different angles and I’ve traveled to countless number of foreign countries without me spending a penny, so actually am really loving the job,” Banor added.
Talking on the challenges the boxing referees are faced with and the measures put in place to ascertain top-notch boxing referees like himself pointed “we rarely host international bouts here in Ghana, and if there is to be any will solely depend on me as l happen to be the only 5 star boxing referee in Ghana. If it happens am out of the country, a different referee has to be flown down to officiate, which is really bad for Ghana boxing, so if we are to have couple of international fights staged here our referees will get to have the exposures in handling high-ranking bouts and as a nation will stand to gain quality referees as well.”
Adding “there has been a road map to follow come next month November, as myself together with Mr. Gahtei and the chairman of the Ghana Boxing Authority Mr. Peter Zwarness, will be embarking on seminars and courses from one region to the other for interested individuals to enroll to become future boxing referees, Starting from Cape Coast to Kumasi, Volta region and the other regions.”
Closing dockets on his talks disclosed referee Joe Coates of the United States has been his passionate admirer and idol in the field of boxing officiating, as looking through the mirror in his ambitions of becoming a renowned boxing referee stated sees himself in the next two (2) to three (3) years to come in the states making it big.
