[ 2013-08-03 ]

Bukom Banku vrs Ayitey Powers On August 30
It is official. The much trumpeted and
sought-after local boxing clash between Braimah
Kamoko famously called Bukom Banku and hot rival,
Ayitey Powers will finally come alive at the Accra
Sports Stadium on August 30 in what has been
christened ‘Put Up or Shut Up.’

Henry Manly-Spain whose Golden Concepts
International are staging this fight along with
their subsidiary GoldenMike Promotions, says his
camp gave in to the persistent demands to face
Kamoko by Powers after both boxers agreed on a
winner-takes-all format.

World title chasing Bukom Banku, Boxing In Ghana
sources indicate could get a crack at the WBO
Cruiserweight belt before the end of this year but
first he must silence compatriot Ayitey Powers who
has beaten the drum that he will stop the
undefeated Kamoko so much Banku’s promoters had
to give in even though the two boxers have career
records far apart.

Powers, a former Ghana, West Africa and Africa
champion, has incredibly lost more fights in his
39-fight career (18-20-1, 14 KOs) that has seen
him fight several times in the UK as well as
Australia, Algeria and even Benin.

But his experience of facing top notch fighters
overseas, even if most of them ended in defeat is
the very tune Ayitey Powers has repeatedly hummed
as his advantage over Bukom Banku who has yet to
fight outside Ghana in 26 professional fights.
Powers' has recently been in the news for his
derogatory comments about Bukom Banku calling him
a coward for refusing to accept his challenge for
a fight.

“Bukom Banku is a coward, he can’t stand me in
the ring. He knows I will beat him that’s why
he’s running away from me. I will stop him in
round 6 because I know if we go 12 rounds they
will rob for him. The people I’ve fought with in
my career, he can’t face any of them. He is a
coward,” Powers persistently challenged.

Never to lie down is the ever bashing Kamoko, a
part time musician and actor who even went as far
as to compose and release a hiplife song to call
the bluff of Ayitey Powers. “At best, he is a
wasted talent long gone past his prime. To
entertain him will be a waste of time because he
has no pedigree for which he should be of interest
to a boxer who might get a full world title chance
soon,” Mike Tetteh, CEO of GoldenMike Promotions
responded back then.

But the two boxers have now apparently put an end
to the media war and are set to slug it out in the
ring at the end of the month setting the stage for
a potential sell-out at the Accra Sports Stadium
on the night of Friday August 30, 2013 under the
Put Up or Shut Up bill which will also feature
other highly rated boxers like IBF Youth
Welterweight champion, Issah Samir and his
brother, Bastie as well as Joshua Okine, Albert
Mensah and Ghana-based Nigerian female slugger,
Helen Joseph.

“I think the noise that Ayitey Powers has made
makes this fight much sought-after. The fact of
the matter is that he knows very well that he is
no match for Banku but he feels that Bukom Banku
has got a lot of money streaming around him so he
wants to come and fight so that some will rain on
him too,” Manly-Spain said.

He explained further: “The fact is that I’d
managed him before and know that he can’t stand
up to Banku, so we made it mandatory that for him
to put up his best and give the fans a good fight
worth their money, we had to make the fight a
winner-takes-all affair.

“Both boxers agreed that the purse should not be
shared but winner-takes-all. That will bring out
the best in him (Powers). So he will put up or
forever shut up.”

Source - Citifmonline

... go Back