Bukom boxers draw on a long fighting tradition

“THIS IS WHEREDK the magic happens,” says Carl Lokko, a boxing coach. His gym in Accra, the capital of Ghana, has two punchbags, a weights machine and a tin roof. A dozen young men, all sweat and sinew, are shadow-boxing or skipping furiously. “Everybody wants to be a boxer,” says one, fists thudding into an invisible opponent. He calls himself “Rich Man” Ashiley, a name which betrays his ambition. He says he fights for money and the chance “to go outside”, to Europe or America.The gym is one of about 30 in Bukom, a fishing district in Accra that is known as a cradle of champions. David Kotei, better known as Poison, fought his way off these streets; in 1975 he became the first Ghanaian to conquer the world. Another local boy, Azumah Nelson, is revered as the greatest African boxer of all time. The holder of the International Boxing Federation’s lightweight belt, Richard Commey, is one of Mr Lokko’s protégés. Most of Ghana’s ten world champions have passed through Bukom.