Alfred Addo Ankamah (born January 31, 1967, in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

) is a

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

in the

Light Middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

division.

Amateur career

Ankamah fought for his country of

at Welterweight during the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. He had been appointed captain of the 4 man team, 2 of them by the names of

Ike Quartey Isufu "Ike" Quartey (born 27 November 1969) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2006. He held the WBA welterweight title from 1994 to 1998, and challenged once for IBF junior-middleweight title in 2000. Early year ...

and Alfred Kotey. Ankamah had never seen a boxing glove until the age of 20, when his brother brought him into the city to see an exhibition

Azumah Nelson Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super-featherweight title twice ...

was doing. Alfred asked his brother, " people pay to see you tie something on your hands and hit someone else? Oh, this is simple, take me to the place I learn this." Then at 21, he was chosen the Olympic team captain over Ike, who had been groomed for boxing since he was 8 years old. Ankamah, was chosen because of his dedication, as well as being very dependable and responsible, His "work ethic" is what also prompted him being the picked as the team captain. He would go on to knockout Malawi's Boston Simbeye. Unfortunately, since Ankamah by nature is a slugger, not a boxer, he met

Kenneth Gould Kenneth "Kenny" Gould (born May 11, 1967) was an American boxer, who won the welterweight bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He won the world title at the 1986 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the no ...

in his second pick, and lost a decision. Kenny Gould brought the bronze medal home to the U.S. that year.

Pro career

In October 1996, Ankamah was knocked out by at that time an unknown eighteen-year-old,

Antonio Margarito Antonio Margarito Montiel (born March 18, 1978) is a Mexican-American former professional boxer who competed between 1994 and 2017. He held multiple welterweight world championships, including the WBO title from 2002 to 2007, the IBF title in ...

, Margarito would go on to win three World Championships. Two years later he lost a ten-round decision to Oba Carr.

WBC International Light Middleweight Championship

On May 1, 2004, Alfred lost by TKO to WBC International

Champion,

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

Marco Antonio Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (born June 16, 1980) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2015. He held the WBC interim middleweight title in 2014, and challenged twice for a middleweight world title in 2009 and 2012. Professi ...

in the Auditorio Municipal of Torreon, Coahuila,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

References

External links

* * * * 1967 births Living people Ghanaian male boxers Light-middleweight boxers Olympic boxers of Ghana Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Ghana Boxers from Accra {{Ghana-boxing-bio-stub