IKE QUARTEY: GHANA'S FOURTH WORLD CHAMPION IN BOXING
Ghana's fourth world boxing champion Isufu Quartelai Quartey was born on November 27, 1969 as the youngest of twenty-seven siblings to a court bailiff Robert Mustapha Quartey and Sarah Akua Allotey.
His older brother Clement Isaac Quartey annexed silver in the welterweight division at the 1960 Olympiad.
A product of the Akotoku Boxing Academy founded by Francis Attuquaye Clottey, he competed as an amateur and compiled a record of 50-4 before finishing in third place at the 1987 World Junior Championships held in Havana, Cuba after losing on points to Laszlo Szocs of Hungary.
Nicknamed "Bazooka" by father-in-law of Sam
Azumah Nelson Emmanuel Seth Yoofi Boham, he competed for Ghana at the 1988 Olympiad in Seoul, South Korea alongside Alfred Addo Ankamah, Emmanuel Quaye and Alfred Kotey.
On November 26, 1988 he debuted professionally and knocked out Mama Mohammed in the second round. After racking up a string of impressive wins, he dethroned Crisanto "Claws" Espana who held the WBA welterweight crown with a brutal knockout on June 4, 1994 under the tutelage of Daniel Oko Odamtten.
He successfully defended the title against Alberto Cortes, Jung Oh-Park, Andrew Murray, Oba Diallo Carr, Ralph Jones, Vince Phillips and Jose Luis Lopez but was later stripped of it by the sanctioning body in 1998.
After a lengthy absence, he fought WBC welterweight titlist Oscar de la Hoya on February 13, 1999 but lost controversially at the Thomas and Mack Centre. Following a lopsided loss to IBF junior middleweight champion Fernando Javier Vargas on April 15, 2000, he retired from the noble art of self defence.
He bounced back after a five-year hiatus in 2005 and posted wins over Clint Scott McNeil, Verno Jeremias Philips and Carlos Bojorquez. After suffering losses to Vernon Forrest and Ronald Lamont "Winky" Wright, he hanged up his gloves after a blossoming career. The ex-WBA welterweight belt holder currently trains 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Samuel Takyi.