When the Ghanaian boxing team, “The Black Bombers” take on their opponents at this year’s Olympics in Japan, a lot of the pressure will be on light heavyweight slugger, Shakur Samed, 22, who is out to fulfil a long-standing family tradition and whose dream is to win a gold medal at the games.
By Zubaida Ismail
“I noticed I could carry three 50 kilograms sugar without any difficulty while I served as a porter in the Agbobloshie market in Accra. One day, an elderly man who used to live with us told me to go into boxing, so I gave it a try,” said Issah Samed, father of Shakur Samed, a boxer representing Ghana at the 2021 Olympic games in Japan.
At twenty-nine years of age, the older Samed – now well into his 60’s – said he had discovered his calling…boxing!
In 1998, Samed snr began his boxing career fighting in the welterweight division and then later moved into the middleweight category.
But after four years in rings in and around Accra – and after making a name for himself by winning a gold medal at the national games – bedevilled by injuries, his boxing exploits ended. That’s when he decided to hand over the boxing gloves to his three young sons, Basti, Issah and Shakur.
“I noticed age was catching up with me, so I opted to push the children into boxing, being inspired by some Ghanaian and American boxing legends. I was number one in the Great Accra Amateur Team. I was next in the line to join the national team,” he said adding, “I used to look up to Azuma Nelson, Iyke Quartey, whom I got the chance to train with and also loved to watch Mohammed Ali in the ring because he’s a delight to watch.”
But even though he never got the opportunity to the taste glory that comes with being part of the Ghanaian national boxing team, the older Samed positioned his sons to take his successes even further.
All his three sons have become top boxers, making the family – and Ghana – proud, at international games such the All-African Games and Olympics.
Both Basti and Issah Junior, now 35 and 31 years old respectively, have won medals from regional tournaments and also from the 2008 All African Games that saw them qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics games, China. The two didn’t win any medals following an early exit.
The family’s eyes are now on the young Shakur to fulfil the family’s ambition of winning a gold medal at the Olympics.
“I would have been a footballer if I had the chance, but my dad was the one who inspired me. He kept saying he wouldn’t be responsible for my failure if I don’t go far in football. He was like; boxing is in our blood, so I started training and I became used to it,” said Shakur.
Shakur has already made a name for himself in Ghana, winning at the national championship in 2018. But after that impressive perforce came a moment of reckoning. He had to suspend his education to prepare for the 2021 Olympics in Japan.
“I participated in the Junior Games before I came and wrote my BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination) exams. I even missed the BECE but was allowed to write. I won a medal, so it opened chances for me. I couldn’t continue with my education because being in the national team takes a lot of time. In the morning I train with the Black Bombers, we close around 11 and at 3, I train with my dad,” he explained.
But this would not be the first time Shakur has won a medal at an international competition. In the All-African Games in 2019 in Rabat, Morroco, he won bronze in his light-heavyweight fight category, after a fierce final match.
Under the eagle eyes of four-times Olympics coach, Ofori Asare, Shakur is confident that he’s adequately prepared and is in good shape for the victory in Japan. He’s determined to do the family proud.
“When you look through the record, no one has produced three siblings for the Olympians. They (brothers) won medals at the African games so, me not winning a medal will be like disgrace to our family, so I must put up my best to come out with a medal as I did before. I was the only boxer who gave Ghana a bronze medal at the 2019 African games,” he said, beaming.
With that much conviction deeply in his heart, it is hardly surprising that neither the COVID-19 partial lock down and closure of gyms dampened his spirits ahead. of the games. Instead, the situation offered him a lifeline.
“While there was this pandemic going on, I was home training with my dad looking forward to the France qualifications and it ended up that they have cancelled. They said they were going to use the BTF (Boxing Task Force) world rankings, and God be so good, in the light heavyweight we were about seventy-nine in the world and I was ranked seventh. That was my biggest achievement,” he said breaking into a smile.
In 1960, Ghana’s national boxing team made their debut at the Olympics where Clement Quartey won a silver medal. Four years later, Eddie Blay senior won a bronze medal in Tokyo and finally in 1972, Prince Amartey won a bronze medal.
For the family patriarch, these previous victories belong to other people’s history books. His is adamant that his own family history be written at the games.
“Shakur has the moves and the skills to bring Ghana some medals. I will want a gold medal from him and that will make me a proud father,” said Samed.
Certainly, all eyes in the boxing world will be on the Tokyo Olympics when the three Ghanaian boxers, Samuel Takyi, Suleman Tetteh and Shakur Samed enter the ring and go toe-to-toe against their international opponents.
bird/
