The Bronx boxing gym at James Town, a suburb of Accra, was given a new lease of life by Choplife Gaming, a gaming franchise operator, who refurbished the gym to meet international standards.
The gym, which was founded in 2004 and has produced some renowned boxers in the country including Richard Commey, Duke Micah, Emmanuel Tagoe, Frederick Lawson, Sherrif Quaye, John Laryea and Brimah Kamoko, has now been equipped with state-of-the-art training facilities to uplift the status of the gym.
At a ceremony to hand over the refurbished gym, award-winning musician and CEO of Choplife, Mr Eazi, believed the continent was endowed with a lot of talents but the facilities to horn them was the major challenge.
He said it was for this reason why he had taken the responsibility to help improve sporting facilities on the continent and promised to collaborate with the necessary stakeholders to ensure opportunities were extended to talented Africa youths to blossom.
“Africa does not lack talent. What we lack is opportunity and development initiatives. Our duty at Choplife Gaming is to support African talents, be it music, arts, or sports. We will continue to collaborate with stakeholders within these industries in our quest to come out with sustainable initiatives that will help develop talents across Africa,” Mr Eazi said.
The owner and chief coach of the Bronx gym, Mr Lawrence Carl Lokko, was excited by the gesture extended to them by transforming the gym and praised Choplife for the transforming the gym into a world class one.
He explained that for the number of years that he has been in the boxing business, he noticed that anytime local boxers were taken outside the country to fight, they get carried away by the training facilities, and that brings down their confidence.
He, however, promised to maximise the facility’s full potential to continue to groom more world champions.
“Boxing is seen as a path of hope and means of escaping poverty to the youth, and initiatives like what we are witnessing go to the core of addressing one of the country’s fundamental problems. Boys and girls in James Town and its environs often start boxing at an early age, with the support and encouragement of their families and the community, as such they have the opportunity to develop their skills over a long period,” he further said.
