Professional boxing governance in Ghana enters a concrete new phase on Thursday when nominations open for the June 4 election that will produce a substantive executive board for the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), ending eight months of interim rule.
The Extraordinary Congress, set to begin at 9 a.m. at the Accra Sports Stadium, will elect a President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, Treasurer and four Executive Board Members to lead the sport out of its deepest governance crisis in recent memory.
Candidates have from Thursday, May 14, to Tuesday, May 19, to collect and return nomination forms. The Ghana Boxing Interim Management Committee (GBIMC) will publish its final list of approved candidates between May 22 and 23, with each submission requiring endorsement from a proposer and a seconder.
Only registered, licensed members with no outstanding financial obligations to the authority qualify to vote. Delegates must also be formally nominated and submitted to the GBIMC secretariat before the May 19 cutoff, in line with the electoral roadmap.
The GBIMC was inaugurated on September 29, 2025, by the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the Ministry of Sports and Recreation after two boxer fatalities, those of Nigerian Gabriel Olusegun and Ghanaian Ernest Akushey, prompted the dissolution of the previous GBA board and a temporary ban on professional bouts.
Running parallel to the candidate vetting process is a mandatory nationwide health screening for all licensed professional boxers, scheduled for May 27 and 28 at the Lapaz Community Hospital in Accra. Boxers will gather from 8 a.m. each day at the James Town Police Station and board transport to the hospital. Registration opens May 25 at the same location.
“The health of boxers is our priority,” GBIMC Chairman Samir Captan said.
The authority will recognise only boxers captured in its new digital health database going forward. That system, Ghana’s first comprehensive medical database for professional boxers, passes to the incoming GBA leadership after the official handover on June 4.
Beyond procedural mechanics, the vote carries wider significance. The GBIMC’s tenure also delivered athlete insurance partnerships, restored sanctioned bouts under stricter protocols, and staged several major fight events across the country. The incoming administration takes on the task of sustaining those gains while restoring commercial confidence and long-term public trust in the sport.
