Obodai Sai, with hand raised, enjoying a kingly ride after his victory
Former Commonwealth Champion Obodai ‘Miracle’ Sai failed to put his words of stopping Ishmael Tetteh in round four to action in their clash at the El-Wak Stadium on Sunday morning.
But he proved too strong for Tetteh in their Super Welterweight 10-round contest on a night that boxing blended so well with musical performances from Buk Bak, Keche and veteran Nii Armah Massaca of Celebrants fame.
All three judges scored in Sai’s favour; 98-93, 98-93, 98- 92 to crown his spirited performance with a unanimous win.
Sai was in a class of his own as he succeeded in subjecting his opponent to severe punches from start to finish.
He relied on his left hand after the first three rounds which paid off. The eighth round in particular saw Sai throwing quality countless punches without reply.
That compelled Tetteh to resort to clinching but Sai managed to shrug off most of his attempts.
Sai admitted in a post-fight interview that: “The fight didn’t go the way I expected, I predicted to stop him in round four but things did not work right.”
“This is not what I wanted, I’m aiming at reclaiming the Commonwealth title, but I take consolation from the fact that it has served as a warm up fight for the Commonwealth title,” he added.
Joshua Okine also triumphed over his Uruguayan opponent, Rafael Sosu Pintos, in their international lightweight contest with a unanimous point decision, while Samuel Amoako overpowered Roman Esperanza of Paraguay with fifth round TKO in their international lightweight contest after his corner threw in the towel.
Veteran Alfred ‘Cobra’ Kotey struggled in vain to make a good comeback impression against young Fredrick Lawson in their welterweight contest. The former WBO Flyweight champion blamed his poor show on short notice for the bout.
Earlier, Odalai Lamptey lost on points to Ishmael Aryeetey in their featherweight contest, while Emmanuel ‘Akufu Addo’ Quartey beat Kayoed Nurudeen Boyefio in round six in the first bout of the evening.
The ‘Now or Never’ bouts nearly suffered a disaster following the late pull-out of Joseph Agbeko.
But the promoters, Goldenmike Promotions, managed to stage one of the finest promotions in recent months.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum
