Barely 24 hours into Sunday, the YouTube arena would welcome yet another Ghanaian who will be seeking to avenge the defeat of Ike Bazooka Quartey’s close shave loss to Oscar De La Hoya in 2012.
The Ghanaian pugilist in question is “The Red Tiger” George Ashie who relocated into the “new world” some few months ago to cement his glove craft as age seems to have a deleterious change in him.
Coming up against another Welter, in the person of Alexis Rocha, Ashie is conscious of the fact that the former is a boxer from the legend,Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions stable.
At 38 years of age, the speed, tenacity and grit of the Ghanaian has ostensibly declined. We saw this at his last fight when he stopped Robert Quaye at the Bukom Boxing Arena.
The 23 year old southpaw phenom endeared a very torrid infant beginning on the streets and battled against obesity to get here . His amateur debuts were very encouraging. He scored full marks in 2018 when he defeated Carlos Ortiz Cervantes to obtain the WBC Continental America’s Welterweight Title and defended his title twice against Berlin Abreu and Roberto Valenzuela Jr.
His original opponent, Anthony Young suffered a nose injury and had to be replaced with the Red Tiger.
But hear him on this fight against George Ashie ” it does not matter who is standing across from me in that ring come Saturday night. The goal and the assignment remains the same: break my opponent’s will and win by stoppage. I’m ready for any fighter they put in front of me”.
Ashie however is cool and collected and could only respond this way ” I promise the fans will see a great boxing match and that I will knock him out coldly”. I do thank Alexis for giving me this opportunity. I will prove to the World on Saturday night who George Ashie is”.
Ashie’s countenance before this fight is fantastic. His facial response especially on meeting the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya portrayed no fear. And that is the mark of a boxer who will even fight you at your backyard.
The American is witty and fast in using his right hand. Ashie needs to speed up his hands. Going in for a knockout is a no go area. He needs to maintain his steady composure and avoid being hit from the right southpaw stance. It comes with knockout waves.
The Ghanaian needs a lot is stamina to be moving around. Never a good strategy to stand toe to toe with Rocha.
This fight is hard to predict. Ashie’s power jab may just do the trick. Rocha may come forward. The better fighter carries the day.
Dennis Kweku Moore
Boxing writer/analyst
Email: moorecycling67@gmail.com
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