Ghanaian president applauds Commey for IBF lightweight world title success

ACCRA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday applauded Richard Oblittey Commey for winning the International Boxing Federation's lightweight world title last month.

"I remember vividly the promise you made on the stage at the Bukom Boxing Arena, a couple of months after I became president, and you have lived up to your pledge. Well done," he told the boxer when Commey presented his world title to him at the Jubilee House in Accra.

"The path you have trodden, despite the defeats and disappointments, you stuck to your guns knowing you had it in you to do it. It is a great story. It is a little bit my own story," Akufo-Addo said.

Commey said through his own foundation, he was working hard to produce more world champions and appealed to the government as well as the Ghana Boxing Association to look at issues of the welfare of boxers in the country.

Commey won the vacant IBF lightweight title after stopping Isa Chaniev in the second round to become Ghana's ninth world boxing champion.