JAN 29: THE FINAL EXAM FOR KOFI JANTUAH

By Jeff Mayweather



 


 

On Saturday night January 29th in Atlantic City New Jersey, most boxing fans will tune in to HBO to watch fans' favorite Arturo "Thunder" Gatti, a fighter who is always sixty thrills a minute and comes to give 100% of himself win lose or draw. Do I have your interest yet? Good, because the undercard is the fight that has the most interest and intrigue to me for a few reasons.

Reason number one is that I will be in the corner of one of the combatants, challenger Kofi Jontuah, who has a 29-1record, 18 KO's, with his last seven opponents having been stopped inside the distance. Jontuah faces his countryman Kassim Ouma with a record of 21-1-1with 13 KO's to his credit.

Kassim Ouma is an extremely busy southpaw with better than average boxing skills, but he does lack in defensive skills, which could be the difference in the fight. Ouma can be a cutie at times and other times he feels he's a puncher and tries to bring the fight to his opponent; that's the Ouma we would love to see in front of us next Saturday night. Team Jontuah will be going home early.

It's odd that these two extremely talented fighters have two loses between them, each one of their loses having come at the hands of sub-par journeyman. I think it's safe to say that they have both learned from their mistakes. I think that this fight is much bigger than just a title fight; it will mark the first time a major network, in this case HBO, will showcase two African fighters fighting for a major World Title. It's about bragging rights, east meets west, and there won't be a loser for Africa in this one.

Jontuah and Ouma will have a chance to steal Gatti's thunder with an appealing performance, while making a statement  to the Jr. Middleweight division and the boxing world as well, that Africa can produce not only great warriors, but great Champions.

Most  boxing fans are familiar with the great African champions Azumah Nelson and Dick Tiger, and on Saturday night they will add another name to that special list of warriors. I certainly hope that Jontuah's name will be the addition but we are well aware that Ouma is no walk in the park for us.

We as a team have prepared Kofi well for the biggest day of his life. Jontuah is such a nice guy, you can't imagine him being a fighter. He's extremely laid-back, very quiet, but put him in a boxing ring and all that changes; he becomes a destructive machine out to hurt and inflict pain and damage to anyone in his path. He has good punching power in either hand and if he hits anyone in the Jr. Middleweight division with his best shot, they will be canceled for the night.

What's even more amazing about this young 30 year old challenger is that every fight is an on the job experience, as he had no amateur background. He learns as he goes and so far he has been a great student, only failing one test so far in 30 tries. On January 29th is the final exam for Mr. Kofi Jontuah and Kassim Ouma is the test...

1-22-2005

 


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