|
The West African Republic of
Ghana has produced many
prominent boxers over the years,
including the legendary Azumah
Nelson, former World Champions
Ike Quartey, Nana Yaw Konadu,
Joseph Agbeko and Alfred
Kotey.
“Cobra”
Kotey, a talented and
hard-punching globetrotter who
reigned as WBO World
Bantamweight Champion between
1994 and 1995, is also a former
World Boxing Federation (WBF)
Intercontinental Lightweight
Champion.
The oldest of five brothers and
four sisters, Alfred was born on
June 3, 1968 in Bokum, a small
tribal locality in the heart of
Ghana's capital Accra, best
known for its output of
successful boxers. In that
environment it was no surprise
that he started boxing at a
young age.
Quickly emerging as one to keep
an eye on, he compiled a 35-4
amateur record, and despite the
relatively few bouts he
accomplished a lot, representing
his country all over the world
and reaching the quarter finals
of the 1988 Soul-Olympics as a
flyweight.
As is often the case with top
amateurs, he decided to turn
professional after returning
from the Olympics, and had his
first paid bout on November 26,
1988 sharing the undercard of a
show at the Orion Cinema Hall in
Accra with Olympic team-mate,
and fellow debutant, Ike
Quartey.
Kotey was on a fast-track with
ambitions to reach championship
level in quick time, and after
winning his first four fights by
convincing knockout, he further
impressed by stopping Aristide
Sagbo (10-3) from Benin in eight
rounds in June of 1989.
Sagbo was coming off a victory
over another Ghanaian, former
Commonwealth Champion Sam
Akromah, so it was a highly
regarded triumph for Kotey, over
a bigger opponent still in his
prime, who would go on to twice
win the African Super
Featherweight title and make six
successful defenses.
That victory put Kotey in line
to fight for the vacant
Commonwealth Flyweight title
already in his sixth outing, and
he proved a level above fellow
countryman George Freeman,
winning his first professional
championship in just two rounds.
A low profile victory six month
later would be his last fight in
Ghana in over eight years, as he
started a run of twenty-one
outings, switching between
Britain and America, by
retaining his Commonwealth crown
with a decision over Danny
Porter (8-5) on July 6, 1990 in
London-suburb Brentwood.
He then relocated to
tradition-rich fighting city
Philadelphia, where he became a
regular on shows staged at
iconic venue The Blue Horizon.
After six fights in “the city of
Brotherly love”, and two in
Atlantic City, his record stood
at 16-0 (12), and he had
graduated to headlining status.
On November 17, 1992 Kotey
suffered his first defeat as a
pro, when he lost a split
decision to underestimated
Mexican Julio Cesar Borboa
(16-4), a man who had fought
no-one outstanding but still
lost four times.
However, the loss would turn out
to be no shame at all, as Borboa
took the IBF World Super
Flyweight title from Robert
Quiroga in his very next fight,
a defended his belt five times
in the coming years. In fact, in
retrospect, the encounter with
Borboa was proof that Kotey was
world class himself.
Moving up to Bantamweight, Kotey
returned to England in March of
1994 to decision Journeyman
Chris Clarkson (18-22-2). The
following July he was awarded a
shot at reigning WBO World
Champion Rafael Del Valle (15-0)
from Puerto Rico at York Hall in
London.
Kotey, 26 years old the time and
probably at his peak, put on an
excellent display, and became a
World Champion by out-boxing Del
Valle. He really left no doubt,
and won a unanimous decision
with scores of 118-111, 116-111
and 116-112.
Now based in Britain, Kotey made
title defenses against Mexican
Armando Castro (43-15-3) and
British Champion Drew Docherty
(14-1-1), before losing his
world title on points to former
World Super Bantamweight ruler
Daniel Jimenez (19-4-1) in
October of 1995.
Less than seven weeks later,
Kotey was back in the ring and
ready to launch his assault on a
new weight division, Super
Bantamweight. At York Hall he
captured the vacant WBC
International title, out-scoring
two-time world title-challenger
Freddy Cruz (50-7-7).
Returning to the USA, A loss to
contender Jesse Magana (18-4-2)
followed before Kotey stayed
relevant by besting tough
Mexican Jorge Munoz Jr.
(16-5-1). A respected name, he
continued to get tough fights at
world level, losing close
decisions to Guty Espadas Jr.
(21-2) and Adan Vargas (24-1-1).
In the fall of 1997 Kotey was
offered the opportunity to move
up in weight again, to challenge
a young Juan Manuel Maquez
(22-1) for the WBO NABO
Featherweight title. Winning on
points, Marquez showed on that
night the potential that
eventually made him a true
legend, but Kotey was
competitive for twelve hard
rounds.
Having gone through a long and
tough period with big fights in
England and America, and only
coming out with his hands raised
in two of his last seven, Kotey
decided to return to Ghana to
rebuild his career as a Super
Featherweight.
But he only managed to go 1-1-1
in three bouts on home soil,
against mediocre opposition at
best, and questions arose if his
time as a top fighter had come
and gone. But he still had one
big victory in him, and that
came when he returned to his
former adopted home-town,
London, in April of 2001.
At Lightweight, Kotey was
considered a “name” for
Birmingham´s Anthony Maynard
(15-3) to add to his record, but
the old dog still had some bite
in him, forcing the favorite to
retire in the sixth round to win
the WBF Intercontinental title.
Unfortunately the victory didn't
quite resurrect the career of
Alfred Kotey. He would continue
to fight, on and off, for
another eleven years, going as
high as Middleweight. Amazingly,
his career had spanned almost
twenty-four years when he
finally retired at almost 44 in
2012.
Between 2001 and 2012 he fought,
and lost to, the likes of
Acelino Freitas (29-0), Orlando
Salido (21-8-2), Jose Miguel
Cotto (23-0), Antonio Diaz
(39-5-1), Victor Ortiz (14-1)
and Anthony Peterson (20-0).
Still durable, if nothing else,
none of these world class boxers
managed to stop Kotey inside the
distance.
Despite the somewhat sad final
part, where he lost nine of
eleven fights, Kotey achieved so
much in his 26-16-1 (17) career.
Commonwealth, WBO World, WBC
International and WBF
Intercontinental titles, and
fights against some of the
biggest names of his era, is not
a bad ledger to look back at.
|
