By Prince Dornu-Leiku

Godwin Dzanie Kotey AKA Alloway, the trainer of WBO welterweight title challenger Joshua Clottey and his assistant Daniel Clottey have been refused a visa renewal by the US Embassy in Accra. The coach and assistant’s respective previous visas expired at the end of November last year, but attempts to renew it in order to make it to the US on time for preparations by the boxer towards the March 13 world title fight against Manny Pacquiao has been met with resistance by US authorities in Ghana.

According to the two after they went to the US Embassy last Wednesday to apply for the visa renewal, Kotey the trainer was only given a paper stating that the visa has been temporarily withheld and he will get a call later, but Clottey the assistant trainer was flatly refused. This, the two say does no good to the preparations of Joshua Clottey as he prepares for the do or die showdown with the Philippine’s Manny Pacquiao. “We are very disappointed because we need to train. Now Joshua is all alone in the US and even if he is training, there is no supervision,” Coach Kotey stated.

A boxer needs four others to work with in his corner when preparing for and during the fight itself, which are the chief cornerman who is automatically the trainer, his assistant, the cutman and the bucketman. Mr. Godwin Kotey has therefore appealed to Ghanaian boxing authorities and promoters for the March 13 big fight to intervene in order for the US Embassy to issue the visas to the trainer and his assistant to make the journey.

Joshua Clottey who only last Tuesday concluded paperwork in the US on the fight is expected to return to Ghana tomorrow in order to personally facilitate the visa application for the trainers. “You need time to prepare in boxing. Even the day Joshua was notified for the fight was already too short for a fight of such magnitude. He needs at least four months to prepare for a big fight like this,” a very frustrated Godwin Kotey said.