Boxing News of Thursday, 21 March 2002

Source: gna

Former boxer grateful to Ike Quartey and fans

El-Abdul Rahman Okpoti, a former featherweight Ghanaian boxer, now suffering from stroke, has expressed his profound gratitude to Ike "Bazooka" Quartey, former WBA Welterweight Champion and some boxing fans for financial assistance that enabled him undergo medical treatment.

Speaking to the GNA Sports in Accra on Wednesday, Okpoti, 48, former number one contender in his weight division between 1974 to 1995, said the financial aid has given him a new lease of life, in that he is now responding to treatment.

"I now feel better. It's my hope that I would be fully fit in due time", the boxer told the GNA. The boxer through the GNA appealed to the public on Wednesday, February 20, for financial assistance to enable him undergo treatment. And barely two days after, Ike Quartey donated 300 dollars while some fans gave him ?240,000 at the Accra Sports Stadium during a boxing show. He said, he is currently seeing a specialist at the Agalata Clinic at Chokor, a fishing community in Accra, for herbal treatment.