Banku Turns To �Prophet 1� Ahead Of Powers Bout

Even as the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) considers a request to postpone the much-anticipated fight between Ayitey Powers and Braimah Kamoko, a kind of spiritual warfare seems to be gaining grounds before the two combatants eventually step into the ring, with Kamoko reportedly turning to a popular TV evangelist for spiritual fortification.

Last week, Powers took the boxing community by surprise by requesting for a new date for their cruiserweight fight fixed for April 18 at the Accra Stadium, insisting he would neither fight Kamoko, popularly known as Bukom Banku, on the sanctioned date nor in April because of directives from his �spiritual father�.

Days earlier, Powers had visited the Synagogue Church of All Nations where he claimed to have been delivered of a demon which had hindered his career and inability to win big fights.

In a rather unusual move, Kamoko, a Muslim, visited the Ebenezer Miracle Worship Centre at Aheneman Kokoben (Island City) near Kumasi to consult its founder Rev. Ebenezer Adarkwa Opambour Yiadom a.k.a. Prophet 1.

Speaking to the Graphic Sports yesterday, Kamoko�s manager, Abraham Kotey Neequaye noted that the evangelist, who has a weekly programme on Metro TV, invited them for special prayers and added that since the man of God was one that they had so much respect for they could not turn him down.

�Prophet One is someone we respect so much, so we had to rush here at his request,� he told the paper.

Meanwhile, as the GBA plans a meeting with the fight promoter on the recent development, Powers has proposed May 2, May 9 and May 30 as dates he is prepared to fight on.

The boxer hinted Graphic Sports yesterday that his camp had proposed the three dates to the GBA for the bout to come off, and had asked Kamoko and his camp to choose one of the three dates that best suited them.

Powers said he was unfazed by his opponent�s trip to Kumasi for spiritual fortification, adding that he would end Kamoko�s career in round six of the fight. �I am ready to beat Banku any day and anytime,� he asserted.

Promoter Alex Ntiamoah Boakye of Box Office Promotions disclosed to the Graphic Sports his outfit would send a letter today to the sport�s regulatory body and other partners about their request for a change in date.

GBA spokesperson, Naa Darkua Dodoo, told the Graphic Sports yesterday that the sport�s regulatory body would hold further meetings with other partners, particularly South African pay-tv SuperSport before settling on a new date for the fight as it now looked impossible to stage the non-title fight on the sanctioned date.

Source: Daily Graphic