Tokyo Olympics: Coach Ofori Asare reveals inspiring words that changed Samuel Takyi

“If you win this fight your life is going to change forever,” these were the exact words Coach Ofori Asare told boxer Samuel Takyi after losing his first round in the quarter-final fight against Colombia’s Ceiber Ávila.

The 20-year-old Ghanaian had performed poorly on the scorecard of all five judges who presided over the fight and was

Read full articleon the trajectory to a big defeat.

However, right after the bell rang for the end of the first round, Coach Ofori Asare sat Samuel Takyi down and reminded him of the price at stake should he lose his bout to the Colombian.

Takyi was the only boxer left in Coach Ofori Asare’s camp and the country was betting on him to win his fight.

The boxer knew that Takyi was a kid and he was 32 years. So it was their strategy to bully Takyi so after the first round he was confused.

“I told him, Takyi if you win this fight your life is going to change forever, so let’s go and turn the thing around. When you go, don’t just rush, sometimes you punch, sometimes you step back.” We did a lot about how they were going to fight, but their first strategy was able to disrupt us small”.

Takyi overcame his initial setback to defeat his opponent by a 3-2 split decision, winning two of the remaining rounds.

Soon after the fight, the Olympic Committee announced Takyi as a medalist in the featherweight division after progressing to the semifinal of the competition.

America’s Duke Ragan is the only boxer standing in Takyi’s gap as he aims to win Ghana’s first gold medal at the Olympic Games.

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