Boxing's Bazooka: Ike Quartey

Ike Quartey was born on November 27, 1969 in Bukom, Ghana. Bukom is a small, tribal town on the outskirts of Ghana's capital of Accra, and is the center of Quartey's tribe: the Ga. Quartey's father had five wives, and Ike was the last of his 27 children. Many in the family were in boxing, and Quartey's older brother Clement "Isaac" Quartey won Ghana's first-ever Olympic medal when he captured Silver at the 1960 Summer Games. Thus, Ike grew up in the center of a boxing culture that soon made Ghana one of the leading pugilistic countries in the world.

Ike followed in his older brother's footsteps. He established an amateur record of 50-4, made the Ghanaian Olympic Team, and went to the 1988 Seoul Games. He didn't win a medal there, however, and went home to turn pro in the November of that year.

Quartey fought his first 14 fights in Ghana, and therefore had already firmly established his boxing style when he first came to the U.S. in 1991. Standing 5'7" tall with a 71" reach, Ike Quartey had a spectacularly muscled build, and was easily the strongest fighter one was ever likely to encounter at 140 and 147 lbs. He fought with the peek-a-boo guard that is standard among Ghanian fighters, and commanded a truly awesome 1-2 combo. His jab in particular was like a piston, and his straight right a true piledriver. To round it all off, he had good stamina and a good (albeit not granite) chin.

Quartey mixed his fight venues. As a rising contender, he fought mostly in France, sometimes in the Italy, and rarely in the U.S. or his native Ghana. His winning record and international following got him a title challenge against WBA Welterweight Champion Cisanto Espana of Venezuela. Espana was hardly a paper champion. He had beaten Luis Santana and (a shopworn) Meldrick Taylor. Undefeated, he had captured the title 2 1/2 years before, and was making his 4th defense. It was a close fight, and by the 11th Espana led on one card, Quartey on another, and the third was tied. However, the rugged and tough Ghanaian has been steadily gaining strength as Espana faded down the stretch. He hurt Espana at the opening seconds of the round, and only the ropes kept Espana from going down. After a Standing 8 Count, Quartey pounced, hurt Espana again with a flurry, and then knocked him out with a "bazooka" right. Espana's corner threw in the towel as their man fell. Quartey had won the title before a roaring crowd in France's Palais Marcel Cerdan, named for the great middleweight champion.

Welterweight Champion

27-0, Quartey had won the title with a bang, but was relatively unknown in the country where boxers made their money: the U.S. He sought to address that by splitting his bouts between the U.S. and France, where he had built a popular following.

After a string of minor defenses, he met 33-1 Vince Phillips in April 1996. Phillips had been such a formidable contender at 140 lbs that he found his career stymied as all the top fighters of that division ducked him. Looking for paydays, he went up to 147 lbs, where he had trouble with the bigger men. However, in the future he would return to 140 and topple the formidable Kostya Tszyu. This was the fighter that Ike Quartey destroyed in 3 Rounds.

He followed that victory by meeting the veteran 39-1 contender Oba Carr in October. Carr was faster and slicker than Quartey, and one of the judges really liked the display Carr was putting on, giving Carr a draw. The other two judges scored it a lopsided win for Quartey, based on his outmuscling and outbanging the other guy. Quartey won a Majority Decision, but it wasn't as close as the term usually implies. With that victory, Quartey was 33-0, made 5 defenses of his title, and was regarded as a serious threat to either of the other two welterweight champions: Felix Trinidad and Oscar de la Hoya.

However, Trinidad was toying with moving up to 154 lbs, and de la Hoya was busy collecting easy paydays. So Quartey went out and fought hard punching, granite-chinned Mexican contender Jose Luis Lopez. The former WBO titlist had beaten up "Yori Boy" Campas, and would have been coming in with a belt had he not been stripped of the title for inactivity. For once, "Bazooka" Ike was in the ring with a man he couldn't dent. Instead, it was Quartey who got dented with a 2nd Round knockdown. Ike switched to boxing and using his heavy jab to control the fight, but was knocked down again in the 11th. The result was a Draw.

The possibility that Trinidad might fight Quartey had finally brought de la Hoya back to fighting real opponents. Quartey had to give up his title to do it, but the two fighters met in February 1999. In the meantime, health and personal troubles had consumed Quartey and kept him out of the ring for 14 months. So, it was with some rust that Ike matched his piston jab against Oscar's rapier jab. Oscar landed more jabs, but Quartey's jabs were more commanding. When the Golden Boy got careless in the 6th, Ike knocked him onto his ass. Sensing he might be losing the fight, de la Hoya came out in the 12th and gave Quartey everything he had, overwhelming the Ghanaian. A smashing left hook knocked Quartey down, and Oscar kept the pressure on for the remainder of the round, not allowing "Bazooka" Ike to recover. It was enough to win a Split Decision. 29 years old and a veteran of 35 bouts, Ike Quartey had finally lost a fight.

Comeback?

The same personal troubles led to more inactivity for Ike. He did not help himself very much by routinely asking for princely sums whenever someone did approach him about a fight. 14 months after the Golden Boy fight, he met de la Hoya's bitter rival Fernando Vargas for the IBF 154 lbs title. It was a terrible comeback fight for Ike, who had been in the ring only once in 28 months, and was meeting a man who was bigger and arguably stronger than he was. Vargas outmuscled the strong guy, and won a clear points victory.

Quartey stayed away from the ring for five years, and many considered him de facto retired. However, he mounted a serious comeback effort starting in January 2005. In June 2005, almost 36 years old, he cemented that comeback with a points win over fringe contender Verno Phillips. It won him plaudits as The Ring magazine's "Comeback of 2005."

In August 2006, Quartey met another comebacking fighter, Vernon Forrest. Forrest has previously beaten Shane Mosely, but then lost to the thug from Nicaragua, Ricardo Mayorga. Quartey controlled the early rounds with hard jabs and thudding counterpunches. After that, the fight was somewhat anti-climactic, as Quartey could not consistently get past Forrest's long reach, while Forrest was utterly stymied by Quartey's high guard and good movement. However, Quartey worked harder and landed more punches, and it was therefore something of a shock when Vernon Forrest was declared the winner. The crowd chanted "bullshit!" and even the HBO Telecast Team was disgusted with the verdict. Quartey had been robbed.

Four months later, Quartey challenged 154 lbs kingpin Ronald "Winky" Wright. Wright came out uncharacteristically aggressive, and dropped Quartey in the 2nd. The southpaw master craftsman outboxed Quartey for the next several rounds. Quartey, aware he was trailing on the scorecards, came out and went after Wright like a machine gun, but it wasn't enough.Wright won a lopsided Unanimous Decision.

The Future?

Ike Quartey remains unretired, but has not fought since losing to Wright. He is approaching middle age, but his virtues of great physical strength, point-defense based on a tight guard, and hard, straight punching are of the sort that age well. As evidenced by his bouts with Verno Phillips and Vernon Forrest, if he could just stay busy and get a fair shake from the judges, Quartey could very well become a force to be reckoned with again.

Sources: boxrec.com; live fight footage; The Ring; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3004326.stm