ACCRA: The dusty concrete floor, worn gloves and battered punching bags at Ghana’s Attoh Quarshie “Home of the Sweet Science” gym might not look like much. But the modest boxing club is one of a network of gyms teaching the noble art in just one small Accra district that has become known internationally as an epicenter for the sport.

Just a few meters away, another facility, Will Power Boxing Gym, welcomes those entering with the sign “Go Hard or Go Home”. More than a dozen small gyms are scattered throughout the winding sidestreets of the hardscrabble Jamestown district and its Bukom neighborhood near the city’s Atlantic Ocean fishing port.

Jamestown has already produced its share of champions, whose fading posters now adorn club walls, including Azumah “The Professor” Nelson, who many consider as the greatest African boxer. A new generation of Jamestown champions is on the rise.

“Ghana boxing is all about Jamestown,” said John Zile, 24, a professional with a record of 15-0, fighting out of the district’s Bronx Boxing Gym and who moved to Jamestown from the north. “If you want to be great you have to come here.”

Boxing coaches attribute the growth of Jamestown and Bukom boxing to the tough life in the fishing community and a tradition of settling arguments the old-fashioned way: With a show of strength. That eventually evolved into the boxing business. “It became clear to this side of the country that boxing belonged to them,” said Lawrence Carl Lokko, owner of Bronx Boxing and a well-known coach.

The sport is also a way into a disciplined life, away from the Jamestown streets where opportunities are few, he said. Among his stable of fighters is John “Expensive Boxer” Laryea, a WBO African champion and former national titleholder.

Nearby, the neighborhood boxing stadium hosts regular tournaments among the Jamestown clubs. At the sparse Attoh Quarshie gym, just meters from the beach, coaches put sweat-drenched fighters through their paces on the bags, before a whistle marks a pause between rounds.

Inside the ring, two more boxers move around and batter focus mitts held by partners. Near the entrance, a wooden board spells out the gym rules: “Rule 1. The trainer is never wrong. Rule 2. If you think the trainer is wrong refer to Rule 1.”

Photos of past tournaments and the gym’s team cover parts of the peeling red and yellow walls. “They train you well,” fighter Akimos Ampiah, a professional bantamweight, said between rounds on the heavy bag. “Boxing. It’s a tradition here.” ­— AFP