Azuma Nelson and other famous Ghana fighters have made their countrymen proud. Every Ghana boy I meet tells me proudly that he is “a Ghana boy,” an Azuma Nelson fan, and a lover of boxing.

In my opinion, one of the reasons that Ghana boxers have an advantage is that they don’t have good equipment, so they do more shadow boxing and skipping rope, which is neglected by American and European fighters, especially MMA fighters who tend to come from various partner-training combat backgrounds.

The final point in boxing, is perhaps why it has been such a tough sport, that only a handful of fighters make money, and most make little. In the end it seems a shame that, having exported the apex masculine ritual of boxing, the Western World has such a tiny rate of participation in this sport, with men barely outnumbering women in the gym. Simply the knowledge that a significant proportion of men in a community are trained combatants cuts down on numerous types of crime.