Ike Quartey was a beast of a fighter; he was additionally a heck of loads of enjoyable to observe. “Bazooka,” certainly one of quite a lot of nice fighters to return out of Accra, Ghana, had an outstanding left jab, a granite chin, a intelligent protection, pulverizing punching energy, and a want to tackle the perfect. After a superb beginner profession, with Ike going 50-4 and representing Ghana on the Seoul Olympics, Quartey went professional.
After romping to 11-0(11), Quartey, initially a 140-pounder, relocated to France, the place he was given a shot on the WBA welterweight title in June 1994. It was 30 years in the past immediately when Quartey defeated Crisanto Espana in an amazing battle. Espana, who had stopped a light Meldrick Taylor to take the WBA belt (this battle going down on the Lennox Lewis-Razor Ruddock card in London in October 1992), was a superb fighter, and he pushed Quartey arduous.
Shut on all three playing cards going into the eleventh spherical, the battle was led to violent vogue by Quartey. Ike damage Espana in the beginning of the spherical and he by no means let him off the hook. Espana was held up by the ropes and was given a standing depend, earlier than Quartey completed him off with an enormous proper hand.
Quartey had arrived, and he would go on to notch up a powerful seven title defenses – earlier than he engaged in his very first super-fight. Enter Oscar De La Hoya. The 2 met in a WBC title showdown in February of 1999 (Ike had been stripped of his WBA belt on account of inactivity that was caused by private points), and to at the present time, De La Hoya says Quartey hit him tougher than anybody else and that the battle left him in mattress for days afterward. Each males hit the mat in a thriller, with De La Hoya getting the ever so shut cut up determination win. What a disgrace these two by no means fought a second time.
For Quartey, it was a transfer as much as 154, and one other determination loss, this to Fernando Vargas in April of 2000, this some 14 months after the De La Hoya defeat. Inactivity actually did do a disservice to Quartey’s profession, and it might have been nice if he had been in a position to keep energetic. As a substitute, Quartey was absent from the ring for 5 years after the IBF title battle loss to Vargas. Comeback fights with Verno Phillips and Carlos Bojorquez resulted in victory, whereas Quartey was crushed by Vernon Forrest (through massively controversial determination) and by Winky Wright, this in his remaining battle.
Quartey got here near greatness however he in the end fell brief. How various things would have been had Quartey been awarded the choice within the De La Hoya battle. Nonetheless, Quartey put his mark on the game, with him becoming a member of different Ghanaian greats equivalent to Azumah Nelson, fighters who’re revered to at the present time.
Quartey had probably the greatest jabs within the historical past of the welterweight division, and he additionally had crunching energy and sheer, internal toughness. It was at all times one thing particular watching Quartey go to work in an enormous battle. By no means stopped, Quartey completed with a high-quality 37-4-1 (31) report. Quartey misplaced the largest battle of his profession, however Ike proved his mettle after which some throughout his profession.
