Punchers From the Past: Roy Ankrah “The Black Flash”

ROY ANKRAH “The Black Flash”

Real Name: John Theophilus Oti

Born Ghana 21 December 1921

Died Ghana 28 May 1995 at the age of 73

Turned Pro: February 8 1950**

Record: 44 fights, won 34, lost 7, 3 No Decisions**

**This record and the date for his first professional fight are incomplete as Ankrah reportedly turned professional in Ghana. He is said to have won a schoolboy title at the age of 12 and had his first professional title at the age of 17 and won the Gold Coast featherweight title (The Gold Coast was the name given to Ghana before its independence in 1957). He then enlisted in the British Army in 1941 and served in India and then returned to Ghana. After his return home when fighting in Ghana and Nigeria he reportedly had 15 fights winning all-10 by KO/TKO, 4 on points and 1 on disqualification. He won the Gold Coast title with a win over Kid Hesse and the West African title by beating “Stoker” Kid Parry of Nigeria and is said to have won the Gold Coast title in a number of weight divisions. Some Ghanaian sources credit Ankrah with 100 wins(or 110) pre 1950 but there is no evidence to back these claims and information on his pre-UK fights is very sketchy.

He moved to Britain in 1950 having been previously recommended by the then reigning world light heavyweight champion Freddie Mills.

-1950 Had 15 fights winning 14 and losing 1 on a disqualification beating world rated Luis Romero

-1951 Had 9 fights. At the start of the year he scored a win in South Africa and fought a No Decision in Nigeria. In April he won the Empire/Commonwealth featherweight title  on points over Ronnie Clayton (This was fight No 101 for Clayton with only 19 losses). He also scored wins over tough opposition such as Tommy McGovern and Johnny Molloy,

-1952 Had 5 fights. He stopped Ronnie Clayton in Empire/Commonwealth title defence. Lost on points to Ray Famechon in a  Final Eliminator for the World Featherweight title and was decisioned by Luis Romero in Spain.

-1953 He was 6-0, 2 No Decisions in 8 fights . One of the No Decisions was in Spain against Manolo Garcia when the fight was stopped in the tenth and last round because of “lack of competitiveness” with both boxers fined for lack of effort.

-1954 In March he outpointed Billy “Spider” Kelly then in a return match in October lost on points to Kelly in a Commonwealth title defence (Kelly became the first British boxer to win a title previously held by his father). On 7 December he lost on points against Sammy McCarthy and thirteen days later lost on a retirement (nose injury) against then NBA recognised bantamweight champion Robert Cohen.

-1955-1959 Ankrah retired in 1955 and returned to the ring in April 1959 having three fights before retiring in June 1959.

Ankrah was a pioneer of Ghana boxing. He improved his elementary boxing skills whilst serving with the British in India and when he returned to Ghana he worked with boxers in the Bukom area in downtown Accra. Fighting in various forms was already built into the culture of the area and his teaching and international success played a large part in further developing a people and an area which produced fighters such as David Kotey (Ghana’s first world champion who outpointed Ruben Olivares to win the WBC featherweight title in 1975), Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey, Joshua Clottey and many others. He was the first Ghanaian boxer to enjoy international success and the first Ghanaian boxer to win an international title (Empire/ Commonwealth). After retirement he trained boxers and was assistant coach to the Ghanaian team for the 1960 Olympic Games where Ghana won its first Olympic medal through Clement Quartey. In 1961 he became head coach and trained the Ghanaian team for further Olympics and for the Commonwealth Games and under his stewardship Eddie Blay won a bronze medal for Ghana at the 1964 Olympics. As a WBC official he also he also refereed and judged major fights such as Azumah Nelson’s defence of the WBC featherweight title against Pat Cowdell and Commonwealth title fights in Ghana featuring Tony Mundine and Paul Ferreri.