Punchers from the Past: Eddie Blay

Name: Eddie Blay

Born: 19 December 1942, Accra

Ghana

Died: 15 October 2006 Ghana

Career: 1967 to 1975

Record: 53 fight, 38 wins (21 by KO/TKO), 10 losses (1 by KO/TKO), 5 draws.

Division:  Welterweight

Stance: Orthodox

Titles:  None

Major Contests

Scored wins over: Romano Fanali, Giampiero Salami, Guy Vercoutter, Joergen Hansen*,  Christian Larsen, Max Hebeisen, Walter Blaser,

Lost against: Silvano Bertini, Antonio Torres, Clyde Gray*, Eddie Perkins**, Joergen Hansen*, Salem Ouedraogo,

Drew with: Giampiero Salami, Antonio Ortiz (twice), Alfonso Frazer **, Salem Ouedraogo

**Past/ future holder of a version of a world title

* Unsuccessful challenger for a version of a world title

Eddie Blay’s Story

Blay is arguably the most successful amateur boxer ever produced by Ghana. He started boxing at an early age under the tutelage and mentoring of Roy Ankrah and first came to prominence in 1960 when he competed at lightweight for Ghana at the Rome Olympics at the age of 17. He won his first bout but then lost to the great Dick McTaggart. In March 1962, he won a gold medal at the African Championships in Cairo and in December took gold at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. In 1964 he delighted his home fans by winning a second African Championship gold medal this at light welterweight and with Accra the venue. His major achievement came at the Tokyo Olympics in December 1964 when he won a bronze medal losing to the eventual gold medallist Poland’s Jerzy Kulej-who would win gold again in 1968. Blay became only  the second Ghanaian boxer to win a medal at the Olympic Games following Clement Quartey, the older brother of future world champion Ike Quartey, who had won a silver medal in Rome in 1960. Blay was the only Ghanaian athlete to win a medal at the 1964 Games. Blay was not finished yet. In April 1966 he won a silver medal at the African championships and in August in Jamaica he won gold again at the Commonwsealth Games beating future English welterweight champion Bobby Arthur in the final.

Blay turned professional in Italy in 1967 under the management of International Boxing Hall of Fame member Umberto Branchini. He took a while to settle in Italy losing to fellow-novice Aldo Mondora in his third fight but by the end of 1968 he was 11-1 and had gained revenge by beating  Mondora. Ten wins in 1969 saw Blay move up to main event and improve his record to 21-1. An unusual start to 1970 saw him fight three draws in succession against Italian Giampiero Salami, future European super light champion and WBC title challenger Antonio Ortiz and future WBA champion Alfonso Frazer. His unbeaten run of 25 fights was ended in September 1970 when he lost to future WBA and WBC super welterweight title challenger Silvano Bertini who had a 32-1-1 record at the time. The year 1971 was a mixed year as he scored wins in Germany and in Ghana, his first professional fight in his home country. He lost in June 1971 to Spanish welterweight champion Antonio Torres but scored three more wins to be 26-3-3. He had a good year in 1972 scoring four wins and drawing again with Antonio Ortiz. One of the wins was an injury stoppage of 23-1 Dane Joergen Hansen. That was a high water mark for Blay. He had been boxing since he was 15 and a combination of wear and tear and tougher opposition  took its toll. In February 1973 in Canada he lost on points to Clyde Gray for the vacant Commonwealth welterweight title. He bounced back from that with a win over 23-1-1 Christian Larsen on May 10 but  sixteen days later on 26 May in Vienna was outpointed by former WBA/WBC super lightweight champion Eddie Perkins, On 14 June he lost a decision against Joergen Hansen before ending the year with a win back in Ghana. He had a mixed year in 1974. He registered two wins in Italy but then lost to Salem Ouedraogo in Ivory Coast for the Arican welterweight title then drew with Ouedraogo in Italy. He was outpointed by Joseph Bessala for the African title in Cameroon

 but beat 33-0-1 Max Hebeisen and 25-4-4 Walter Blaser in Switzerland. In 1975, his last year of activity, he scored another win in Switzerland but then suffered consecutive losses to Mimoun Mohatar in Italy and Mongi Lahdili in Tunis in July and retired.

During his stay in Italy Blay had married and he and his wife Daniella opened a successful restaurant in Forli. He then moved back to Ghana with Daniella and their three children where he again opened a successful Italian restaurant Restoranto Solemio in Osu. He continued his connection with boxing as he trained and mentored many young Ghanaian boxers before becoming the Chairman of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Authority and he was inducted into the Ghana Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. His son Eddie Jr is seen as one of the pioneers of rap music and hiphop in Ghana but his first love was football so he did not attempt to follow in his father footsteps. Eddie lost his last fight this one against cancer and he died on 15 October 2006 at the age of 63.