JUST FOR PRIDE

Nat Gottlieb takes a look at Ike Quartey, his fame and infamy in his native Ghana, his rise in and quick depature from professional boxing and his envitable return.

July 26, 2006 - by Nat Gottlieb

There was a real estate ad in a recent Ghana newspaper for a five-bedroom, five- bathroom house in the suburbs of Accra, selling for 950 million cedi, or about $106,800 in U.S. currency. There were probably any number of attractive features a house that size might have had, but under "Description," the savvy realtor listed just one: "near Ike Quartey's area on two plots of land."

To understand why Ike Quartey returned to boxing after nearly a five-year layoff, you must also grasp the sports mentality of the country he comes from. As far as Ghanaians are concerned, there are only two forms of athletic competition, soccer and boxing. If you are a star in either game, the Ghanaian people think of you as a franchise they own and treasure, and when you compete, you must do so for Ghana above all else. Win, and you bring glory to the nation, lose and you shame all Ghanaians.

It is within this framework that Quartey became a national hero by winning a world championship belt in 1994, just the fourth Ghanaian to do so in the country's history. Quartey brought further honor by defending that welterweight title successfully eight straight times. At the height of his glory, there was nowhere in Ghana where Ike "Bazooka" Quartey could go and not be mobbed by fans.

And then, like many idols, he fell. First came a victory over Jose Luis Lopez that was changed to a draw because of a scoring card error. Then back-to-back, controversial losses to Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas. Frustrated and angry, feeling like he was a "victim of politics," Quartey stunned the boxing world by announcing in April of 2000 that he was retiring in the prime of his career. The ex-champ returned to Ghana to begin a new -- and what would prove to be -- highly productive life. All the while, though, he never quite got over the sting of that "L" indelibly printed on his fight line with De La Hoya.

"I know I beat him," Quartey (37-2-1, 31 KOs) said while training for his fight this Saturday night with Vernon Forrest (37-2, 28 KOs), live on HBO's "World Championship Boxing." "When they said I lost, I thought, 'This is too much politics.'"

Over the course of the ensuing four years and nine months, Quartey transformed himself from a boxer into a highly-successful real estate developer with his own construction company. He built beach-front hotels along the Atlantic Ocean in Ghana's capital, Accra, and invested heavily in prime real estate.

By any standard, Quartey had made a smooth transition from stardom to "Life After Sports," no small accomplishment in boxing. "I really love construction," Quartey said. "You get so much pride when a project is done. It's not about the money for me, it's the pride."

Unfortunately for Quartey, in the minds of Ghanaians -- whose memories are as long as the hot African nights -- he can take all the pride he wants from his hotels, but nothing he builds will replace the magnificent image they feel he tore down in the ring.

Quartey was aware of this from the moment he left boxing, and it kept haunting him until the day he finally decided to return to the ring.

"The people in Ghana felt he had a lot of unfinished business," Asifo said, "and they were not shy about reminding him. In the society we live in, there is no where in Ghana Ike can go where people don't talk to him about his losses. Always the losses. The fans in Ghana were brutal when he lost to Oscar."

So much so, that if the democratic government of Ghana had suspended all rights for citizens, the public outcry might not have been more vocal than it was after the loss to De La Hoya.

In an Associated Press report out of Ghana the day after Quartey dropped his close split decision to De La Hoya in 1999, the lead paragraph said:

"Ghanaian boxing fans turned on Ike Quartey, taking to the streets Sunday to assail a countryman many believe has become arrogant."

One resident of Bukom, the town where Quartey was born and raised, was quoted in the story as saying, "Ike is not a disciplined boxer, and moreover, since he became champion, he treats us with scorn, so there is no need to support him."

Suddenly, nothing was sacred anymore about Quartey, not even his once-revered ring alias. "Bare-chested youths carried placards with the words, 'Bazooka is a loser,'" the AP story said.

The storm of discontent eventually died down, but its eye remained, constantly hovering over Quartey. Eager to move on, Quartey threw himself into the construction business with much the same fervor as he relentlessly attacked opponents with his jackhammer jab.

"Ike became a terrific developer," said Asifo, whose older brother Seth trained Quartey from the time he won a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics until he left boxing. "It takes a lot of time to do this. He knows everything about construction, from the price of the tile to the roofing."

Quartey did not need to take formal classes in design or construction. He watched, listened and learned. "A guy I knew who was a boxing manager did a lot of building," said Quartey, who turns 37 in November. "He taught me how to do everything."

Asifo knew, however, that what ever satisfaction Quartey took from the buildings he put up, it would always pale next to the pride he had invested in boxing. So Asifo, living in New York City, kept in close touch with Quartey, always believing he would return to the ring.

"He didn't retire, it was more like a sabbatical," Asifo says now with 20-20 hindsight, three victories into Quartey's comeback. But as Quartey's months away from boxing grew into years, Asifo wondered if perhaps he was wrong, that his friend was indeed fully satisfied with the businessman's life. That thought was difficult for Asifo to accept. "We never got to see his greatness. The one thing I wanted to see was Ike's legacy secured," Asifo said.

It is hard to secure a legacy, however, without winning a "signature" bout against an elite boxer, the Ali-Frazier, Leonard-Hearns or Holyfield-Tyson type victory. Quartey had none on his record.

Then, on August 18, 2004, Asifo got the phone call he had been waiting years for. "Ike says to me, ‘'Look Godwin, bring me back!'"

The message came immediately after Quartey had watched De La Hoya on TV get knocked out by Bernard Hopkins. "He saw Oscar go down, and said to me, 'I know I can beat this guy!'" Asifo recalled. "There was something about seeing Oscar get demolished that got to him. 'I can beat this guy who has beat the best around. I can beat them all' he said."

Two crushing left hooks to the body by Bernard Hopkins was all it took to wipe out all years away from boxing. Suddenly, Quartey had only one thing on his mind, and it wasn't construction . After Asifo, Quartey made a second call, this time to promoter and friend Lou DiBella. DiBella, who had kept in touch with Quartey since he had returned to Ghana, was not at all surprised by the call. Like Asifo, he had expected it.

"It surprised me more when he left. But he was very down then," DiBella said. "He felt he had been jobbed in the De La Hoya fight, and was not in shape physically or mentally for Vargas (after a 14-month layoff). He was disgusted with himself. But I had a feeling he would come back."

And for a reason that also wasn't unexpected. "He told me he was coming back because he felt he had something to prove," DiBella said. "He took a look at what I called then the 'Senior Tour' -- De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Mayorga, and Fernando Vargas -- and felt he matched up well with all of them. It was definitely a pride thing, because he didn't need the money."

Quartey had kept himself in shape, so Asifo, who had taken over managing Quartey's boxing affairs after his brother Seth died, arranged for a fight in Accra with a journeyman, Clint McNeil (15-7), at the Azuma Nelson Sports Complex on Jan. 14, 2005. Any fears that Ghanaians might have lost interest in the former champion were quickly dispelled.

"We got 15,000 to come out for the fight in a soccer stadium," Asifo said. "It was on all the networks in Ghana, too. People wanted to see the new Ike."

New, but rusty, Quartey needed eight of the scheduled 10 rounds, but he finally dispatched McNeil on a technical knockout. After nearly five years, Quartey had another "W" on his record, and was now ready to return to the U.S., where he could exorcise his demons.

On the flight over from Africa, Quartey would think about where he had come from, the 27th and last child of a man who had had five wives. He would remember three earlier appearances in America, when his name was not yet well known and the crowds were indifferent. And of course there was the night that put him on the world boxing map.

June 4, 1994. France. Quartey (25-0) against the also unbeaten, Crisanto Espana (30-0), conqueror of elite boxer Meldrick Taylor.

Although Quartey had knocked out 21 of his 25 opponents, few expected he would do so against the reigning champion, who had twice defended the title he had taken from Taylor.

Quartey immediately brought the fight to the Venezuelan, but Cristano was tough and determined. By the time they reached the 11th round of the 12-round bout, it was so close on the scorecards that it could have gone either way. On his stool before the 11th round, Quartey made up his mind: under no circumstances would this fight be decided by judges. When the bell sounded, Quartey came out on a mission, and he succeeded, pounding Cristano unmercifully until the ref stopped the fight. The upset victory was both a great personal triumph and a Ghanaian event. Quartey could now join the only other Ghanaian world champions, Nelson, Nana Konada and David Kotey.

In Ghana, fans took to the streets to celebrate his victory over Cristano, but Quartey already had his mind focused on bigger names like De La Hoya and Trinidad. It would take four long years and eight months before Quartey got his chance at one of them - De La Hoya - with obstacles in between which might have discouraged lesser men. Quartey would have to defend his title eight straight times before finally catching the attention of De La Hoya, who at the time they would fight would be 29-0, a four-division champion and the darling of the boxing world. Getting to that dream fight, however, was a nightmare that would later figure large in Quartey's decision to leave boxing.

The fight would eventually be scheduled for Nov. 21, 1998, but the year turned into a disaster for Quartey from the start. Before a deal was even proposed with De La Hoya, Quartey scheduled a fight with former world champion and future Hall of Famer, Pernell Whitaker in April. Prior to the bout, however, Whitaker ran into trouble with the police, wound up in drug rehab, and was suspended from boxing for a year after testing positive for drugs.

Still hungry for an elite opponent, Quartey took aim at Felix Trinidad, who was then 32-0, and had defended his version of the welterweight crown 13 straight times. A deal was struck in June for a November reunification bout, but again legal problems short-circuited things.

At the time, Trinidad was in the process of suing his promoter, Don King, trying to break their deal, an unpleasant ritual any number of boxers could site chapter and verse on. The court battle went on and on with seemingly no end in sight. Finally, a hopelessly distracted Trinidad scratched out of the fight with Quartey -- road bump No.2 -- and more to come.

Shortly before facing Julio Cesar Chavez for the second time in September of 1998, De La Hoya's then promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, inked a deal for his star to fight Quartey on Nov. 21, a little over two months after Chavez. All of Ghana was excited hearing the big news. Quartey trained like he had never trained before, but it was all for naught. Early in the first week of November, De La Hoya suffered a small cut on his left eyelid during sparring, and pulled out, rescheduling for Feb. 13 of 1999. While the cut was not considered serious by many, Oscar being the cash cow of boxing, was allowed to cancel without much of a fuss from the powers that be. For Quartey, 1998 was a lost year, not a single fight.

Now, another problem besides frustration began to affect Quartey. By the time he would meet De La Hoya in the ring, a full 16 months would have passed since Quartey's previous bout. Used to fighting three times or more per year, Quartey's boxing "biorhythm" was arguably out of whack, and he was ring rusty. Yet he put on a spirited fight, one which many felt he had won. None of those people, however, held judges cards. De La Hoya won the split decision, 112-116, 113-116 and 115-114. Quartey's stock on the Ghanaian fan market instantly plummeted.

Seven years have passed since Quartey bitterly watched referee Mitch Halpern raise De La Hoya's hand in victory, but Quartey still dreams of getting another crack at the Golden Boy. As it stands now, it does not appear in the cards. The injury-plagued De La Hoya said recently that he would either retire, or at best, take just one more fight next May, almost certainly against current pound-for-pound champ Floyd Mayweather Jr.

For now, Quartey is concentrating on beating Forrest, a former world champion. In a dominos sort of way, defeating Forrest might give Quartey some small measure of "Oscar Satisfaction." Since Forrest beat Mosley twice, and Mosley defeated De La Hoya twice wouldn't that mean...? Not to Quartey, and definitely not to Ghanaians. If Quartey beats Forrest, the only concrete thing he gains besides another "W" is a probable fight against one of three junior middleweight champions, but not the fourth, De La Hoya.

Winning a world title again would no doubt be greeted enthusiastically in Ghana. But without a victory over De La Hoya, something will always be missing for Ghanaians. Quartey knows this, so does Asifo, which is why the manager refuses to accept that a rematch with De La Hoya cannot be made.

"What if the fight with Mayweather doesn't come through?" Asifo said. "'Golden Boy' (De La Hoya's promotion company) still has got to make money to feed its expansion. Oscar is not going to walk away. And a fight with Ike has its own pedigree. We etched it in the public consciousness."

Asifo paused a moment, then uttered the money quote: "Oscar has to come back and pay his debt."

Left unsaid by Asifo, was if De La Hoya doesn't, then Quartey will be the one forever owing one to the fans of Ghana. Poet Emily Dickinson sums up best what could be called, "Quartey's Quandary:"

"Fame is a bee/ It has a song/ It has a sting/ Ah, too, it has a wing"