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‘NeHo’ Dogboe, what next?
• Dogboe – Can the nation still wait for another world title from him?
Ghanaians a fortnight ago woke up Sunday morning to the upsetting news that the nation’s world title boxing hopeful – Isaac ‘Royal Storm’ Dogboe, had lost in his intrepid bid to become champion again.
Dogboe staggered and slumped to two-time Cuban Olympic gold medallist Robeisy “El Tren” Ramirez 117-110, 118-109 and 119-108 for the vacant WBO featherweight title at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa in the United States.
After losing his super-bantamweight title few years ago – specifically on December 8, 2018, in back-to-back defeats to Emanuel Navarrete, the Ghanaian vigorously bounced back to blow out the likes of Chris Avalos, Adam Lopez, Christopher Diaz and Joet Gonzalez in his last four fights. Remarkable feats!
A new Dogboe was born, supposedly. It was not difficult at all for a generous prediction to be posted in favour of the Ghanaian aggressive boxer – with many pencilling him down for greatness again.
At least, scores of the sport’s experts favoured him to punch his way to reclaiming his belt, especially when
his nemesis – Emmanuel Navarrete, had moved up in weight, and was entirely out of his path to another stardom.
It was a huge set-back, therefore, when Dogboe failed heavily in his bid to become champion again after losing unanimously to Ramirez.
Watching the fight closely, it seems – even though Dogboe has improved prettily well under top trainer Barry Hunter, he is still short of endurance, power and ring-craftiness.
In most of his bouts, you see a boxer that begins ferociously and runs out of steam as the fight progresses. His stamina level has been suspect; his guard impressively powder-puffed and his ring-craftiness a bit dawdling. He throws an avalanche of punches with many going astray – and it is a worry that never gets settled.
That notwithstanding, though he lost against Ramirez, the wide difference on the scorecards of the judges, looks a bit questionable. He did enough to get a close call. But that should tell Dogboe that he needs to take his ‘judges’ into the ring through a more convincing performance than what he demonstrated two weeks ago. He must not leave anything to chance.
Indeed, it is high time Dogboe sat and took a good look at his fight-style and perhaps re-strategize if he still wants to be relevant in the sport – especially at the fiercely thrilling featherweight division.
He must work his tail off and live by his special motto: “NeHo!”
NeHo, in the Ewe language, means to uproot, to lift oneself through adversity.
“NeHo is something I use because, regardless of the situation in the ring – or any situation – you have to keep coming forward; you never give up. You uproot and accomplish your mission,” Dogboe told The Ring magazine recently.
“Neho, to me, helps psyche myself up. You’re going to go through difficulties in the ring but how do you do that?
“You have to psyche yourself up to where you think nothing can get in your way. People may misinterpret the word, that to uproot and destroy everything there. But if the military is going on the battlefield, your soldiers are scared; believe me. But the leader will give them something to recite and that’s the word that I use to keep coming forward and digging deep – and I keep saying that my head, ‘NeHo, NeHo, NeHo.’”
So, it is time Dogboe take a firm decision either to do the ‘Neho’ now or think about hanging the gloves. And, that decision must be fast because at 28 years, age is steadily but speedily catching up with him in the featherweight category.
By John Vigah
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
