by James Slater – According to a number of sources, British Boxing News and BoxRec among them, former WBA welterweight champion Ike “Bazooka” Quartey is to return to the ring on December 5th against an opponent yet to be named. For Quartey, from Accra, Ghana, the return in South Africa would mark his first fight for two years, or since his points loss to Winky Wright..
Now aged 38 (Ike will turn 39 in November this year) and with a fine pro record of 37-4-1(31), the former 147-pound king is yet another big name unable to call it quits. In this case, however, a sad, going-nowhere type of comeback may not be about to happen. Quartey, who came back in January of 2005, after a layoff of almost a full five years, looked far from a shot fighter against pound-for-pound standout Wright last time out. And going into the middleweight bout with Winky, Quartey had previously acquitted himself very well against Vernon Forrest, losing a controversial decision many felt “Bazooka” had done more than enough to win.
It is not yet known which weight class Quartey will return to, but, the Wright fight aside, Ike has been a light-middleweight most recently. 2005 proved to be a highly successful comeback year for him, and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Quartey can win yet more fights. Indeed, the debatable loss to “The Viper” and the comprehensive one to Wright aside, Quartey was doing very well a couple or so years ago. And let’s not forget, Ike really had no business going up as high as middleweight, so on reflection the competitive loss to Winky was no disgrace at all.
If he’s kept himself in good shape, and he almost certainly has, and if he’s matched well (more than likely at 154-pounds), Quartey may well surprise us all with yet another return to form. Remember, Ike was awarded the Ring magazine comeback of the year award for 2005. If he’s retained half the skills he had when we last saw him box, the 39-year-old will be no pitiful sight.
It’s not clear yet if Quartey has any fighter in particular in his sights, but a return with current WBC light-middleweight champion Forrest is surely a bout the great from Ghana has thought about. If he can get a couple of impressive-looking tune-up wins under his belt, who knows, maybe Forrest-Quartey II will happen – three years after the two men first met.
It is also unclear why Quartey has left it until now to fight again – after all he barely lost to Forrest and did ok as a 160-pounder – but his comeback, even at the age of almost 40, will still be interesting.