Ike Quartey

Ike Quartey was the youngest of his father's 27 children and grew up in Bukom, the Accra neighbourhood famous for its boxers. On 4 June 1994 in France he stopped Crisanto Espana in the 11th round to become WBA welterweight champion.

Amateur and early career

Isufu Quartey was born on 27 November 1969. His older brother, Isaac Quartey, won an Olympic silver medal for Ghana in 1960. Ike went 50-4 as an amateur and boxed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics before turning professional that November, a day short of his 19th birthday, knocking out Mama Mohamed in Accra in the second round. He collected West African, Ghanaian, African Boxing Union and WBC International titles at light-welterweight before moving up.

World champion

Nicknamed "Bazooka", Quartey defended the WBA title against Alberto Cortes, Jung-Oh Park, Andrew Murray, Vince Phillips, Oba Carr and Ralph Jones, and drew with Jose Luis Lopez in October 1997. He was stripped of the belt in 1998 after a long spell of inactivity.

Las Vegas and later fights

On 13 February 1999 he lost a split decision to Oscar De La Hoya for the WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas, a fight that sold 570,000 pay-per-view buys on HBO. In April 2000 he lost on points to Fernando Vargas for the IBF light-middleweight title. After five years out he returned in 2005 with three wins, then lost to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright in 2006. He retired with 37 wins, 32 by knockout, four defeats and one draw.