David Kotei

D. K. Poison
Statistics
Real name	David Kotei
Nickname(s)	Poison
Rated at	Featherweight Lightweight
Nationality	Ghanaian
Born	December 7, 1950 (1950-12-07) (age 60) Accra, Ghana
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	48
Wins	40
Wins by KO	24
Losses	7
Draws	1
No contests	0

David Kotei (also spelled Kotey) born on December 7, 1950 in Accra, Ghana, was a world featherweight boxing champion between 1975 and 1976 and was also the first Ghanaian professional boxer to win a world title. He was popularly called "D.K. Poison".

Amateur career

DK Poison started his amateur career on in Accra. He is one of many boxers spawned by Bukom, a suburb in the heart of the city populated by the Ga people. Many top Ghanaian boxers such as Roy Ankrah, Azuma Nelson and Ike Quartey are products of Bukom.^[1]

Professional career

David Kotei turned professional under trainer Attuquaye Clottey. His first professional bout was on February 5, 1966 in Accra when he outpointed his opponent over six rounds. Although he fought once in neighbouring Togo in 1967, all his subsequent fights through to 1971 were all in Ghana. In 1972 however, he fought as much as seven times in Australia, winning five and losing two. He won the African featherweight title on February 2, 1974 when he knocked out Tahar Ben Hassen in the first round of a scheduled 15 round fight in Tunis, Tunisia. Later on December 7, 1974, he also won the Commonwealth featherweight title with a technical knock out over Evans Armstrong, a British boxer in round 10 of a scheduled 15 rounds bout. This victory gave him an opportunity to go for the World Boxing Council version of the world title. On September 20, 1975, in The Forum, Inglewood, California, United States, he beat Rubén Olivares by split points decision after 15 rounds to become the first Ghanaian world boxing champion.^[2] He relinquished the African and Commonwealth titles following this victory. The Ghana government gave him an estate house at Teshie-Nungua, an Accra suburb in honour of this achievements in boxing.^[3] He however lost the title in his third defence on November 6, 1976 by unanimous points decision to Danny "Little Red" Lopez in a fierce fight in Accra, Ghana.He is married with three daughters.He also defeated Fuku Yama in Japan.

DK Poison was never the same again after this defeat. He failed in 1978 to regain either the world or commonwealth featherweight titles. His last professional bout was in 1989 when he lost an African lightweight title fight.

Retirement

David Kotey has lived a relatively modest and quiet life after retirement. He has gone through marital and financial difficulties and reportedly has some grievances about how his purse was disbursed during his boxing years.^[3] He is married with three daughters.He also defeated Fuku Yama in Japan

See also

• List of WBC world champions

Notes and references

1. ^ "Bukom: heartbeat of African boxing". BBC News:Africa (BBC). 2003-06-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3004326.stm. Retrieved 2007-04-09. 
2. ^ "David Kotey". BoxRec.com. http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=12005. Retrieved 2007-04-09. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "A Hero's Anguish". News archive (Ghana Home Page). 2002-08-20. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=26610. Retrieved 2007-04-09. 

External links

• Professional boxing record for David Kotei from BoxRec
• http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=26610

Preceded by Rubén Olivares

WBC Featherweight Champion 20 Sep 1975–6 Nov 1976

Succeeded by Danny Lopez

Persondata
Name	Kotei, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 7, 1950
Place of birth	Accra, Ghana
Date of death
Place of death