Kimathi Rawlings, a son of late President Jerry John Rawlings, has revealed the motivation behind his late father’s love for boxing.
Jerry John Rawlings who died in 2020 was remembered for promoting boxing in Ghana and helping nurture several pugilists across the country.
Speaking about why his dad who ruled Ghana for 16 years had so much love for the sport, Kimathi noted that it was ‘all about discipline’.
He explained that his father had hoped in Ghanaian boxers because they had a strong disciplined mind to become great.
“It’s all about discipline, that is why he promoted boxing and that is why he believed in the talent that was coming from Bukom. It’s all about discipline and he always said that when you have discipline of the mind when you have that you can achieve anything. I believe that myself as well,” Kimathi stated at the Bukom Boxing Arena.
JJ Rawlings is credited for inspiring Azumah Nelson and Ike Quartey to become world-class boxers.
Azumah Nelson is quoted to have said, “Rawlings came around when we trained at Volunteer force, he comes there every day, sometimes when we finished training, he will sweep the place for us, he didn’t want us to do anything. He will clean all the rooms. He would then bring food for us, beans and other things. Since then, we became friends.”