Born, December 23, 2000, Samuel Takyi, has secured Ghana’s first Olympic medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games since the men’s football team won bronze at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
The 20-year-old defeated Colombia’s 32-year-old southpaw David Ceiber Avila, who happens to be a far more experienced boxer. He won 3-2 on points in the featherweight bout to guarantee at least a bronze medal in Tokyo.
Samuel Takyi is in line to win Ghana’s first Olympic medal since 1992. He now faces USA’s Duke Ragan on Tuesday, August 3 in the semi-finals. The winner will go on to fight for the gold medal and the loser will settle for bronze.
Samuel Takyi follows the likes of Clement Quartey, a light welterweight who won silver in Rome in 1960, Eddie Blay a bronze light-welterweight medallist from Tokyo in 1964, and Prince Amartey who made history in Munich 1972.
Early life and Career
Samuel Takyi was born on December 23, 2020, to Madam Eunice Smith, a fishmonger at Makola Market, and Godfred Takyi a cloth trader. Samuel Takyi had his primary and junior high school education at St. Mary’s Nursery & Preparatory School and Bishop Mixed Junior High School.
After junior high school, Samuel Takyi landed in the school of boxing, at the Discipline Gym. He later graduated from the Black Bombers, the national boxing team.
He began his professional career at the age of 19. Samuel secured his place in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo after he defeated featherweight Mohamed Hamout of Morocco. He bounced back from defeat in the semi-finals to Everisto Mulenga by beating Isaac Masembe of Uganda at the 2020 African Olympic boxing qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Samuel Takyi defeated Ecuardo’s Jean Carlos Caicedo by unanimous decision to advance to the quarter-finals. His win received widespread praise amongst Ghanaians with the Ghana Olympic Committee writing on its Twitter handle,
“Another win in the bag. Boxer Samuel Takyi beats a resilient Caicedo Carlos from Ecuador after a blistering final round to advance to the quarterfinals of the Featherweight Division in Boxing.”
Samuel Takyi is driven by a strong drive to change the socio-economic situation of his family.
