Up Close: Street Boxing in Ghana

No glitz, no glamour; just pain and passion. Street fighting in Bukom, Ghana – a small, poor fishing village renowned for its remarkable ability to produce world champion boxers.

  • Words + Photography: Luca Sage

This ‘David and Goliath’ bout was nothing short of extraordinary and unforgettable. No glitz, no glamour; just pain and passion. This is street fighting in Bukom, Ghana – a small, poor fishing village renowned for its remarkable ability to produce world champion boxers.

Fighting has always been revered and embedded in their culture – arguments are simply settled with a fight. Photographing inside the ‘ring’ dictated a completely different approach compared to my normal slow, meditative, large-format portraiture. There’s nothing quite like having two rampaging boxers wielding battered, heavy, leather gloves, inches from your lens, to make you ‘float like a butterfly’. Be under no illusion, these fights are for real; the thwacks of the punches still echo in my memory.

Luca Sage is a photographer based in London

Article taken from

Issue 03
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