Ex-WBA welterweight champion Ike Bazooka Quartey is advising his fellow former world champion, Alfred Kotey to quit the sport after losing last Saturday’s bout. The 43-year-old Kotey who was once feared in the ring was rendered a victim of hard punching by the youthful Frederick Lawson in a welterweight contest at the El-Wak Stadium. The Cobra eventually lost after failing to answer the bell for the fourth round. This performance sparked calls for his immediate retirement. It later emerged that the former champion was prepared to receive a purse as low as 500 Ghana cedis from the promoters due to economic hardship. However, an intervention by Ike Quartey his childhood pal and boxing mate ensured an increase. “Alfred is too old to be fighting. He is older than I am. I think things are not going well but he can’t fight. My advice to him is to quit the ring. I was very hurt when I saw Alfred take all those tough punches because that was not the Alfred I knew,” Ike Quartey told Joy Sports exclusively. According to him an eventual purse of 2,000 Ghana Cedis that Kotey received was not even befitting of his status as a former world champion. “I was with my wife at ring side and I saw the fight and the Alfred I know hardly takes punches like that. He was not prepared and before a fight a boxer has to prepare physically, mentally and emotionally,” he said. Alfred Kotey will tell his full story on the Joy Sports Channel on Multi TV tonight at 8pm.