Empire State Of Mind

Richard Commey used to be able to walk through New York unnoticed, but not on this day, writes Declan Taylor

- Declan Taylor

THE security guard’s eyes widened and his mouth opened in disbelief. He quickly removed his baseball cap and struggled to find the words he was looking for, as if a combination of Elvis Presley, Tupac Shakur and Queen Elizabeth II had decided today was the day for a trip up the Empire State Building.

Instead, before him stood a beaming 5ft 9in man from Ghana who was hoping to take a picture with his red and gold world title belt 102 floors above the mayhem of Manhattan. All he needed was permission to take the elevator with strap in hand.

“You’re Richard Commey,” the security guard finally said. “Yes I am and I am very pleased to meet you,” replied the IBF lightweight champion of the world.

“Man,” he sighed. “I’ve been following you for so long – you won that Robert Easter fight!” Recognition of this type, particularly in New York City, has been a long time coming for 28-2 (25) Commey, who remains one of the most underrated world champions currently operating in the sport.

He has been a resident of the Big Apple since 2017 but unless you train at Andre Rozier’s gym, or live in the small area of the Bronx where he lives, you would never know it.

“My life is very simple,” Commey says. “It’s from the gym to home. From home to the gym. I could be living anywhere. That’s me, that’s how I like it – I like a simple life. I don’t party much, or ever. In fact I don’t go out. I don’t really have any friends here.”

But his encounter with the security guard, who he later discovered was called Kevin, on one of his rare trips across the Harlem River and into Manhattan, showed Commey that he is not as anonymous as he might like to think he is.

“That’s the beauty of boxing,” Commey adds. “I can connect with people.