By David Finger

Fightnews.com® is sad to report the passing of former cruiserweight contender and noted boxing trainer Napoleon Tagoe earlier this week. Tagoe, passed away Wednesday, October 25th at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. He was best remembered by boxing fans as the gritty, hard punching, Ghanaian who was stopped by Juan Carlos Gomez in a bid for the WBC cruiserweight title back on December 11, 1999.

Prior to that Tagoe had won the Ghanaian Middleweight title in 1997 after winning a decision over Flash Issaka. He subsequently won the WBC Continental Americas Light Heavyweight title with a knockout over Napoleon Pitt in February of 1998. He would go on to successfully defend his WBC Continental Americas title once, knocking out Esteban Cervantes in five, before dropping the belt via decision to Ray Berry in March of 1999.

But in his most noteworthy win of his career, Tagoe scored a stunning upset over then undefeated Cuban contender Ramon Garbey by way of ten round majority decision. The win over Garbey propelled him into the world title fight with another Cuban, the reigning WBC champion Gomez.

Tagoe would fight once more after his loss to Gomez, winning by knockout over Ken Nania before retiring with a professional record of 21-4, 14 KOs. He would then go on to found the Will Power Boxing Gym in Accra, where he would go on to train such notable Ghanaian contenders like former WBO Africa Middleweight champion Obodai Sai and reigning IBO lightweight champion Emmanuel Tagoe.

Napoleon Tagoe was just 44 years old.