THE strength of the Guyana Defence Forces’ (GDF) boxing will be severely tested come Friday when the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) stages the Terrence Alli National Open Tournament at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.According to reports coming out of gyms countrywide, the soldiers could very well lose their stranglehold which they have and their title that they successfully defended for a number of years.
Their main rival,the Guyana Police Force gym will be aiming for at least two titles:the middleweight and bantamweight.And they will be hoping that Dennis Thomas (middleweight) and Diwani Lampkin (lightweight) come good this weekend.
Thomas is arguably the most experienced amateur boxer in Guyana at the moment, having represented Guyana at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Qualifiers, South American Games and the Caribbean Development Tournament.
He reached the quarter finals of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and was adjudged Best Boxer earlier that year at the four-nation Goodwill Games held right here in Guyana.
Last year,the middleweight boxer was on the verge of winning Gold and was named Best Boxer of the Caribbean Development tournament.He received a dubious decision in the final of the Pan American Qualifiers held in Tijuana, Mexico last year June.
Thomas scored an upset win overTrinidadian Aaron Prince in his first fight, but then lost a close encounter to Raul Sanchez of the Dominican Republic.
In March of this year, Thomas suffered injuries in a motor cycle accident but has since recovered.
Lampkin will be having his first competitive fight in almost a year after representing the Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym in last year’s Lennox Blackmoore National Intermediate championships ,when he won the best Boxer award after defeating GDF’s James Brisport by a unanimous points decision on the opening night in the lightweight contest, then returned two nights later to defeat GDF’s Akeem Henry in like manner.
The police gym are not the only one seeking to make their presence felt as the Republican Gym (Guyana Prison Service) will also be seeking the scalps of a few soldiers and others, and in this regard, Jason `AK 47’ Barker will read the `Riot Act’ to all comers,being fresh from his successful assault on his Barbadian and St. Lucian counterparts,against whom he captured Gold at the just concluded Carlton Hope/Lionel Hall Tri-Nation Memorial tournament in Barbados.
But the soldiers are staking out their `enemies’ and are just waiting to launch their attack and their main hope of a title is their most experienced fighter,Clairmont Gibson,who was named best boxer at the just concluded Tri-Nation tournament in Barbados after he destroyed Ajayi Jones of the Barbados Defence Force on points and was subsequently named Best Boxer of the tournament.