LOCAL amateur boxers completely dominated their Regional counterparts in the just concluded Goodwill tournament, organised by the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) and staged at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall over the weekend.

The tournament, which was staged in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and received sponsorship from a number of corporate entities including Digicel, Ansa McAl and COURTS, saw the locals win all their fights in the final of the three-night card that attracted boxers from St Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.
The locals dominated the championship from the first night Friday but were not on show on Saturday night, allowing the Trinidadians and Jamaicans to `run things’.
However, on the final night on Sunday, the local pugilists were on show and displayed their dominance, winning all of their bouts in the international segment of the championship.
There were three international bouts that were contested between locals, so obviously, a local won each of them, but there were also four bouts that saw locals come up against their Regional counterparts and all four were won by Guyanese, including the lone female 75kg bout between Guyana’s Theresa London and Trinidad & Tobago’s Chimere Taylor which the former won by a unanimous points decision.
In an exclusive telephone interview with Chronicle Sport, GBA’s Technical Director Terrence Poole said the tournament was a resounding success and the GBA will use that success to move ahead with its plans to further develop the sport locally and regionally.
According to Poole yesterday, the GBA received an invitation from Barbados to send a contingent of boxers for a tournament that the Barbados Boxing Association plans to stage for the annual Horrace Phillips Memorial tournament in March and the GBA is already looking at the possibility of sending a contingent.
Also, the St Lucia Boxing Association has extended an invitation to the GBA to send a contingent to that Island for a Goodwill tournament on March 28.
Asked what is next for the GBA, Poole said Guyana will be represented at the South American Games in Chile next month, then the GBA will stage the National Novices’ championships in April of this year then there is the likelihood that Guyana will be represented at the World Youth Championships to be staged in Bulgaria.
In other results from Sunday night’s finals: Guyana’s Michael April defeated Junior Henry in an all-Guyana 52kg final, Delon Charles of Guyana defeated his countryman Stefan Nedd by a unanimous points decision in the 56kg division, Imran Khan who was voted Best Boxer beat his Guyanese counterpart Clairmont Gibson by a unanimous decision.
Guyana’s Bert Brathwaite defeated St Lucia’s Lyndin Marcelin in the 64kg division, Guyana’s ieon Bancroft defeated Jamaica’s Kestna Davis in the 69kg final, and Dennis Thomas (Guyana) beat Jamaica’s Michael Gardner for the 75kg title.
In the all local bouts, Pinweights Shaquancy Wright and Jamal Eastman scored victories over Jamie Kelman and Roy Samuels respectively, while in the 56kg division, Joel Williamson and Travis Fraser won their bouts against Orin Bancroft and Geldroy Smith respectively.
Written By Michael DaSilva