THERE is no doubt within the minds of boxing enthusiasts here in Guyana that the fistic sport has begun to strive under the stewardship of Peter Abdool, the present president of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) and his Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) counterpart Steve Ninvalle. One look at the monthly-organised Friday Night ProAm Fights, which is jointly collaborated by the GBBC and GABA in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and funded by business entities within Corporate Guyana, and many persons will agree that boxing is on the rise.
This feature not only boosts the records of our local boxers, as was mentioned by Abdool in an earlier interview with Chronicle Sport, but also places Guyana on the international boxing map, since our pugilists are given the opportunity to battle for World Boxing Council (WBC)/Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) championships honours.
On the same page, our amateur pugilists the likes of Olympic hopeful Imran ‘Magic’ Khan, Laured Stewart, Nandkumar ‘The Real Coolie Bully’ Singh, Joel and Richard Williamson, and Kevin, Keeve and Kurt Allicock, get a chance to showcase their talent prior to the professionals taking centre stage.
And while there has been a shortage of professional cards being organised by the private promoters, Abdool has found himself filling in the gap, by organising cards outside of the monthly ProAm fights, ensuring boxers are kept active in and out of season.
Not to be outdone, Ninvalle, through his hardworking Tournament Director and national coach Terrence Poole and other executives of GABA, organises championships for amateur pugilists, which apart from their international engagements keep them active as well.
Just recently, GABA organised a national trial championships which switched venues twice before ending at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the home for boxing and other indoor sports in Guyana, and saw a wealth of talent being unearthed and at the same time confirmed.
The two-night tournament was organised to provide active competition for the country’s Simon Pures, from which brothers Richard and Joel Williamson walked away comfortably with the Best Senior and Junior Boxers awards.
Richard Williamson showed USA-based Lawrence Singh how it is done in Guyana, by unleashing a thorough boxing lesson on his opponent, on his way to claiming a 3-0 decision and later the Senior Best Boxer accolade.
His younger brother Joel, who like Richard trains at the Pocket Rocket Gym in Berbice under the watchful eyes of Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers, easily out-boxed Dewani Lampkin to come away with a 2-1 decision.
Kevin and Kurt Allicock earned 3-0 decision victories over Delroy Treyfall and Timothy Evans, while fighting in the 65-69 and 70-74 pounds category respectively.
Kevin Mullings defeated Jakee Cadogan in their 50-54 lb matchup, Jamal Eastman, a nephew of former European middleweight champions Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman, defeated Tyrone Lashley in a 75 to 79 lb encounter while Shawn Michaels who was fighting in the 110-117 lb category, came away with a victory over Akeem Daniels.
Stewart was in action on the final night (Saturday) after gaining a bye the previous night and met the highly rated Ron Smith in a welterweight matchup that was described as the ‘Battle of the Titanic’ and after enduring a hectic toe to toe slugfest, Stewart walked away with a 2-1 decision.
The referee stopped the contest at 1:18 of the second round between Quincy Boyce and Jamal Archer in favour of the former, but not before both pugilists had given the fans a treat in the first round, displaying a never-say-die attitude as they traded punches from all angles.
Like Boyce, Keisha Arokium saw the referee stop her contest against her cousin Alanna Arokium at 1:52secs in the first round, while the greatest disappointment for the night came when Romeo Norville was declared medically unfit to continue his matchup against Eon Bancroft, after he sustained a cut to his mouth, handing Bancroft the win.
Ninvalle, Director of Sport Neil Kumar and female professional boxer Pauline London assisted with the distribution of trophies to the respective winners and runners-up of the two-night championships, which Poole declared as a success while highlighting the improvements of many boxers who were on show.
Certainly, with this and the many programmes to come in the field of boxing on both the amateur and professional levels, including two WBC/CABOFE title fights which are scheduled for this month-end, one can surely say the sport is on the rise in Guyana.