GEORGETOWN’S Mayor Hamilton Green on Saturday called on Corporate Guyana to support sports when the Boxing Hall of Fame was unveiled at the Andrew `Six Head’ Lewis Boxing Gym, Callender Street and Independence Boulevard.Mayor Green in delivering the feature address at the opening of the Pictorial Archives of some of the greatest Guyanese boxers past and present stated that sports can do wonders for a country and urged more corporate Guyanese businesses to come on board and support sports.
The Georgetown Mayor opined that Guyana has what it takes to win more world boxing titles and that Guyana’s boxing is the best avenue to move forward.
He mentioned that the City of Georgetown has always produced talented boxers and said the initiative by former Guyana and Continental of Americas Welterweight Champion, businessman and boxing enthusiast Maurice Pyle will motivate Guyana’s youths.
Mayor Green emphasised that young people must have heroes to look up to and it is his hope that the initiative inspire Guyana’s young boxers. “They can look up to the Mohammad Ali’s, Terrence Ali’s and even the Michael Parris’s and Andrew Lewis’s.
Guyana Olympic Association’s president K. Juman-Yassin in his address said the venture of establishing the Boxing Hall of Fame is a good one and it is his hope that the young boxers take note of the photographs in the archives and try to emulate those achievements.
According to Juman-Yassin unless boxers and coaches are employed in their field on a full time basis, the sport will remain in the doldrums.
Juman-Yassin congratulated the members of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School’s Steel Orchestra for their fine rendition of music on the historic occasion, and the importance of the project, and stated that he would like to see more Guyanese world champions.
The former Chief Magistrate also emphasised the fact that local boxing is in the doldrums and that boxers need to be taken care of.
Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) president Peter Abdool in his brief remarks said the Boxing Hall of Fame is something that should have been done 20-30 years ago to honour Guyana’s great boxers.
“Today (Saturday) is about everyone that contributed to the sport and this includes the boxers, coaches, managers, promoters and officials,” Abdool stated, adding, “It’s a celebration of professional and amateur boxers.”
Guyana Boxing Association president and Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, Steve Ninvalle congratulated Benjamin on making the Boxing Hall of Fame a reality and pledged his association’s support wherever needed.
The Boxing Hall of Fame had been in the making for the past two years and thanks to Benjamin and Pyle, today it is a reality.
Among those boxers that were honoured in the first phase of the project are: the late Andrew Lewis, Guyana’s lone Olympic medalist Michael Parris, Wayne `Big Truck’ Braithwaithe, `Visious’ Vivian Harris, Leon Moore, Gwendolyn O’Neil, Shondell Alfred, Peter Abdool and Benjamin.
The unveiling of the Hall of Fame attracted a reasonable number of persons, but the majority was from the Albouystown community.
Former Guyana heavyweight champion Pamela London did the honours of cutting the ribbon to mark the occasion.
The project was sponsored by the National Sports Commission (NSC) in collaboration with corporate Guyana.
Among the corporate entities that gave the venture financial and other support are: Abdool and Abdool Insurance, Hand-in-Hand Insurance, Ramchand Auto Spares, Dr. Max Hanoman, Modern Optical Services, Germans Restaurant, Attorneys-at-Law Joe Harmon and Euclin Gomes, Claude Raphael Real Estate, Eddy Grant, Lawrence Atherly, Guyana’s Football Federation’s (GFF) president Wayne Forde, Ansa McAl and Phillip Fernandes of John Fernandes Limited.