..Suriname, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago to compete

THE second edition of the Patrick Forde Memorial Boxing Championship is set to take place on February 17 at the National Gymnasium, according to president of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle.

Speaking with Chronicle Sport yesterday, Ninvalle pointed that once again, the GBA will be teaming up with Alford McDonald to host the event and this year, Trinidad and Tobago will be sending a contingent to compete, joining St Lucia and Suriname who will return for a second time.

“We expect to have all the pivotal divisions; middleweight, bantamweight, Junior Welterweight and light heavyweight, since those are the divisions we did well in the last time,” Ninvalle noted, as he pointed out the card will feature 15 fights and box-off time is 19:00hrs.

With Guyana set to participate at the July 26 – August 11 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, Ninvalle pointed out that Patrick Forde Memorial will be used as a means of preparation.

Meanwhile, the GBA boss also informed that plans are on stream to host a tournament to honour Guyana’s 1978 Commonwealth Games gold Medallist Winfield Braithwaite, adding that “we want to recognise what he has done for Guyana, but more so recognising his achievements as amateur fighter.”

Winfield Braithwaite won Guyana’s second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games when he defeated Scottish fighter James Douglas in the finals of the Men’s light welterweight division.

Phillip Edwards (1934), Aliann Pompey (2002) and Troy Doris (2018) are the other athletes who won gold for Guyana at the Commonwealth Games.

Forde, one of Guyana’s finest boxers, and who once went 15 rounds with Salvador Sanchez for the WBC featherweight championship of the world in 1980, died in 2011 in Brooklyn, New York at the age of 55.

Forde became the first Guyanese to fight for a world title and four months after his match-up with Sanchez for the WBC featherweight title on September 13th, 1980, he fought Eusebio Pedroza for the WBA version of the title on Valentine’s Day in 1981.

Unfortunately, Forde was unsuccessful in capturing a world title, but he opened the doors to numerous fighters from Guyana who became world champions, such as Andrew ‘Six Heads’ Lewis, Vivian Harris and Wayne Braithwaite.

Throughout his time as a fighter, Forde had the opportunity to work under the tutelage of legendary trainers Cus D’Amato and Eddie Futch, and he was hoping to follow in their footsteps of developing world champions.

Forde ended his professional career in 1987 with a record of 174 (11 KO’s), while being able to attain the Guyana, Commonwealth, and WBC Fecarbox featherweight titles.