ONE of Guyana’s outstanding boxers, middleweight Desmond Amsterdam, was recently promoted by the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), and will now wear the rank of ‘Substantive Corporal’.

Amsterdam, who reigned supreme in the Caribbean as the middleweight champion from 2016 to 2018, prior to promotion, was listed as an ‘Acting Corporal’ and following his exceptional performance at the Guyana Boxing Board-organised Caribbean Championship at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, the GDF paid homage and honoured the Corporal with promotion.

President of the GBA, Steve Ninvalle, called Amsterdam’s promotion “a big deal” while telling Chronicle Sport yesterday that “it shows that they recognise – Brigadier Patrick West and others. They recognise how important sports is, and what it does for the GDF and by extension the country, so we (GBA) applaud that”.

Ninvalle related that the GDF is in the vanguard of recognising its athletes, drawing comparison to National javelin record-holder Leslain Baird, who was last year promoted to Acting Senior Petty Officer, following his silver medal performance at the senior South American Championships.

Meanwhile, Amsterdam will be in action once again when the GBA hosts the Patrick Forde Memorial on February 17, at the National Gymnasium, featuring boxers from Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and St Lucia.