GUYANA made a clean sweep on day two (Saturday) of the Winfield Braithwaite Caribbean Schoolboys and Juniors Boxing Tournament, which was scheduled to conclude last night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

After their dominant performance on Saturday night, the home team looked set to retain the overall title.

Guyana (with the largest team) had won four gold and a silver medal in the international bouts of the first two nights, while Trinidad and Tobago were in second place with a gold and a silver.

Head coach of the local side, Sebert Blake, called the second night’s bouts “superb” and credited all the boxers for their outstanding performances in the ring.
The night had seven fights: three international bouts, an exhibition clash and three with local boxers.

In the international bouts, Guyanese boxers, Alex Butcher, in the 64kg youth division, and Ryan Benjamin in the 63Kg Junior division, were able to deliver technical knockouts against their opponents, Enoch Phillips from Dominica and Charlie Nixon from the Cayman Islands.
Blake said that the local boxers “stepped up their games”. He, however, felt that the fight of the night was between one of Guyana’s best young amateur boxers in Isaiah Moore and formidable Trinidadian boxer, Abdul Taylor, in the 52kg youth final.

Captain of the local side, Moore was able to weather the storm of Taylor, who has medalled before at the event. The southpaw from Trinidad was superb with his jabs and he kept the Guyanese at bay for much of the first round. Later in the round, Moore worked his way closer to the body of Taylor several times and delivered some good shots.

By round two, the Guyanese had taken control of the fight. During one of his combinations, he delivered a left cross, which staggered the Trinidadian and swung the pendulum in his favour.

Both boxers exchanged shots in the third, but Moore was the aggressor. Taylor was hurt and it showed as he dropped to the ground and struggled to get up after the fight ended.
The international bouts started with an aggressive first round from Phillips against Butcher. The Dominica boxer connected a few times in the opening round and had pressured his opponent, but the Guyanese boxer kept his composure and began throwing a few punches of his own.

In the second round, Butcher connected with a hard body shot that hurt his challenger, this led to two standing eight counts which left the visiting boxer dazed. Soon after that, Butcher connected with combinations again which forced another standing count. Phillips did not recover.

Cayman Islands boxer, Nixon, also looked solid in the opening round; he used his left jab well and forced Benjamin to follow him around the ring.

In the second round, the local boxer was able to work his way close to Nixon’s body and deliver a crushing blow, which forced the Trinidadian referee to deliver a standing eight count. A short while after another body shot was delivered and the referee decided to stop the fight.

In the local bouts, Jaquan Milo continued his dominance with his second win in as many days after defeating Kevin Issacs, while Fitz Haywood knocked out Sheldon McKenzie and A. Bess claimed a victory against Wezton Harry.