… Lindener backs Keevin Allicock for medal contention

JOHN Douglas, the last boxer to represent Guyana at the Olympics, and Guyana’s flag-bearer at the 1996 Games, only started boxing after watching Dillon Carew and Andrew ‘Six Heads’ Lewis compete at the 1992 Games. Douglas hails from Linden and is not known for giving interviews, but was happy to open up with Chronicle Sport, about his journey from BlueBerry Hill, Wismar, Linden, all the way to Atlanta. “I’m a proud Lindener!” Douglas said. “In 1992, I was watching the Olympics. I didn’t know who those guys were at the time, and I just felt like I could be there. I always loved boxing actually. But after watching them in 1992, I said to myself, I am going to the next Olympics,” a cheerful Douglas noted, while pointing out that he started working out at a gym in Linden. Fast forward, Douglas, along with former World Champion Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite, current coach of Keevin Allicock Sebert Blake, and Cassius Mathews attended the Olympic Box-Off tournament in Argentina with coach Lennox Daniels. Douglas left the tournament in Argentina as the winner of the light heavyweight division and was the only Guyanese boxer to advance to the 1996 Olympics from the event. “Later on I met ‘Six Heads’ and Carew. We became friends and they ended up supporting me, you know … ‘Six Heads’ was even my training partner at one time; we used to spar,” Douglas reflected.

While in Atlanta, Douglas fought Croatian Stipe Drews. “It was a frustrating fight. Imagine, I knock him down in the first round. The referee didn’t give him an eight-count. He just told him to get up. After that, I was upset. In the second round, he connected with a left hook. Next thing you know, the referee waved off the fight. Man, I was very upset.”
Stipe Drews went on to beat legendary Italian boxer, Silvio Branco, to win the World Boxing Association (WBA) Light Heavyweight World Title.
Douglas turned pro in 1997 and lost to ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite in his debut at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. He left for the USA the same year, pointing out that “I migrated to further my career. There was no money in boxing in Guyana. At the time, any time you wanted to make it in boxing, you had to leave Guyana.”
“I returned like two times since then and that’s about it. But you know, I’m watching Keevin Allicock. I’ve been following him. Good boxer and I know he will win a medal. He’s positive, and I know he will win,” Douglas said when asked about Keevin Allicock.