MIDDLEWEIGHT Dennis Amsterdam, Light welterweight Colin Lewis, and Lightweight Jamal Harvey, along with Coach Terrence Poole, departed Guyana on Sunday evening for Guayaquil, Ecuador, where they will compete at the March 22 – April 2 American Boxing Confederation (AMBC) Elite Continental Championships.

Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) president, Steve Ninvalle, said the Championships “is going to be a testing ground for us, because we’ve not been in competitive boxing for quite some time, except for the lone Olympic qualifier and the World Championship.”The Guyanese boxers had several months of preparation under Coach Poole and National Boxing Coach, Lennox Daniels.

Ninvalle said the GBA expects that the boxers give their best, adding “I had a meeting with the coach and the boxers before they departed and they’ve also convinced me that they will be giving their best.

“The AMBC championship will have all the usual powerhouses, so we will be coming up against some formidable opponents and again, we expect them to give their best,” Ninvalle said.

The medallists in each of the 13 men and 12 women weight categories, according to the AMBC, will receive prize money, US$10,000 for first place, $5,000 (second), and $2,500 for third place.

Ninvalle, who also sits as a vice-president of the AMBC, pointed to Trinidad and Tobago’s Nigel Paul, who claimed bronze and the $25,000 prize in the super heavyweight division at the November International Boxing Association (formerly known as AIBA) World Championships in Russia, adding “now he goes to this championship, and he wins that, he gets $10,000 and then there are other competitions held throughout the year.”

The GBA president said the IBA’s injection of cash incentives should be applauded across the world since it “gives boxers something to work towards. Apart from the pride and the glory, there’s now the financial aspect of it which means a lot.”