Guyanese boxers dominate on penultimate night

By Sean Devers

Guyanese Boxers captured six titles while Trinidad & Tobago won two on the penultimate night of the sixth Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Winfield Brathwaite Caribbean School Boys & Girls Championships at the National Gymnasium on Saturday.
Barbados and Grenada won a title each while Bajan Carl Reid defeated St Lucian Jeananan Gaspard to qualify for the final last night when the three-night tournament was scheduled to culminate with more Gold Medal bouts.

Watched by a fairly sized gathering which competed with basketball, tennis and futsal matches being played on the impressive courts recently constructed by the Guyana Government in the compound of the Gymnasium, boxing was the main attraction.
The international fights began with 11-year-old Jamal Muhammed from Diego Martin in Trinidad, beating Guyana’s Dreshawn Willery to win the Schoolboy 40kg final; before that, Reid beat Jeananan Gaspard of St Lucia in the semi-final of the Juniors 80 plus kg.

Joshua Rene of St Lucia lost to Grenadian Joshua Clyne in the Final of the Juniors 80kg.
Arguably the most entertaining bout of the night was the Junior Girl’s 48kg final between Guyana’s Angelica Rogers and Trinidadian Reyna John.

The pair of pugilists went at each with all guns firing from the first bell and the action was fast and furious.
They traded punches and their combinations were like little pistons as both boxers scored with jabs to the head and punches in bunches to each other’s body in the opening round; the 14 year-old Trini from Sande Grande, winning a close round.

The hectic pace continued in the second round in which a three-shot combination sent John to canvas in the closing stages.
The intensity slowed a bit in the final round as the boxers began to tire. However, this did not stop them from charging at each other with arms flaying.
Both young ladies were hit but Rogers took the harder and more on target blow and when final bell sounded, both boxers earned a standing ovation, with John winning on points.

In the juniors 66kg final St Lucian Jack Suraj took a battering from Guyana’s Shemroy Wintz.
Wintz hit Suraj almost at will to his head and body, staggering his man on a few occasions before the onslaught was halted by the referee in the first round.
The bout between Guyana’s Ryan Rogers and Bajan Maliki Edwards was also entertaining as Rogers produced a dominant performance.

Edwards who threw a barrage of punches in the opening round, most of which missed the target, threw a mighty ‘haymaker’ which knocked his opponent off of his feet much to the amusement of many.
Rogers also scored with some body shots.
The second Stanza of the Schoolboy Light Bantam 52kg final, was much of the same as the first round as Rogers chased his man across the ring as the Bajan seemed unable to maintain his balance. Rogers won on points.
The juniors 63kg final was also entertaining.

Guyana’s Eon Bancroft and St Lucian Herve Charlemange went toe-to-toe with Bancroft scoring with crisp jabs to head and upper-cuts to the body of the St Lucian who was willing to counter punch.
Whenever Bancroft scored, his team-mates and supporters would wave Guyana flags lustily before the fight was stopped in one minute and 20 seconds in the third and final round in favour of the Guyanese.
Guyana’s Chance Niles beat T&T’s Matthew Newallo in the Junior Light Middleweight final.

Guyanese Joshua Thambaran stopped Grenadian Keno Griffith in one minute eight second in the first round of their Junior Light Bantam 52kg final in the final bout of the night.
A couple of local bouts commenced the night’s proceedings with Yusuf Edwards beating Nazeem Razak and Khumunda Alexander losing to Ken Harvey.

Among those in attendance were Guyana’s only Olympic Medalist, Mike Parris, who won Bronze in 1980 in Moscow, Olympian Keevin Allicock, former female World Champion Shondell Alfred and National Men’s Football Coach Trinidadian Jamaal Shabazz.