THE fans left the National Gymnasium at 01:00hrs Monday celebrating Guyana’s six consecutive titles in the sixth edition of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA)’s Winfield Brathwaite Caribbean Schoolboys and Schoolgirls Championship held over three nights at the Mandela Avenue venue.

Trinidad & Tobago finished second, while Barbados ended up in the third position, as talented Guyanese pugilist Shakquian James, who won Gold in the Youth Welterweight 67kg division, took the Best Boxer of the Tournament award.

The 6’ 1” 16-year-old Tiquan Sampson, who won Gold for Guyana in the Junior Lightweight 60kg division, was adjudged Best Junior Boxer, as Guyana, geographically located on mainland South America, once again confirmed their powerhouse status in boxing among the CARICOM nations.

A fair-sized and noisy crowd danced to music from the Sound System as they screamed their support for the home team, while the tantalising smell of fried chicken and fish produced a marvellous atmosphere as Guyana won six Gold Medals on the final night.

While Mike Parris is the only boxer in the English-speaking Caribbean to win an Olympic Medal, and Guyana’s only medal, history was again made when 12-year-old Guyanese Jumaine Moore made his debut as the youngest Boxing Judge in the Caribbean.

With Deputy Director of Sports Frankie Wilson eloquently providing information as the announcer, the Championships, which was attended by four overseas nations, was well organised, despite the over two-hour late start on Sunday.

In the Ring, the action commenced with Matthew Thomas beating fellow Guyanese Wayne Castillo in the Youth 52kg Division before Vicki Boodram, the Trinidad and Tobago Coach, did not allow Jaheem Alexander to fight Guyana’s Keyon Britton in the Schoolboys 38kg due to the age gap between the two young pugilists.
St. Lucia won its first Gold Medal of the night when Kyle Marcel defeated Guyana’s Kaiden Weithers in the Youth 75kg Final.

Marcel launched a ferocious attack on Weithers, and backed him up on the ropes with a flurry of on-target shots.
The Guyanese slipped and fell early in Round Two before a left-right combination to his head resulted in Weithers being administered a standing eight-count as the Guyanese desperately tried to fight back to stay in the contest.

In the final round, Weithers again tripped and fell before a wicked uppercut to the body resulted in the Guyanese being given another eight-count.
Weithers missed with some wild swings, and seemed unwilling to fight at close-range, or trade punches with his opponent.

T&T’s Makieve Bellillie beat Bajan Jaquan Grant in the Schoolboys 57kg Final, while Guyana struck Gold in the Youth Bantamweight 57kg Final, when Leon Albert beat Bajan Jazari Narine Mayers.

In the Youth Bantamweight 57kg Final, Bajan Abisilhai Baptiste was getting the better of Guyana’s Raheem Peters with some telling blows to the mid-section, and left jabs to the head before Peters, who was given standing eight-counts in the first and second rounds, ‘woke up’ in the third stanza.
He capitalised on a tiring Baptiste, and ‘pepped’ him with some good right-hooks and straight-rights to head as, the surprised Bajan tried to counter-punch.
But in the end, Peters had done enough in the final to win a close fight on a split decision.

St. Lucia won its second Gold when John Dedier beat Joshua Lewis of T&T, while the matchup between Guyana’s Akeila Van Cooten and ‘Trini’ Shania Nunez was a riveting battle.
Nunez came out to brawl, but her ‘Rough House’ tactics did not sit well with the referee, who, after she forcefully pushed VanCooten onto the canvas for the third time (once ending on top of her like a wrestler), instructed each of the five judges to deduct a point from her score.

When the Guyanese lass went after Nunez, and began hitting her with an array of punches, the crowd was on its feet, with Guyana’s only two presently world-ranked female boxers (the Jackman siblings) screaming and dancing with delight at the beating, as VanCooten took Gold in the Junior Girls 60kg Final.
Fighting in the Junior Lightweight 60kg Final, Guyanese Tiquan Sampson used his long reach to execute crisp left jabs to the face of the much shorter Prince Charles of T&T, who has previous experience in this tournament.

A one-two to head staggered the ‘Prince’, and he received an eight-count in the fight round.
The taller Sampson kept moving forward, and used his very fast hand speed to good effect, reeling off a five-punch combination, which resulted in the ‘Trini’ being given another eight-count in the second round.

Charles retaliated with a few good shots of his own, but Sampson was relentless with his hand speed, and excellent technique to take the Gold.
In the Youth Girls 80-plus kg, Guyana’s Tianna Moore was totally out-classed and out-boxed by her opponent, Nordissha Williams, from the Spice Isle of Grenada.
The contest provided plenty of entertainment for fans who were in peals of laughter at the way Moore, from the West Demerara, fought.

At one stage, Moore threw a punch so hard that when she missed, it spun her around, twice, and she ended up with her back to Williams, who pounded her from all angles.
But although she was knocked down and staggered a few times, she was still standing when final bell rang as Williams took the Gold.
In the final match of the night, the talented Shakquian James was clinical in his destruction of T&T’s Michel Medica, who was no match for the Guyanese, who copped the prestigious Best Boxer award.