THE final night of the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis National Novice Championships Boxing Card at the National Gymnasium on Sunday had some good bouts but the level of technical skill was lacking in many of the boxers as the GDF retained their ‘Best Gym’ title.

The final night of the three-night Championships featuring the top young pugilists competed with a few major sporting events in the City and despite the presence of the GDF Band Corps and pulsating music from the ‘Shocking Sound System’ from Sophia which entertained the small gathering, the overall atmosphere at the Gymnasium was unlike previous Cards in the recent past.
In the Ring, there was promising talent, which, if keep developing, would ensure that Guyana remains the ‘Mecca’ in amateur boxing in the English-speaking Caribbean.
The Night began with a victory in the Flyweight division from Republican Boxing Gym’s (REP) Andre Thompson over Daniel Garnett of the GDF who had 15 fighters in the finals in the eleven bouts contested.

The Police Gym, coached by National Flyweight Dexter ‘the Kid’ Marques, had four boxers in the finals, including the talented Bantamweight Julian Clarke who was adjudged the best boxer in the Tournament.

In his fight against GDF’s Joshua Thomas, Clarke demonstrated good use of the Ring and threw clinical three-shot combinations to Thomas’ body and head. The soldier tried to counterpunch with shots of his own but many of them missed the targets.

Clarke connected with a crunching straight right to Thomas’ head before the GDF pugilist retaliated with a shot to the body in the second round as the boxers exchanged punches as they went toe-to-toe

However, as the contest progressed, the intensity and power punches became less as the pair used more clinches and spent more time on the ropes as Clarke took the Gold Medal.
The Junior Welterweight battle between GDF’s Joseph Gardener and his Gym mate Romel Captain had the referee, Shareece Agard, working for her pay as both fighters consistently ‘tied’ up each other, pushed away their opponent and were guilty of slapping and went at each other with all guns.

Such was the intensity of the battle that Gardener began losing pieces of his shoes during the hectic exchanges as both soles eventually came but this did not stop him from throwing punches in bunches with some mighty roundhouse shots to win the contest.

Another fight which was keenly fought was between Police boxer, Osias Prince, and GDF’s Christopher Henry, who hails from the Pomeroon in Essequibo. Henry threw straight punches and used his left jap to set up his right uppercuts as he fought with good technical skill sets to emerge victorious against Prince to deny him the crown.
In other results: Featherweight Melroy McPherson stopped REP’s Neville France in 2:20 seconds of the first round.
Lightweight: Oswald Jewan stopped Police’s Lennox Harvey in 58 seconds in the opening round.
Welterweight: Elliot Sinclair beat fellow GDF Damon France.

Middleweight: Timothy Frazer from REP beat GDF’s Orin Domingo.
Light Heavyweight: Sherwin Gravesande beat Malchi Charles in an all-GDF clash.
Cruiserweight: Hullman Bovell from Police stopped GDF’s Darius Harris in 2:07 seconds of round one.
Super Heavyweight: Zidhan Wray beat fellow GDF Rayon Harry in 54 seconds of the second round.