RHT Jammers wins Best Club; Harvey is Best Boxer

DESPITE a close to a four-hour-late start, the latest Schoolboys Boxing Championships hosted by the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) produced several exciting fights on the 19-bout card, which culminated at the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Gym in Albouystown Saturday evening.

When the dust had settled, Rosehall Town Jammers from Corentyne, Berbice, who won seven of their eight bouts, was adjudged the best Club, while their long-serving and animated Coach Gregory Cort won the Best Coach trophy.
Ken Harvey from the Pace and Power Gym won the Best Boxer Trophy in the championships, which attracted seven gyms across Guyana.

Those were the Rosehall Jammers Boxing Gym, Forgotten Youths Foundation, Pace and Power Boxing Gym, the Police Boxing Gym, the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis Boxing Gym,the Vergenoegen Boxing Gym and the New Amsterdam Boxing Academy.
It was good to see two of the three towns in Berbice represented, while Vergenoegen BG on the West Coast of Demerara copped the runners-up position.

The fights were watched by a large gathering of boxers and a few of their parents at the small venue which needed better ventilation.
Pace and Power’s Kenisha Class was taught a lesson by RHT Jammers’ Destiny Humphrey in the lone female bout on the card, as both pugilists made their debuts.

Berbician Humphrey used her longer reach to execute accurate jabs which set up several shots to Class’s body, who spent most of three rounds on the ropes after being outboxed.
Boxers from the Corentyne gym continued their dominance in the square circle to the delight of their hard-working and very vocal Coach Cort, who was exceedingly firm with his boxers when they failed to follow his directions.

He could be seen admonishing a youngster who was involved in a physical confrontation with one of his boxers.
The only knock-out of the night was by RHT Jammers’ Ejaz Daniels, who came out with all guns blazing against fellow Berbician Randy Boodhu from the New Amsterdam Boxing Academy.

A flurry of combinations to Boodhu’s body and head sent him sprawling to the canvas where he remained motionlessly for a short time before regaining full consciousness.
Pace and Power’s Ken Harvey showed good boxing skills with clinical combinations and excellent use of the ring in his bout against FYF’s Ryan Rogers, in one of the more entertaining fights of the night.

Both boxers punched and counter punched as they went toe to toe in the middle of the ring, but it was Harvey who scored the cleaner punches to get the verdict in his favour to the joy of Guyana’s only Olympic medallist, Mike Parris, who was in his corner.
Harvey was later named Best Boxer and collected his trophy from former GDF and national footballer Shirvin McGarell, who represented Guyana between 1979 and 1980.

Many of the young boxers were repeatedly warned for ‘slapping’ and keeping their heads up. These are some of the areas that various Coaches need to work on in addition to discipline.
Apart from Parris who won a Bronze Medal in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, which remains the only boxing medal for the English-speaking Caribbean in Pace and Power’s corner, Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques who lost to Elton Dharry in the WBA’s Super Flyweight Gold Championship last month at Everest, was coach for the Police boxers.

Results:
Ezekiel Austin lost to Ezekiel Bharrat
Junior Madray lost the stylish Adrian Sealy
Malcolm Quinton lost to Roopesh Balgobin
Glenroy Class beat Brandon Ray
Jensen Willery beat Rayon France
Kenisha Class lost to Destiny Humphrey (female)
Michael Matthews lost to Jadon Fearly
Jonny Jones lost to Nicholas Hikel
Emmanuel Fordice beat Eon Britton
Shaquan Marshall lost to Akeem Johnson
Lennox Lawrence lost to Curtis McDonald
Ken Harvey beat Ryan Roger
Ejaz Daniels beat Randy Boodhu
Marlando Cameron beat Johnson Vancooten
Kunda Alexander beat Josiah Johnson
Andean Deweerov beat Anthony Stuart
Shaka Stephens lost Garrell Hyman
Travis Sanko lost to Joshua Tambourine
Jermaine Parris beat Dominic Warren
Matthew Thomas beat Fidel Persaud