…Allicock loses in Olympic qualifier in Thailand

OLYMPIAN Keevin Allicock was Guyana’s last hope of a Guyanese Boxing in the 2024 Parris Olympics but that hope was shattered yesterday on day five of the final Olympic Qualifiers in Thailand.
The 24-year-old who had lost in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, was beaten 4-1 by Batuhan Ciftci in his second fight of the qualifiers.

The 26-year-old from Turkey who received a quota for the 2020 Olympics Tokyo threw the more telling punches and although Allicock fought back well the judges awarded the fight to Ciftci on a split decision; one of the five had the Guyanese winning.

After winning his first bout on the opening day in the round of 32, the lad from Albouystown who has been member of the Forgotten Youths Foundation since he was 15, under Coach Sebert Blake was Guyana’s best hope of winning Guyana’s second medal in Boxing since Mike Parris won Bronze in 1980 in Moscow.

Parris’s Medal, achieved 44 years ago, is Guyana’s only Olympic medal and the only Medal by a Boxer from the English-speaking Caribbean.
Earlier in the Qualifiers, Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Desmond Amsterdam suffered a unanimous defeat against Christian Javier Pinales of the Dominican Republic on day two in his first fight.

Berbician Joel Williamson, fighting in the 63.5kg class lost to three-time Olympian Mauritius’ Louis Richarno Colin in his first bout on day three.
Emmanuel Pompey, the last of the Guyanese quartet entered the Ring on day four of the qualifiers.

After some hard shots by the Russian Georgia Kushitashvilli which staggered Pompey – who fights out of the Pompey Boxing Gym in Sophia- their Super Heavyweight bout was stopped in the second round.
When Allicock qualified for the Tokyo Olympics four years ago it was the first that a Guyanese pugilist had fought at the Olympics in 25 years since John Douglas lost in the first round in 1996.

Allicock turned Pro last April and gained a third-round TKO victory over Barbadian Jusean Shepherd on his debut in the Junior Lightweight division.
It’s highly unlikely that, at 28, Allicock will attempt to qualify for 2028 Olympics which will held in Los Angeles in the USA for a fifth time.