Andrew Lewis National Novices Boxing Championships…

A POWER outage at the National Gymnasium resulted in Thursday’s opening night of the Andrew Lewis National Novices Boxing Championships being shifted to Friday afternoon at the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis Gym.
But when action did return to the venue on Friday and Saturday, it had fans on their feet, and saw the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) being adjudged the best gym, for the umpteenth time.
When the curtain came down on the event just after 1:AM Sunday morning, a total of 17 bouts had been contested.

A good-size gathering, which included Guyana’s Director of Sports and GBA’s President Steve Ninvalle, GTA’s President Cristy Campbell, Boxing Promoter Seon Bristol, and NSC’s Assistant Director of Sports Frankie Wilson.

Wilson served as Ring Announcer.
The championships also saw George Moore, of Rose Hall Town Jammers (RHJ) copping the ‘Best Coach’ Award.
On a night in which the fans were entertained by Reggae and Dancehall vibes from the Shocking Sound System, the finals were contested in five categories.

Ryan Rogers (Schoolboys), Keon Harvey (Juniors), Shakquian James (Youths), Jaqwan Milo (Novices) and Tofina Barker (Girls) won the Best Boxer Awards in their categories.
When the long night of fistic fury eventually commenced after a lengthy delay, the opening bout between Berbican Roopesh Balgobin from RHJ, and Dreshawn Willery from Pace and Power Boxing Gym (PPBG), located in Costello Housing Scheme, was keenly contested.

Both youngsters demonstrated good technical skills, and led with crisp jabs as the pair traded punches.
But 13-year-old Balgobin, using his southpaw approach to good effect, landed more of the cleaner shots to take the Gold in the Schoolboys 30-35 kg contest.
The second fight of the night was also entertaining, as Forgotten Youths Foundation (FYF)’s Ryan Rogers produced a clinical display of shots to the head and body of Police boxer Lennox Lawrence to take the Gold, and the award for Best Boxer in the Schoolboys 51-53 kg category.

The lone female bout was another good fight with Tofina Barker, who defeated Angelia Rogers. Rogers took some hard shots to her head, and was guilty of moving forward more.
But Rogers did have her moments; firing a straight right to Barker’s mouth and cutting her lip in the process. Barker continued to chase her opponent around the ring, and caught her with some good shots.
The third round was Rogers’ best, as her intensity increased, but it was too little too late, as Barker won easily in the end.

In another action-packed fight, Simeon Hamer came out like a raging bull with several wild swings, but New Amsterdam Boxing Academy (NABA)’s Shemroy Wintz stood his ground and counter-punched effectively.
The lad from Guyana’s oldest town caught Hamer with a crunching right, resulting in his receiving a standing–count in the first round, eventually winning the fight.
Shakquian James of FYF dominated Jofes Jackson with a flurry of left/right combinations, resulting in the Referee stopping the fight in 1 minute 12 seconds of Round Two.

Chance Niles of FYF entertained the fans with his dancing as well as his boxing, and was all over Police’s Shaka Stephen to register a convincing win.
The fight between the GDF pair of Wavel Massiah and Zechariah Reddock had many fans in peals of laughter, as they threw wild round-house shots, showed very little balance, and lacked proper technique in the Novices Bantamweight division.

There was also an exhibition bout between Vergenoegen Boxing Gym’s pair Keyon Britton and Antonio Stephen.

Other results:
Schoolboys 48-50g
Curtis McDonald (RJH) beat Isiah Nurse (RHJ)

Juniors:
Kumunda Alexander (PPBG) beat Darren Henry (ALBG)
Morlando Cameron (RHJ) beat Ronaldo Hunte (Pol)
Ken Harvey (ALBG) beat Dominque Warren (ALBG)

Youths:
Leon Alert (ALBG) beat Aubrey Austin (RHJ)

Novices:
Junior Welterweight
Nikel Witter (GDF) lost to Joel Hinds (VGB)

Welterweight
Shamar Sooklall lost to Zonoah Little (VBG)

Middleweight
Joshua Fiffee (GDF) lost on Walk Over Jamal Booker (GDF)

Light Heavyweight
Jaqwan Milo stopped Larry Richmond (GDF) in 2 minutes 59 seconds in the second round.

Cruiserweight
Shawn Cudjoe (GDF) lost by KO to Omari Bentham (GDF)