GBA schoolboys & girls U-16 boxing c/ships…

AFTER an almost three-hour late start due to the late arrival of the Berbice Gyms, the contest between Lennox Lawrence and Curtis McDonald produced the most entertaining fight of the 12 bouts carded for Saturday, when the GBA held its Schoolboys & Girls U-16 Boxing C/ships at the Andrew ‘Six Heads’ Boxing Gym in Albouystown.

In the penultimate tournament before the Guyana Team is selected for the Caribbean Schoolboys and girls U-16 Championships to be held here from August 16-18, Lawrence and McDonald went at each other in an action-packed fight.

McDonald caught Lawrence with a few clinical body shots, followed by left-right combinations to the head resulting in Lawrence being given a couple of standing eight-counts as McDonald dominated the opening round.

In the second round, Lawrence demonstrated plenty of intestinal fortitude, and caught his man with some brutal uppercuts, which were set up by crisp jabs.
McDonald counter-punched before Lawrence hit him with some good shots to the body and head, and it was McDonald who was staggered and given an eight-count to arguably take the second round.

The last round was shot-filled as the pugilists traded punches for the good-size gathering.
The pair continued to go toe-to-toe, firing away at each other, but when the dust settled, it was McDonald who had done enough to earn the split decision.

In the lone female match-up, Kenisha Klass from the Pace and Power Gym was all over her Corentyne Berbice opponent Destiney Humphrey like a rash, and was in total control throughout the one-sided bout.

Another good fight was the second one of the day between Isiah Asby and Deshawn Willerby in the 35-28kg division, as the little warriors threw punches left, right and centre.
Teaka Narine and Travis Crooks engaged each other in the first Exhibition fight, while the second Exhibition match was between Richard Spencer and Addle Peters.

However, the last Exhibition match and the last bout of the tournament was nothing like an Exhibition contest.
Jay Ramnarine and Shane Caesar went at each other with all that they had got with big booming shots, and even in the third and final round, both fighters, especially Ramnarine, kept getting hit with a flurry of hard shots.

Ramnarine was saved by the bell in the last round, since, seconds after the bell had been rung, he collapsed to the canvas and remained motionless for a short time; something rarely seen in Exhibition fights.
Meanwhile, GBA’s Technical Director Terrence Poole disclosed that 10 tournaments have been used so far to select the team for the Caribbean U-16 Championships.
“We will hold one more tournament on Saturday, August 3, at the Andrew Lewis boxing gym from 13:00hrs before selecting a team for the Caribbean tournament, which starts on August 16,” Poole said.

The Guyana and GDF Boxing Coach said he was satisfied with the standard shown in Saturday’s tournament, adding, “But there is still some more work to be done, and most of the coaches would try to work on the technical aspect of the sport.”

This tournament was first held in 2017 in Guyana, and is the brainchild of GBA President Steve Ninvalle, who is also Guyana’s Director of Sports.

OTHER RESULTS
Juniors: Akeem Quinton beat Kevin Class, Isiah Nurse stopped Andrew Rogers in the second round, Ken Harvey stopped Deshawn Ifill in the second round, Simon Haymer beat Julius Ceaser by TKO, Andrew Devourer stopped Goodwin Crandon in the first round and Shawn Sobola beat Aston Dowridge.