Elite amateur boxing action took over the National Gymnasium over the last weekend and culminated on Sunday in a series of exhilarating bouts featuring the country’s best amateur pugilists.
When the dust settled, it was the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Gym who reigned supreme, picking up several gold and silver medals on their way to the ‘best gym’ title for yet another year.
Sunday’s list of elite fights began with GDF’s Joshua Thomas overcoming his gym mate Ezekiel Persaud in a 57kg encounter. The referee stopped the contest two minutes and 58 seconds into the second round, ruling in Thomas’ favour.
Forgotten Youth Foundation’s Travis Inverary went the distance against Guyana Police Force’s Colin Graham in a 71kg bout, with the former winning on points.
A win on points was also on the cards for GDF’s Orlando Norton, who defeated Shaquille Daw, also of GDF, in the 75kg category. In the same vein, the 86kg final saw GDF’s Aluko Bess overcoming Dwayne July on points.
Emmanuel Pompey was probably the only outside boxer to topple a GDF pugilist on the night, after the referee stopped his 92kg final contest against Qunice Boyce in the third round.
Members of the GDF Boxing Gym take a photo opportunity with their accolades
A game of cat and mouse between GDF gym mates Zidhan Wray and Troy Glasgow in the 92+ kg final, ended in Wray’s favour when the contest was stopped 55 seconds into Round 2.
One of the most exciting fights of the night saw Rose Hall Jammers’ Joel Williamson adding a TKO to his repertoire after knocking out Vergenoegen Boxing Gym’s Simyon Joseph 35 seconds into their 63.5kg bout.
Then, Colin Lewis punched his way to gold and the best boxer title when he met Zonoah Lyttle in the 67kg final. The fight was abandoned 1 minute and 58s into Round 2 after Lyttle’s coaches threw in the towel.
Following his gym’s triumph, Coach Steele Crawford expressed his contentment with their performances in spite of limited preparation.
“You know, the army have to work for the Christmas half and the Old Years’ half, right. So, we had to actually send home everybody and when we come back, it was just like five days’ training we had,” the GDF Boxing Coach shared.
Crawford went on to assert, “But with the five days’ training, we do good. Because remember we’re soldiers. Soldiers are called upon at any time.”
Coach Crawford was named Best Coach.
The GDF secured 23 points in the three-day competition while runners-up Forgotten Youth Foundation came away with nine points.
The aforementioned elite fights were preceded by junior and youth bouts.
In the junior 56-58kg) category, Forgotten Youths Foundation’s Ryan Rogers pulled off a win on points against Rose Hall Jammers’ Curtis McDonald to walk away with a gold medal. Then, Terron Wintz also won on points when taking on Pace and Power’s Simon Haymer in the Youth 67-69kg category.
The next event that amateur pugilists can look forward to is the Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis National Novices Championships.
