Nothing less than victory for Willpower

Veteran boxing judge and referee, Willie Williams, will put his coaching skills to the test when his boxers Mikhail Ragoonanan and Evan Jackson enter the ring at next week’s National Amateur Boxing Championships.

The event which is hosted by the T&T Amateur Boxing Association (TTABA) and supported by the Ministry of Sport and the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT), will run from January 30 to February 3, at the Woodbrook Youth Facility.

Aptly christening his gym Willpower Boxing Gym, Williams has been preparing his charges for nothing less than victory. 

Ragoonanan, currently a fitness instructor, is a former cricketer who played at youth level and represented the North Zone in the schools’ cricket. Opting to exchange the bat for boxing gloves three years ago, Ragoonanan made his debut in 2010, but has competed just twice since.

Despite the lack of competition, his coach is confident that his trainee will be crowned the welterweight champion while his teammate, Jackson, will seek to claim the elite heavyweight title. Sporting a mean look during a workout at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, Jackson made it known that he intends to “clear away all opponents and obstacles” in his path.

Meanwhile, South-East Port-of-Spain Boxing Gym (SEPOS) will attempt to endorse its name as former professional boxer, David Phillip, leads a five-member team at the national championship. Assistant coach, Michael Alexander is confident that SEPOS will cop at least two or three medals. Sharing that view is the gym’s manager Michael Morgan. 

“Our gym which is located at Piccadilly Street, PoS, has a membership of about 17 students. Though only five boxers are competing, everyone has been training hard and lending their support. In recent competitions, we reached the semi-finals but now we believe we are prepared for gold medals,” said Morgan.

The five-member team includes two women, Chickere Edwards and Lamisha Commissong. Their male counterparts are Hamilton Edwards, Thuroin Garcia and Nicholas Monderoy.

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