Local boxers square off in TTABA champs

Local boxers will spring into action tomorrow in the T&T Amateur Boxing Association’s (TTABA) Amateur Championship which is set to unfold at the Woodbrook Youth Facility. This after the line-up of bouts were drawn on Saturday. 

The Cosmic Boxing Gym, Marabella was a sea of boxers, coaches, managers and administrators, as clubs from across the country filed into the area to complete registration, conduct medicals and weigh-in, in preparation for the official draw of the championships. 

With some 100 participants in about 35 different weight divisions and classifications, most were satisfied with the matchups at the end of the day-long process. The divisions include elite men, elite youth boys, junior boys, elite women, elite youth girls and junior girls. 

The “elite” boxers ranged from ages 19 to 34, the youth from 17 to 18 years and the junior’s from 15 to 16 years. Some of the categories were further divided as novice (five bouts and under) and the open class (over five bouts). 

President of the T&T Amateur Boxing Association (TTABA), Cecil Forde said the 2013 championships will be one of the largest seen in recent years. 

“There will be a lot of bouts on each night of competition and we plan to start at 6 pm sharp from Wednesday to Friday. We must do this to ensure the session ends in a timely fashion as many of the boxers are going to school. Over the weekend the bouts will start at 3 pm, with an assessment of boxers 14 years and under tentatively scheduled to take place on Saturday from 8 am to 2 pm”, said Forde as he supervised the proceedings on Saturday at Cosmic. 

The more experienced boxers and those who did not get any match ups are scheduled to match gloves with some of their Caribbean counterparts from Barbados and Dominica. 

Special advisor to the T&T Boxing Board of Control, Boxu Potts indicated that the boxing board has to ensure that top boxers continue to build their experience while the younger ones have the opportunity to come up the ranks. 

“Some of the young men do not have opposition in T&T as they are so experienced therefore we need to bring in foreign competition. Even some of the females don’t have any bouts and we are seeking to provide opponents for them as well,” said Potts. 

Minister of Sport Anil Roberts has given his support to the event and the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT) will be assisting the TTABA with some of the funding. However, there was a plea for corporate sponsorship to join the event as there are still some costs to be defrayed.

Bouts scheduled for Wednesday

• Welterweight (64kg junior)- Dariel Addams (Sand City) v Ernest Applewhite (White Eagle) 
• Welterweight (64kg junior)- Rondell Ferdinand (White Eagle) v Dexter Villaroel (Biomel) 
• Light Middleweight (64kg junior)- Reynold Belcon (Sand City) v Ryan Cummings (Golden Fist) 
• Light Middleweight (69kg junior)- Shaquille Aguillera (White Eagle) v Nathan Francis (Sand City)
• Light Welterweight (64kg youth)- Kadeem Ajim (Tobago Dark Warriors) v Omar Smith (Rough House)
• Light Welterweight (64kg youth)- Mikhail Roberts (THA Elite) v Asad Fabien (Magic) 
• Light Heavyweight (81kg youth)- Kerrell Christopher (White Eagle) v Vern Caraballo (Biomel)
• Lightweight (60kg elite novice)- Shaquille Mohammed (Moruga) v Kyle Ragoonath (Ultimate Gym) 
• Light Welterweight (64kg novice)- David Francique (TTDF) v Conelle McClean (Willpower) 
• Light Welterweight (64kg elite novice)- Sheffield Belgraves (Magic) v Chevon Copper (Sand City)
• Welterweight (69kg elite novice)- Quincy Supersad (YANS) v Matthew Charles (Cosmic) 
• Welterweight (69kg elite novice)- Kieon Cardinez (Ultimate Gym) v Mikhail Ragoonanan (Willpower) 
• Welterweight (69kg elite novice)- Damian Deodath (Fighters Club) v Nicholas Potts (YANS)
• Welterweight (69kg elite novice)- Darin Sinaswee (Ultimate Gym) v Wayne Amann(Tobago Dark Warriors) 
• Welterweight (69kg elite open)- Joash Walkins (Rough House) v Dwayne Vieira (Black Hawks) 
• Welterweight (69kg elite open) - Lavel Nurse (THA Nurse) v Declan Calliste (Cosmic)
• Welterweight (69kg elite open)- Keslon Raymond (Magic) v Jeromey George (YTC) 
• Heavyweight (81kg elite novice)- Marinus Coutain (Fine Line) v Evans Jackson (Willpower)