MILAN, Italy, CMC – History-making Bahamian boxer Valentine Knowles was ousted in the second-round of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) World Championships Saturday but declared himself satisfied with his effort here.
By defeating Kenya’s Joseph Njogu on Thursday, Knowles had become the first Bahamian ever to win a bout at the AIBA World Championship but he found Serbia’s Ljubomir Marjanovic too much in the second round and lost on points.
“It was quite a good a experience. I feel good about it even though I lost,” said Knowles, a former Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) champion.
Knowles was one of five CARICOM boxers to lose on Saturday at the Mediolanum Forum Complex.
Knowles, 21, started positively and was competitive in the first round which he lost 3-5.
Marjanovic stepped up a gear in the second round for a 7-2 scoreline and also won the third round 6-1.
There were no scores registered in the last round and the Serbian ran out an 18-6 winner.
Dominica’s Henry Lawrence picked up a bye in the preliminary seedings that put him head-to-head with English 19 year-old Scott Cardle in his opening bout.
Cardle was far superior in the light welterweight contest and won 30-0 over Lawrence.
Dominican Lennon Bannis, Jamaican Orian Campbell and Aubrey Moore, of Guyana, also suffered losses.
In light heavyweight bouts, the Dominican Republic’s Gilberto Castillo beat Lennon Bannis 10-0 and Ghana’s Maxwell Amponsah got past Jamaican Campbell Orian on a third-round stoppage.
Moore went down to the Dutch boxer Husnu Kocebas 1-16 in the lightweight division.
Earlier in the week, other Caribbean boxers Imrod Bartholomew, of Grenada, Dominica’s Albert Blaize, and Bahamian Carl Heild all suffered first-round defeats.
