The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Republican Boxing gyms dominated the GABA National Novices Boxing Championships that concluded on Sunday night at the National Gymnasium.
The two gyms finished atop the points table with eight points apiece. However, Republican boxer Nandkumar Singh claimed the bragging rights when he copped the Best Boxer title. Singh fought against GDF’s Quincy Gomes in the lightweight division and proved there was nothing light about his punches.
The fight lasted a mere 2:37 into the first round.
Led by former coach of Andrew “Six Head” Lewis, ‘Kanchie’ Opriecht, the Republicans took part in four of the night’s 10 fights and Opriecht proved that he could still train champions when all of his fighters recorded victories, including two victories against the GDF.
Danishwar Narine, of Republican forced his opponent Richard Subratter of Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF) Gym to retire in the third round in a junior flyweight matchup. Benjamin Henry from the Port Kaituma Gym, who had beaten Carlton on Saturday night, blazed Harpy Eagles, Keeve Allicock, 3-0 in the bantamweight division.
GDF’s welterweight Rock Watson lived up to his name as he rocked GDF’s Patrick Gordon with punches and won the fight with a 3-0 score line. In the middleweight division, Eon Bancroft of GDF made a few key mistakes but he redeemed himself by winning the match 2-1.
FYF’s featherweight Michael Jordan (FYF) and Republican’s junior welterweight Denroy Nero, and heavyweight Drelon Munroe punched their way to technical knockout wins over Robert Sandy (FYF), Brian Manning (FYF) and Samuel Primo (GDF) respectively.
Sandy saw the fight to round three but he often ran into a lot of steam and the third man in the ring correctly brought the contest to an end at 1:11. Denroy’s stopped Manning 1:58 into round two.
Munroe proved that last was most definitely not least as GDF’s Samuel Primo found it hard to stand up against Munroe’s heavy punches. In the feature event of the night, Munroe left his fans wanting more when the referee stopped the bout 2:53 into the first frame.
At the awards ceremony, Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony commended the GABA for their dedication to the young boxers. He noted that boxing open can open doors for a lot of forgotten youngsters.
He was especially proud of the work that the GABA will be doing which will include an Inter-Caribbean competition that the Association is likely to host.
“This is a very comprehensive programme and I wll like to thank them (the GABA) for their work,” Anthony said.
“I am pleased with the [number] of boxers who took part in the tournament, I know that the GABA has been doing a lot of work,” he added.
The FYF Boxing Gym was also commended for its performance, since it finished on seven points.
