After successful Goodwill Boxing Tournaments hosted by Guyana in February and St. Lucia last weekend, president of the St. Lucian Boxing Association, David ‘Shakes’ Christopher has called on all the Caribbean nations to unite in order to return to the glory days of the fistic sport.
“This is a good step and I really want to call on the other Caribbean countries to rally around this initiative in coming together to unify ourselves and strengthen boxing in the Caribbean,” Christopher told Stabroek Sport in the interview recently.
Christopher also gave his views on a wide array of topics.
Uniting Talent
“We have a lot of talented boxers in the Caribbean from Jamaica to down to Guyana and we want to see places like St. Vincent, Grenada and Barbados getting back in the realm,” Christopher mentioned.
“We are here, Trinidad and Tobago is onboard, and we want to see St. Kitts, Montserrat, Anguilla, all these territories getting back in the realm. We don’t have CABA (Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association) anymore but we can have Goodwill Games where we can bring all the Caribbean countries together, uniting in a force so when we go out even if its Guyana, St. Lucia or Trinidad wins a gold it will be the Caribbean winning a gold because we will be coming up against the world with countries with more finance. They have more preparation as well as avenues where they can really excel.”
Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and St. Lucia were the territories that competed in Guyana’s tournament while boxers from Guyana, St. Lucia and Martinique matched gloves over the weekend.
Barbados, Guadeloupe and Grenada pulled out at the 11th hour.
Lack of tournaments in the Caribbean
“We are not getting anything happening for us in the Caribbean,” Shakes said. “So when we go to compete we are against the odds and we are rusty so to speak so what Guyana and St. Lucia did was to give our boxers some ring time so we can sharpen our skills.
“The past couple of years our boxers have been going to countries like Azerbaijan, Chile, Ecuador and other places to qualify under AMBC (American Boxing Confederation) because we in the Americas are under AMBC and AMBC is more Spanish speaking and most of the competitions are held in these Spanish speaking territories.
“When AIBA calls us up for qualifiers for the Olympics and other big Games we are coming up against territories that are well prepared so this is a good step in the right direction and I want to call on all the presidents of the Caribbean to unite and rally around what is going on right now”.
Guyana taking on the mantle
“A heartfelt congratulation to the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) and its president, Steve Ninvalle in taking on the mantle for really bringing the Caribbean together.
“We did not get most of the Caribbean countries to really attend our tournaments as CABA and the disbandment of CABA really left the Caribbean like the West Indies test team, scratching.
However, the next time I want to see more countries coming around and I want the media to send this message”.
Shakes also had some words for the inactive presidents of amateur boxing associations in the Caribbean.
“I am calling on those presidents who don’t have time for boxing and just holding on to the post and not doing what they are supposed to do. I think they should leave the post and allow some fresh blood and people who have passion and enthusiasm to replace them because we want to see more Youth Championships because back in the days the Caribbean was a tower of strength in boxing but right now we are under the radar”.
Over the weekend, all three of Guyana’s boxers won medals, Ron Smith (69kg) and Delon Charles (56kg) were atop the podium while Bert Braithwaite (64kg) snared a silver. (Emmerson Campbell)
