Defending champions the Guyana Defence Force will look to make a successful defence of the Guyana Boxing Association’s (GBA) 2023 edition of the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis National Novices Championships.
According to the GBA, the championships will kick off Friday at the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue and end on October 1.
Apart from the defending champions, the Guyana Police Force, the Forgotten Youth Foundation, the Pace and Power, Rose Hall, Vergenoegen and the Republican boxing gyms will all compete to see which gym has the best nursery. The action will commence on a daily basis at 18:00 hrs while the medical assessment and weight-in will occur tomorrow at the National Gymnasium from 16:00 hrs. GBA President Steve Ninvalle, in an invited comment, said that the National Novices Championships was where the sport’s developmental journey began.
Named after Guyana’s notable world champion, Andrew `Sixhead’ Lewis, Guyana’s first World Champion, who died tragically in May of 2015, Ninvalle said that the tournament has evolved into a national scouting combine for the association and acts as a conduit and bridge in the structured and methodical process of the GBA.
“Each tournament hosted under the umbrella of the GBA is underpinned by its own unique objectives, and the National Novices Championship is an exhibition of the nation’s potential for the future, which continues to indicate a positive consequence given Guyana’s empirical dominance of the region. The GBA continues to emphasize the importance of such competitions, events that have an enduring importance in the overall framework for the sport. As such, its impact and value cannot be questioned, much less understated, given the influence and impetus it has provided to the sport’s fraternity,” the GBA boss added.
Meanwhile, Terrence Poole, the Technical Director of the GBA, said, “This tournament is very important to the growth of the sport; it’s the beginning stage, where we identify the talents and abilities of the fighters and the potential they have to move forward in the sport.” This is where we earmark talent for the future. We are expecting a large turnout for the tournament from the various gyms. Everyone comes with the intention to win, so I expect a very competitive event.” The championship, which is staged in honour of the former world champion, who unfortunately died on May 4th, 2015, in a vehicular accident, birthed the journey of numerous of the nation’s leading premier amateur pugilists.
