The Rose Hall Town Jammers (RHTJ) won the Best Gym title when the final bell rang for the first edition of the 2024 Pepsi/Mike Parris U16 School Boys and Girls Boxing Championships.
The competition kicked off on Saturday at the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis gym in Albouystown, with RHTJ emerging as the overall winner while Pace and Power finished second in the five-team tournament. Gregory ‘Chassis’ Cort of RHTJ walked away with the Best Coach title owing to the dominance of his charges in the ring.
Youngster Ken Harvey of Pace and Power copped the Best Boxer accolade, while the Best Referee/Judge Award was given to Arthur Scipio.
Bayley Boxing Gym, Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis, and the Forgotten Youth Foundation were the other gyms taking part. Some ten fights were on the cards for this edition of the monthly competition.
In a release to the media, GBA boss Steve Ninvalle pointed out, “Our U-16 championship, which is the backbone of Guyana’s dominance within the English-speaking Caribbean, will continue in its current format of at least one monthly iteration. Moreover, the resuscitation of other gyms will add to the flavour and competitive nature of the event, as seven gyms are expected to participate in the next iteration.”
“Youth programmes are the bedrock of the association’s developmental agenda and will always encompass the overall objective and architecture of the entity, which is to create a sustainable ecosystem for the discipline’s continued growth. This age group is unquestionably the most important, as it serves as the bridge and conduit between the amateur and professional strata. The importance of this platform cannot be quantified,” Ninvalle stated. In 2023, more than 18 presentations for the competition were conducted. This year, the GBA aims to surpass that number.
According to the GBA, the competition serves as “a high-performance structure to better equip pugilists for the rigours of international competition and is supervised and administered by the technical and experienced trainers of national coach Lennox Daniels, technical director Terrence Poole, and Cuban coach Francisco Roldan. The event also forms part of Guyana’s preparatory phase for the annual Caribbean School Boys and Junior Championship.”
