The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

CHAMPION Amateur Boxing Club’s 17th Annual Ray Minus Sr Boxing Day Tournament began yesterday and concludes the following Saturday at Wulff Road Boxing Square.

The four-day event features some of the country’s rising stars in the ring.

“We are so excited because we have a lot of talented boxers. This is the time to win one of these coveted awards. The country needs to know the names of these boxers that will lay the foundation of our future in the sport, names like Donovan Taylor, Don Rolle and Javano Collins among others,” CABC director Ray Minus Jr said.

“But the boxers in the primary division are also ones to watch. The level of competition in that division is exciting because there are so many of them and they have that desire to want to be great and for us we get to see a great boxer rise from the beginning in the system to reach the senior level.”

Boxers will contest the Best Fight award, the Most Improved Boxer award, the Most Outstanding Boxer award and the floating trophy which is named in honor of Ray Minus Sr.

“We are hoping to, for this tournament, try and put on about 50 matches. That will mean we will have to hold anywhere between 10 to 15 fights per night. We are expecting some clubs in town from Inagua, Abaco and Freeport and there are a lot of match-ups that we are looking forward to. We will feel very good if we are able to get this done,” Minus Jr said.

“What we are doing as a club is to strategise with the development programme, while the amateurs shift toward the international tournament style of boxing. If you go to a tournament for a week, you’re likely to have three to four fights in that week. You might have to fight back-to-back. We feel if we can groom enough people and put them in tournament style fights, they will excel when they have to fight in these types of tournaments. This is a valuable experience, and they need this development so they can know how to deal with that type of pressure and competition.”