The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — Super heavyweight Keishno Major represented the last hope for the Bahamas to earn a medal in boxing at the 20th Commonwealth Games.

Awarded a bye in the round of 6, Major found himself in a match in the quarter-final against a much taller and polished Joseph Goodall from Australia. When the three rounds were done, Major was on the end of an unanimous decision at the SECC Hall as Goodall moved onto the medal round.

“It was a glorious fight and I say glorious because I had a worthy opponent,” Major said. “I guess I have to go back to the gym and work on a different strategy because it seems like I’m getting taller fighters and they are counter-punching me a lot. I have to get back in the gym and work on a new style so that I can get on the inside and be able to fight on the inside.”

Major, 29, fell behind in the first two rounds as Goodall took the fight to him, using his left jab effectively to move on the inside and countering with his right to Major’s head. In the third and final round, Major regrouped and managed to get inside as he went to Goodall’s body. That forced Goodall to change his tactic as he went to the body as well and then to Major’s head.

Near the end of the round, Major kept holding up one hand and beating on his chest, urging Goodall to “bring it on.” When Goodall came in, Major was able to put up a flurry that pinned the Aussie on the ropes for a brief moment. It was short lived as Goodall worked his way back in the middle of the ring to maintain his advantage for the victory.

“They didn’t have any knockout punches so he didn’t hurt me,” Major said. “I was giving him the body shots because I saw he didn’t have any power. But he was a counter-puncher and I’m a counter-puncher so it was hard for me to get inside of him without him counter-punching me. I landed a few shots, but it wasn’t enough. I just have to go back in the gym and work harder.”

Head coach Andre Seymour said he was highly disappointed in Major’s performance.

“I believe he should have done more,” Seymour said. “I think he should have put together more combinations. Every round, he should have been more active. He was waiting too long. He could have thrown more combinations.”

Bringing the Bahamas’ appearance in boxing to an end, head coach Andre Seymour said he was quite disappointed in all of the other four boxers as well.

“I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed. I really expected us to go home with one or two medals,” said Seymour after watching the Bahamas earn two during the last games in New Delhi, India, in 2010. “So I’m disappointed, but I know things happen.”

For their overall effort, Seymour said he will give them a “D” grade.

His assistant coach and cousin, Floyd ‘Pretty Boy’ Seymour, was a little more diplomatic.

“I will give it a C plus,” he said. “We have a young team and these guys from Australia and New Zealand, we saw these guys four years ago in India and they had a lot of experience. The guy that Carl fought just came from the Olympics. But we will go to the drawing board and we will be back. I know head coach Andre Seymour wanted more, but what I saw was a very inexperienced team. It’s not our fault.

“All we have to do is keep coming to tournaments like this because we have two more years before the Olympics. We have the Pan Am and the CAC, but Keishno will meet this guy again and when he does meet him again, he will be that much more prepared and ready.”

For the rest of the team, they all felt they gave it their best shot.

“It was an excellent experience. I was satisfied with it. Everything was good,” said Rashield Williams, who got stopped in a third round TKO loss in the light welterweight division. “I was satisfied with my performance. I still believe that the referee should not have stopped the fight because I didn’t deserve all the (three knock downs) that I got.”

Godfrey Strachan who, like Major, was beaten by a much taller opponent from Trinidad and Tobago in the middleweight division in an unanimous decision as well, said he was pleased with his debut at the games.

“This was the biggest competition that I ever had in my life,” he said. “I’m willing to do it again, but I want to leave and turn pro after the 2016 Olympics. The CAC Games is coming up and I’m looking to doing better than I did here.”

And Carl Hield was the only boxer to win a match, stopping his opponent in the first round before he lost an unanimous decision in his second bout in the welterweight division.

“I want to give God thanks for giving me another opportunity to come to the Commonwealth Games to try to redeem myself,” said Hield, who was hoping to improve on his bronze medal from India four years ago. “I won my first fight by a knockout and I lost my second fight by a decision, so for me, I’m just going to continue my dream to go to the Olympics and get a medal for the Bahamas.”

Major, Strachan and Hield have qualified for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico in November, so it’s back to the drawing board as they prepare to continue their quest in qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.