The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Amron Sands had a spectacular showing in 2018, going undefeated in all five fights as a professional heavyweight boxer based out of Orlando, Florida.

The performances of the 24-year-old, 6-foot, 6-inch contender enabled him to get a nomination for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s Future Star award at SuperClubs Breezes this past Saturday night.

However, he suffered his first loss in his two-year career as he got knocked out by Deandre Ayton, the first round draft pick by the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association.

Despite the loss, which won’t appear on his résumé, leaving him with a 7-0 record, Sands said he was extremely pleased with his achievement this year.

“I had a very busy year,” said Sands, who was home for the awards ceremony. “I turned down a lot of fights. They just called me for a fight for CBS for December 22 in New York. I don’t know if we will take it.

“If I do, that would be my first real television fight, but that’s something we haven’t decided on because this year, we were just trying to get my feet wet in the sport. But we had a really busy year.”

So far the unblemished season has culminated with a TKO win over Francois Russell on October 5 at the Bryan Glazer Family ICC Auditorium in Tampa, Florida.

“I am ranked the second best heavyweight in the state of Florida,” said Sands, who had all but one of his four fights this year and six of his seven overall outside of the sunshine state.

The only fight that didn’t take place in Florida was on May 28 when Sands made his pro debut at home with an unanimous decision over Jerry ‘Big Daddy’ Butler.

It was on the undercard of the first show promoted by heavyweight Sherman ‘The Tank’ Williams in his hometown at the A Social Affair and Convention Centre in Grand Bahama.Whether or not he fights again this year, Williams already has a few fights lined up for 2019.

He’s scheduled to open up in Atlanta, Georgia on January 5 and February 1, according to his management team from Fight Night Promotions.

He’s training at the Orlando Boxing Academy where his coach is Jose Cruz.

“Next year it’s going to be just as busy, but they are looking for me to fight for the WBC Junior World title too,” he said. “So next year we hope to make the breakthrough on the world stage.”

Sands, who got started fighting as an amateur at coach Ronn Rodgers’ Strikers Boxing Club, was invited to train in Florida where he made his debut on August 5, 2017 with a TKO win over Julio Mendoza at the Lakeland Events Center in Lakeland, Florida.

“It was good. I am still training here with coach Rodgers at the Strikers Boxing Club,” Sands said. “But it’s been really good because I’ve been exposed to a lot of stuff and they are really pushing me out there to the American public.

“I’ve met a number of world champions like Keith Kerman, Riddick Bowe and (Evander) Holyfield and they know me by name, not just by my face. So it’s really good. I get to go to the (Floyd) Mayweather Gym, the Golden Boy Gym.”

By 2020, Sands said it’s projected that he will fight for a world title. It doesn’t matter, but he said the WBC could be the first shot. He hopes that he can also compete for the WBC title as well. “I played sports all my life, so I’m fast and my speed has really helped me with my agility,” said Sands, who doesn’t regret making the transition to boxing.

“But we do a lot of training, at least two times a day. Even now that I’m not fighting, we train twice a day because we know the end results,” he said.

Rodgers said Sands has been the most active and is the most productive fighter in the Bahamas right now.

“He’s had six fights in less than a year and he had his seventh one about a month ago,” Rodgers said. “He’s been getting a lot of calls for fights already in December, January and February.

“We actually got a call to fight in December on CBS, but we declined that fight to get him ready for next year. He’s doing pretty good. We just want to make sure that he’s in tip-top shape because we’re working on his speed.”

As a result of the lack of training partners here, Rodgers said they made the decision to send him to Florida to train and it worked out in his favour.

“He went from 230 to about 260 pounds and, because of that, he got a little slower and his confidence started to drop,” Rodgers said.

“So he wasn’t as fit as he used to be and after we brought him home, he started to develop his confidence and he’s been on a roll. We are very pleased with his development so far.”

With the progress he’s making right now, Rodgers said he doesn’t see why Sands won’t emerge as the next Bahamian world champion in a few years.