The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ON Saturday, Meacher ‘Pain’ Major officially hung up his boxing gloves after he stopped Jamaican Martin Anderson in the third round of his “Last Dance” at the CI Gibson Gymnasium.

Major said he wanted to conclude his 18-year professional boxing career where he got it started and he did it in grand style before a large crowd of spectators.

He leaves with no regrets, a 24-6-1 win-loss-record with 19 knockouts, one day before he celebrated his 37th birthday. Along the way, he held the Bahamas and the WBA-NABA lightweight titles.

In his departing statement after the fight, Major uttered the following words to the press:

“There were a lot of bittersweet highs and lows. I don’t try to overlook the situations I had to go through. It would only keep me down and I don’t want to hate anyone,” he said.

“I’m just happy with the things I was able to accomplish. I was happy I was able to sustain a long successful career without getting hurt, without looking punch drunk or being used and abused within the boxing game.”

What a way to make your exit, he even plans on continuing to work with the sport, developing more fighters to follow in his footsteps, whether here or in Buffalo, New York where he resides.

Thanks once again Major for all of the thrilling performances.

Next year, the Bahamas will prepare for the retirement of veteran track star Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, who will complete 20 years as one of the premier quarter-milers in the world.

The Eleuthera native will turn 41 next October, but whether or not he will go out in style like Major, he would have provided a lot of memories for us to cherish.

His résumé has been an impressive one, having won individual medals at every major international meet, except the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games.

But to his credit, Brown has been instrumental in helping the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay team ascend the podium with one of the three different colours at those global competitions.

And as he prepares for his final season, Brown has ventured into a new realm, having been appointed as an assistant coach at Clayton State in Morrow, Georgia.

His final year will come with the aspirations of competing once again at the IAAF World Championships that will be staged in Doha, Qatar, September 28 to October 6.

Obviously, he’s seeking another lane in the men’s 400m, but ultimately he wants one more showdown on the men’s 4 x 400m relay team.

We want to wish him well in his joint endeavours, although it’s a tall order trying to juggle the two against competitors whose focus is primarily on training and competing. The good thing is Brown has been around long enough to deal with the challenges ahead of him. He’s the consummate competitor and student of the sport, who has risen to the occasion time and time again.

As a tribute to his longevity and his accomplishments, it would be good if the Bahamas Government can back him again in producing the third Chris Brown Invitational next year.

Considering that the government has pulled out of hosting the IAAF World Relays, funding could and should now be channelled to the return of the Chris Brown Invitational.

After so many promises were made since the first two were staged in 2013 and 2016, it would be great to see it on the international calendar.

The IAAF has released the schedule of its 10th edition of the Diamond League with 12 meetings starting in Doha on May 3 and ending in Paris, France on August 24 before the twin finals take place in a week span in Zurich, Switzerland on August 29 and Brussels, Belgium on September 6.

The closest meet in this region during the schedule is in Eugene, Oregon on June 30.

In the region, the one noted event is the Jamaica International Invitational, which is a IAAF World Challenge Meet, set for May 4. The event is scheduled just before the World Relays heads to its new home in Yokohama, Japan, May 11-12.

So the Chris Brown Invitational could provide the right recipe for those athletes who would not get a chance to travel on the other side of the world and would like to compete closer to home.

At the same token, we could really show our appreciation to Brown in front of his rivals and counterparts, who speak so highly of him as a competitor of the highest order.

Let’s not close this chapter in our history books without giving him a grand send-off as we fill the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium one more time for another Bahamian legend.