The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RAY Minus Jr is looking forward to completing another year with the hosting of Champion Amateur Boxing Club’s 28th annual Kermit Ray Minus Sr Boxing Awards Presentation.

The event is scheduled for Saturday at Champion Boxing Club on Wulff Road opposite Whim Auto and Epic Battery and Minus Jr advised the public not to miss the show.

It starts at 7:30pm with tickets priced at $10 for adults and $2 for children.

“We want to get a lot of youngsters involved,” Minus Jr said. “It’s all about their discipline, the will to win, the desire, the drive, the determination and the achievement will come to bare.

“We know all of this will come about. So we want to put on a whole lot of fights that night. We will bring on the youngsters early and let them mix it up and slug it out all night.”

During the night, Minus Jr said they will take time out to honour three significant persons who have all made some valuable contributions to not only his career as a former British Commonwealth champion but also as a sponsor of Champion Boxing Club.

• Philip Smith from the d’Albenas Agency will be honoured as “amazing support to the sport of boxing,” Minus Jr said. “He has helped out to provide the financing to assist in bringing up a lot of boxers like Jermaine Mackey and Meacher Major.”

• Cedric Mullings, the father-in-law of Minus Jr, has been so good that Minus Jr said he wondered if at times “he liked me more than he liked his daughter, Michelle.

“He helped me. He was there for me and he’s still there for me. I’m on his property training boxers right now. So I’m so thankful to him for allowing me to continue keeping boxing alive.”

• Charles Thompson, known for his support in hosting so many matches at the Poinciana Arena, was helpful in “me becoming the British Commonwealth boxing champion,” Minus Jr said.

“He put on perhaps, as a promoter from the 1970s up until the late ‘90s, Charles Thompson has been promoting professional boxing along with Kevin Smith. They had a good team. But Mr Thompson was the main promoter at that time. He has done for so many fighters, including Elisha Obed, and all those up and coming fighters who became Bahamian champions and Ray Minus Jr becoming the British Commonwealth champion.”

Minus Jr, 55, was known as the greatest Bahamian bantamweight/featherweight fighter, having won the Bahamas lightweight title, Bahamas light welterweight title, World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental Americas bantamweight title, World Boxing Association (WBA) Inter-Continental super bantamweight title, and Commonwealth bantamweight titles.

Following an extensive career that started in 1982 and saw him produce an impressive 37-9-1 win-loss-draw record, Minus Jr retired in 2001 and he went on to form the Champion Boxing Club that has produced a number of local champions who have also competed on the international scene.

The show is being named after his father, Kermit Ray Minus Sr, for his contribution as a former Bahamian professional boxing champion who helped to coach him to his many victories during his career.

Minus Sr also had two other sons who competed - Renaldo and Kenny Minus - both Bahamian champions as a heavyweight and middleweight respectively.