The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RAY Minus Jr and his Champion Amateur Boxing Club, the country’s most successful sporting franchise, has been forced to move from a location that has been its hallmark over the past two decades.

Founder and head coach Ray Minus Jr, who celebrated his 56th birthday on July 3, has relocated to the National Boxing Centre at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex with the view of eventually opening up a smaller gymnasium at his home on Wulff Road near It’s A Small World Pre-School where he actually got his amateur programme started.

Michelle Munnings-Minus, former wife of Champion Club founder Ray Minus Jr, said it was inevitable that the facilities be dismantled as there is a need for more space to do some expansion on the property on Wulff Road opposite Whim Auto.

“Ray Minus was only supposed to be there temporarily, not permanently,” Munnings-Minus said. “We’re doing construction with upgrades to the building, so we needed the space.”

After he completed an impressive sting as one of the Commonwealth’s greatest bantamweight/lightweight fighters, Minus Jr retired from competitive boxing in 2001 and launched his Champion Boxing Club at his home off Wulff Road in 1995.

Five years later after making the transition to his last location on Wulff Road, Minus Jr and Munnings-Minus started First Class Promotions, which gave birth to a number of outstanding professional boxers as they branched out of Champion Boxing Club as amateurs. “I spent more than 20 years there and it’s been very exciting,” Minus Jr said. “I still have a super talented boxer, Lennox Boyce, who I will continue to groom to be the next great amateur boxer to come out of this country.”

On not being able to utilise the facilities on Wulff Road anymore, Minus Jr said he misses it already.

“We had some great moments there. A lot of parents brought their kids there and we were able to work with them,” he said.

“A lot of parents saw the progress that their children were making. I know a lot of them are probably upset about what is going on, but we will rebuild at another location.”

Munnings-Minus, the promoter for First Class Promotions, said while it was a business decision to close the facilities to Champion Boxing Club about two months ago, Minus Jr has relocated to the National Boxing Gymnasium where he, along with Stevie ‘the Heat’ Larimore, are consultants for the sport in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture. During a visit at the facility, the green tarp is still around the fence with a few posters that promoted the monthly shows that Minus Jr staged for his amateur programme.

On the inside are the rumbles of what was once a site, not just for countless amateur and professional boxers, but also those who later came around for fitness classes conducted by Minus Jr. and Sensei Gregory Storr.

Before being dismantled, Minus Jr was joined by Ronn Rodgers, who moved his Strikers Boxing Club into the facility last year.

“I was with Ray when the facility was off Wulff Road near It’s A Small World,” said Rodgers, a cousin of Munnings-Minus. “When he moved to Wulff Road opposite Whims, I was there with him too. He was doing pretty good there for quite a while.”

Since then, Rodgers opened his own club, which was staged at various sites until he reunited with Minus Jr last year because of an opportunity to open and operate a ring in Tampa, Florida in April, but when the coronavirus pandemic took shape in March, everything was put on the back burner.

“I closed my gym to help him build his amateur programme because I gym I was going to start in Tampa would have had an amateur programme so we could connect with each other,” he said.

“The offer is still on the table, but for now I will continue to operate my gym at another location. Its not in the area what I really want in the southside of the island, but it will do for now. It’s just a big loss not having Champion Boxing Club on Wulff Road.”

Munnings-Minus, who still operates First Class Promotions out of Mirvena Beach, said it’s disappointing to see the operation dismantled at the site.

“Champion Boxing Club was the feeder system for First Class Promotions,” Munnings-Minus said. “Champion Boxing and First Class has been the leader in boxing for the last two decades where they have been able to represent the country at a number of international events.

“I feel honored that I was able to give back to the country because we were able to take a lot of the guys off the street and made champions out of some of them, but also provided an alternative to crime for a lot more of them.”

Last month, First Class Promotions celebrated its 20th year of existence and Munnings-Minus said if they had been given the respect and support from both the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Bahamas Boxing Commission, they would have still been in the promotional game.

“Without us in the game, nothing much happened for boxing,” she lamented. “I don’t want to brag about it because there were other promoters who came along after us, but we put in a lot of work to produce the largest stable of amateur and professional boxers in the country.”

Over the years, Munnings-Minus said they were able to produce a number of boxers like Valentino Knowles and Carl Hield in the amateur ranks and Meacher ‘Pain’ Major, Jermaine ‘Choo Choo’ Mackey, Elkana Saunders, Jerry ‘Big Daddy’ Butler, Alpachino Allen, Damien Thinker, Taureano ‘Reno’ Johnson, Ryan ‘Big Youth’ McKenzie, Wilson Theophile, Shimon Bain, Drexell McIntosh.

“Anything to help someone to turn their lives around, we were glad that we were able to do it,” said Munnings-Minus, who thanked her father, Cedric Munnings for granting them permission to use the facility for their programme over the years.

“There is no regret in doing it. I’m just glad that Champion Boxing Club and First Class could have made such a contribution to the sport for the past 20 years.”

Minus Jr said he want to provide an alternative for boxers to train when the facilities at the National Gym is closed for them to stay active, so he’s looking at opening a smaller facility at his home.

“I love boxing so much. I’m like the great Sugar Kid Bowe, who said ‘I like boxing more than I like woman,’” Minus Jr said. “We definitely want to help any boxer who is interested in the sport. We want to make sure that they are properly prepared and at their best.”

Mackey, who started training with Minus when he was near his home next to It’s A Small World and went on to become the Bahamas and Commonwealth super middleweight champion, said he’s reached out to his former coach and mentor to assist him in relocating his gym there.

“I was shocked to find out that the Champion Boxing Club was closed down. I spoke with Ray’s daughter, Rayshell, and she told me about him wanting to relocate to his house. I told her that I think it’s a great idea and I would go by to talk to him,” he said.

“He told me what he was thinking and I helped to critique the idea to fit the location. However, it’s been challenging at this time because of the lack of financial support and funding. He lost everything, including all the boxing bags and gloves. The only thing he was able to salvage was the ring.”

Mackey, who formed his own CCM Fitness Club around 2011, said it a tragedy that Minus has to relocate from the site where he’s been operating from for so long, but life goes on.

“For whatever reason he had to relocate, I just want to be able to assist him because he’s been there for me when I was training and competing. I’m going to be helping him with the young boys when he get the gym up and running,” said Mackey, now competing in the Bahamas Triathlon Association as a competitor in a bid to stay competitive as an athlete after he retired in 2016.