The dream is still alive for two of three Bahamian boxers fighting for a chance to compete in the 16th Pan American Games, which is scheduled for October in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Both Carl Hield and Valentino Knowles stepped into the ring late yesterday evening.
A win over their opponents would land them into the semifinals of the American Boxing Confederation Championships third and final qualifiers, taking place in Panama. Knowles boxed his way into the semifinal rounds, winning 7-4 yesterday. Hield's results were not available up to press time. The third boxer representing The Bahamas was Godfrey Strachan, who fell on Sunday to the hands of Enrique Collazo of Puerto Rico. Strachan fought in the 75 kilograms division.

Moving through the draw, in the welterweight class (69 kilo), was Hield. His Monday night win was over Lesvy Maure of Panama, 14-4. Knowles emerged victorious on Sunday with a 17-12 win. He eliminated Daniel Munoz of Chile. That fight took place in the junior welterweight class (64 kilo).

President of the Amateur Boxing Association of The Bahamas, Wellington Miller is confident that the two boxers will move through the rounds and qualify for the October games. He said: "They are dominating over there. When you can win your fight by 10 points in three rounds that says a lot. That is very dominating on all levels and prove that Carl Hield is ready and his chances are great.

"Then we had Valentino who won his fight by seven points that was an excellent showing. The results and the determination by both boxers has me very excited. I am looking forward to them qualifying. They are right there and will only need to win the next two fights to do so. So we have a great chance. I am excited about it all.

"I think they can do it. I am going to remain optimistic. These are the last qualifiers so the boxers know exactly what they need to do. They went down there with that one goal in mind, that was to qualify. As for Godfrey, I heard he did very well in his match. This is the first real taste of the competition level, so next time around I know he will be ready."

Both Knowles and Hield have competed in the earlier rounds of the qualifiers but were unsuccessful. In fact, no boxer from the English-speaking Caribbean has qualified as yet. The opening two rounds of qualifications were held in Cumana, Venezuela in March, and Quito, Ecuador in May. A total of 98 males and 21 female boxers from 25 nations were confirmed for the Panama qualifiers, which got on the way this past weekend.

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