Amateur boxing takes center stage!

Fri, Oct 21st 2011, 11:15 AM

After more than two decades of coaching and molding the lives of young Bahamians, Ray Minus Jr. is still going strong. The former Bahamian Lightweight Champion, through his Champion Amateur Boxing Club (CABC), is staging the final week of the 18th Annual L. Garth Wright Sr. Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament, this Saturday at the L.W. Young Junior High School.

 The event will get underway at 4:00 p.m., and about 20 matches are expected to occur, featuring young fighters from CABC, the Carmichael Knockout Boxing Club (CKBC), Stevie 'The Heat' Larrimore's Lion Heart Boxing Club, and the Genesis Boxing Academy out of Freeport, Grand Bahama. The main event will feature another showdown between Lester Brown and Devante McPhee. The two-week event got underway last week, and will climax this week Saturday.

"The first show last week was extremely exciting and I'm expecting it to finish off with a bang," said Minus Jr. "We saw a number of boys make their debuts and make impressive showings last week. All of the boxers really gave their best performances and there turned out to be some outstanding matches. The crowd was enthused and it was one of those situations, where as a fan, you would have been sorry if you missed it. It was simply amazing. This week promises to be just as exciting," he added.

After years of being staged at the boxing center at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex and the Wulff Road Boxing Square, organizers are trying a different venue this year, in the L.W. Young Junior High School.

"We're very excited with this new venue," said Minus Jr. "It's indoor and the set-up is very accommodating. There is actually an after-school program ongoing at L.W. Young so that is being used as a feeder system. A lot of young boys from that school will be taking part in the competition. Another thing is that a lot of other boxers from other schools are coming out as well."

With this being the final week of the tournament, Minus Jr. said that he expects the boxers to lay it all out on the line, going after the top prizes up for grabs.
"Some of the guys will probably end up fighting like about two to three times," said Minus Jr. "There are a number of clubs taking part in the show so it should be very exciting. Overall, this L. Garth Wright tournament has been very good for boxing in this country.

A number of quality boxers in this country fought in the L. Garth Wright tournament over the years such as Jermaine 'Choo Choo' Mackey, Meacher 'Major Pain' Major, Taureano Johnson, Valentino Knowles, Carl Hield, Jerry Butler and Elkino Saunders just to name a few. They all gained experience from this tournament which is like the heart and soul of boxing in this country," he added.

Minus Jr. said that he enjoys the coaching aspect of the sport and will continue lending his services for as long as he is physically able to do so. "I have great passion for boxing. Like 'Sugar' Kid Bowe always says, 'I like boxing more than I like women,' and I'm saying the same thing," said Minus Jr. "Working with kids is amazing. When you can see a kid start in the program and then mature to be a champion, that is the gratification of coaching and molding these young boys.

That's what keeps me going. You cannot pay me for that - that is something that I enjoy doing and something that I will continue to do. This is not a job for me - this is life, the way I want to live," he added.

As for the main event, McPhee lost in both of his encounters with Brown, but according to Minus Jr., both matches were close, and McPhee has improved significantly since.

"Devante lost two matches to Lester but he has defeated a boxer who beat Lester a couple of months ago in Inagua, and now he wants a re-match. Both of the matches with Lester and Devante were very close so we expect this third match to be very exciting. Devante appears to be better prepared this time around so it should be very interesting," said Minus Jr.

Last year's CABC Boxer of the Year Brown is one of the top up-and-coming amateur fighters in the country. He won over 15 fights last year.

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