Boxing Board to open new gym in Montego Bay today

The City of Montego Bay has been without a boxing gym for decades. This is about to end, however, because, this morning, a new gym will be opened by the Jamaica Boxing Board at Jarrett Park, home of the Montego Bay Cricket Club. The official opening of the gym will take place at 10 o’clock, and then at 7 p.m. there will be a seven-bout boxing card featuring amateur boxers from Jamaica and Panama. Representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Jamaica Olympic Association, sponsors, the Lasco Chin Foundation, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, the Sports Development Foundation, Alacran Foundation and several private sector organisations will be present to participate in the opening.

‘Gloves over Guns’

Stephen ‘Bomber’ Jones, president of the Jamaica Boxing Board, told The Gleaner yesterday, that this is part of the Boxing Board’s ‘Gloves over Guns’ programme, which is designed to bring more youngsters, especially from inner-city areas, to the sport, and to help them to bypass the lure of the gun. “It is a positive programme, designed to help our young people to make the right choices, and we are pleased, so far, with the successes that we have achieved,” he said.

The boxing programme is designed to showcase local boxing talent, and give much-needed competition to some of the boxers who will be going to Buenos Aires, Argentina, next month, to participate in the qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games, which take place in Tokyo, Japan, in July.

Among the boxers participating tonight are Olympic hopefuls, lightweight Trevor Thonson and featherweight Sanji Williams, as well as senior boxers, middleweight Janathan Hanson and lightweight Damion Williams.

Admission to the event is free, and this, the Boxing Board said, is to entice the people of Montego Bay to come out to support and participate in the effort.