Respected boxing promoter Deschamps Jr passes

CARIBBEAN BOXING lost one of its most prominent and influential stalwarts recently when 68-year-old Jacques ‘Jacky’ Deschamps Jr, who has always had close ties to Jamaica, died of a heart attack at his home in Haiti on November 7, after returning from a trip to Canada.

Deschamps was the man who charted Nicholas ‘Axeman’ Walters’ path to the World Boxing Association featherweight title in 2012. He lived in Jamaica for awhile as a youngster, went to college in France, and then returned to Haiti, where he became a very successful businessman.

Boxing was his passion and he followed in the footsteps of his father, who lived, ran a very successful business and managed boxers in Jamaica.

The most prominent of the boxers mentored by Deschamps Sr was Bunny Grant, the former Commonwealth lightweight champion.

Deschamps Jr said some time ago that his first introduction to boxing was getting up early mornings to run with Grant, when his father drove him to Palisadoes to run as part of his fitness regime, and then being with him when he trained in the afternoons.

Apart from Walters, Deschamps Jr also worked with two other world champions, super-bantamweight Anselmo Morena from Panama and Mexican flyweight Edgar Sosa.

Other fighters of note with whom he was associated are former Commonwealth flyweight champion, Jamaica’s Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke, and Haitians Wilky Campfort, Evens Pierre and Melissa Saint-Vil.

SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN

Apart from his association with boxing as head of Boxe Internationale, Deschamps’ prominence and success as a businessman in Haiti included being president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries, honorary consul general of the Republic of Turkey in Haiti, a director of the World Federation of Consuls, and chairman of the board of directors of the Lucienne Deschamps Foundation.

At its annual convention in Cancun, Mexico, in 2019, the World Boxing Council (WBC) named Deschamps the ‘Best Promoter’ in the Caribbean and Central America.

Commenting on his passing a few days ago, the WBC said that world boxing has suffered a great loss. Jamaica Boxing Board President, Stephen ‘Bomber’ Jones, lamented his passing and said that “the boxing fraternity has lost a giant among men. Deschamps was not just a powerful force in the Caribbean, his influence stretched worldwide. I am forever grateful to him, because of the assistance he gave to me and to boxing in Jamaica”.

“When we staged the Nicholas Walters world title fight here in Jamaica, he helped to guide us through the process and opened the door for us with the World Boxing Association (WBA), with whom we still have a very strong working relationship,” Jones noted. “He thought big, and always wanted those around him to do likewise. I personally will miss him. On behalf of the Jamaican boxing fraternity, I offer condolences to his family.”

Clarke, who was managed by Deschamps when he fought for the WBC world flyweight title against Sot Chitalada here in Jamaica on September 7, 1990, said: “I am shocked to hear this news,” when contacted by The Gleaner.

He then continued: “I did not know this had happened, I can’t believe it.”

Clarke then went on to pay tribute to Deschamps, saying: “I owe him a lot. He always took good care of me. He helped me to fight for a world title and made me stay in Haiti with him at crucial times in my boxing career. Boxing has lost a great man. I am sure that a lot of people will be sad to hear that he has died, and so suddenly.”