Wray and Nephew ‘Fight Nights’ punching above its weight
Published:Tuesday | August 15, 2023 | 12:08 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA), Stephen Jones, believes the Wray and Nephew-sponsored Fight Nights series, which had its second staging at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Saturday night, is a solid platform for local fighters and augurs well for the future of the sport in Jamaica.
“Jamaica could be a platform for boxers to use and create a career whether at the amateur or professional level and the first two outings that we’ve had has shown that. ‘Breezy’ (Jermaine Richards), for example, has, in the space of two weeks, moved from a 2-0 to a 4-0 record, so it is very encouraging for us to see that,” he shared.
Richards, competing in the night’s feature bout, was among the local fighters to register a victory as he defeated Omar ‘Crane’ Headman, with the referee stopping the bout with 1:32 minutes left in the fourth round. In the second professional fight on the night Kevin Hylton and USA-based boxer Christopher Rodriquez had to settle for a draw.
Hylton was pleased with his performance as he got a late call for the fight.
“To be honest, I’m proud of myself because the fight was sudden, and I took it at short notice. It was a good fight, but if I had stuck with the coach’s plan, I would have defeated him,” said Hylton, who added that he did not put in enough training before the fight and his legs were tired.
In the amateur section, Shevon Gordon, Kevin Brown, and D’mitri Moore scored victories on points over Everton Levy, Kimani Samuels, and Daniel-Elijah Hilton, respectively, while the hard-hitting Jerone Ennis manhandled Malcolm Peck, resulting in the referee stopping the contest in the third round.
President Jones believes that with boxing being a popular sport in Jamaica, organisers were confident that the series would have been a massive hit from the start.
“It’s about going into the communities and bringing people together, and boxing does that. It has always been a popular sport so we knew that the people would come out and it will grow in popularity,” Jones stated.
Among the plans to grow Fight Nights is the addition of female bouts on the cards. President Jones believes this could further enhance the status of the series.
“Female boxing is one of the fastest growing areas of the sport worldwide at the amateur level. Boxing for male and female is what we’re pushing, and the females that are available will definitely get the opportunity to go on the card,” Jones said.