Fighting for local boxing

LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter

WILLIAM TAVARES-Finson, president of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC), is on a drive to revive the sport locally.

With Jamaican world champions of the past, such as Trevor Berbick and Michael McCallum and, more recently, Oneil Bell and Glen Johnson, the boxing boss would like to see Jamaicans regain their place among the world's elite boxers.

Over the last 20 years the sport has received several body blows due to the lack of funding, but Tavares-Finson said his administration has taken steps to resuscitate the sport before its 'count of 10' expires.

Amateur Boxing series

In January, the JBBC launched the Burger King Amateur Boxing series, a seven-card event which takes place across the island attracting rookie talent and giving seasoned warriors more opportunities to fight.

"What it has done is put back boxing at the front and centre of the Jamaican sport scene," said Tavares-Finson on Friday at his office on Belmont Road in St Andrew. "Prior to this, there were events happening but it was completely dead as they were inconsistent and hence weren't properly covered by the media," he said.

He said since the launch of the Burger King series, the Wisynco Group and the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) have come on board, as the series has sparked the interest of boxers islandwide.

The Burger King series, according to Tavares-Finson, is only one of the JBBC's initiatives set out for this year.

"We also want to rebuild the infrastructure," he added. "For example, at Stanley Couch we spent a bit of money refurbishing it. We helped the Jamaica Defence Force and G.C. Foster College with some sponge and canvassing for their ring, as we are trying to get the gyms back up to a decent level."

The next initiative, said the boxing boss, is hosting bouts for the local pros which, he said, would begin within the next five weeks.

On Friday, second vice-president of the JBBC, Kingsley Goodison, presented Joseph Harrison, manager of Heavy Metal Iron Club in Windsor Heights, St Ann, with several pairs of gloves and protective headgear. Tavares-Finson said there has been new interest at Harrison's Gym since hosting one of the series in St Ann last Saturday.

"He has 12-14 youngsters at his gym and that's going to grow," he said. "He had something going and it was low-key, but we had one of the series down there and all of the young guys see what's happening down there and got interested and pretty soon it's going to grow."

The sport suffered a setback in the early 1990s when Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) pulled its sponsorship. That company operated two of the top gyms in the island - the Guinness Gym and the Dragon Gym - but both slowly deteriorated when the company withdrew its funding.

Beginning of the decline

It marked the beginning of the decline of the sport. And boxing has yet to recover, with a handful of struggling gyms scattered across the island.

"It was one of the key elements that led to the trending down (of the sport)," said Tavares-Finson of the termination of D&G's sponsorship. "The board at the time wasn't able to replace those corporate sponsors."

As a result of the poor conditions of the gyms, Tavares-Finson took the decision to suspend all international competition for local boxers as he believes that money is better spent investing in infrastructure than paying for a boxer's airfare and hotel expenses to participate in an overseas tournament.

"If they can send themselves fine, but we want to invest in infrastructure," he said.

Despite the struggles, boxing has been resurging more than the JBBC may realise. In January, 'Thursday Nights at the Fights', a street boxing event in the inner-city community of Denham Town, was born. This informal event organised by the residents has "energised the community and brought peace", according to an April 21 Star report, but Tavares-Finson is concerned, as children are involved.

"I suppose in a way I'm glad that there's some amount of movement but I'm very concerned about the safety," he said. "One would prefer that they have the proper equipment and proper training."

But, like the mixed martial artists in North America, the youth of Denham Town have created their own variation of the sport. Mixed martial arts, the new bludgeoning rage that is a mixture of boxing and martial arts, has captivated audiences seeking more grit and gore.

"There's a lot of fear within boxing circles, generally, that the Ultimate Fighting Championships and mixed martial arts are leading to a distraction from boxing, but I think everything has its place and I don't necessarily think it will distract from boxing," he said.

"I find some of it a bit brutal but I would support it."

And brutal aptly describes his all-time favourite boxer.

"When Mike Tyson goes in the ring you know somebody is going to come out in an ambulance or something," quipped Tavares-Finson.