Having won this year’s OECS Boxing Championship on their home ground, St Lucia’s amateur boxers now face a stiffer challenge; the fifth annual Creole Boxing Championships which get underway Thursday at the Vigie Multi-Purpose Sports Complex.
Boxers will go up against opponents from Cayenne (defending champions), Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica and possibly Anguilla.
For awhile now St Lucian boxers have been tutored by Head Coach Conrad Fredericks, who was instrumental in St Lucia winning the OECS Boxing Championships. Recently The St Lucia Amateur Boxing Association (SLABA) announced that Frederick will be working alongside new Cuban Coach Jorge Gonzalez Dominguez, who is attached to the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports.
The Golden Arrow Inn in Marisule, is the games village for the event where all the boxers and officials will be housed.
Speaking at a recent press launch for the championship, SLABA President, David “Shakes” Christopher was very thankful for the sponsorship received for staging of the event.
He said: “I want to thank the Ministry for Youth Development and Sports, St Lucia Olympic Committee and the St Lucia National Lottery for stepping in this round, to give us what they say in boxing an uppercut and a straight right to make this happen in a big way.”
Christopher also appealed to boxing fans to come out once again to support the local boxers as they did at the recent OECS Boxing Championships.
He referred to the upcoming competition as “a real spectacle of boxing in the Caribbean which will be executed in a really nice manner.”
