Boxers from Trinidad and Tobago emerged 3-2 winners over Barbados on Saturday night when the Horace Phillips Memorial Tournament was held by the Amateur Boxing Association of Barbados at the Springer Memorial School.
In the first of the inter-country bouts, Jabali Breedy of the National Gym triumphed over Akmal Stroude of Trinidad and Tobago in the light flyweight category.
Breedy had to dig deep to prevail as the he was constantly pressured by the young Trinidadian and not allowed to use his superior speed. Â
In the second bout, the only female one on the card, Iniggakaya Lythcott of Belfield Gym lost to Trinidadian Stephanie Allen in their flyweight contest. Lythcott was the taller of the two but did not use her longer reach to her advantage.
She was unable to mount a meaningful offence and things got worse for her as she got distracted by a problem with her attire which caused her to lose focus.
Allen was superior in speed and conditioning which gave her the upper hand.
The next contest between Clinton Rogers of Carrington’s Gym and the visiting Kevin Coker was one of the most entertaining of the night. Coker and Rogers traded blows throughout in the lightweight contest but it was clear that the Trinidadian was gaining an advantage which he maintained to the end for a comfortable win.
Keithland King of the National Gym made it two wins apiece for Barbados and Trinidad as he made quick work of Joash Cyrus in a welterweight battle. The match started out at a hot pace but before it could really get going, King floored Cyrus with a beautiful punch which effectively put an end to fight and caused the resident doctor to come into the ring to attend to Cyrus.
Unfortunately, the doctor’s work wasn’t done as she was required again after the final light heavyweight bout between Adrian Biscette of the Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme and Azariah Agard of Trinidad.
Biscette and Agard danced their way around the ring in attempt to get the upper hand on each other. However, the doctor was soon needed as Biscette found himself unable to stand which meant that the match was stopped, giving Trinidad and Tobago victory by a 3-2 margin.
In the other five bouts, Ision Fraser defeated Akeem Brathwaite, Michael Griffith won from Rachad Scantlebury in the match which livened up proceedings as it was the most entertaining of the night,
Ajayi Jones defeated Jamal Holder while Stevenson Lythcott triumphed over Rashidi Reid.Â
