Antiguan boxer advances at Pan Am Games

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By Neto Baptiste 

Antiguan boxer Alston Ryanhas credited God, his family and supporters after punching his way into the semifinal round of the light welterweight division of the boxing championships at this year’s Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. 

Ryan, who lives and trains in the UK under the tutelage of former international boxer Maurice Hope, defeated the host country’s Acosta German in the quarterfinal bout on Monday. 

“First of all, this victory belongs to God because he gave me the win and, secondly, thanks to Antigua, the NOC, the whole Caribbean for being behind of me or in my corner; my dad and everyone; and this win is a big one for me – really big, to be honest, because I trained hard,” he said.  

Ryan admitted feeling pressured going into the bout against the home favourite, but said he allowed his training to work in his favour. 

“I have learnt to control the controllable in terms of not being able to control the crowd, the opponent, judge or referee. But I stay focused on what I have to do, which is box, and I know the judges wont’s be swayed or should not be swayed by the influence of the crowd,” the boxer said. 

A nine-member team is representing Antigua and Barbuda at the championships in Peru.

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