Boxers to compete in Barbados Invitational

Four boxers will represent the Uprising Boxing Gym and by extension, Antigua and Barbuda, when they compete in the Barbados Boxing Association 40th Anniversary Invitational this weekend.
Jeremiah Toussaint (lightweight), Joshua Toussaint (lightweight), Uriah DeSilver (novice) and Armor Payne (welterweight), will leave Antigua Friday for the tournament, which starts on April 21. They will be accompanied by head coach Anthony Severin, assistant coach Archibald Richards and team manager Kalid Shabazz.
Severin expressed confidence in the fighters’ ability to perform well during the competition.
“Most of the guys have at least three bouts now and a few exhibition fights. We have been doing some local exhibition on the corner of All Saints Road, so the guys are quite experienced even though they consider them to be novices because they have less than five fights. They could handle themselves out there,” he said. 
The Antiguan boxers, Severin noted, will be fighting outside of their weight class due to the limited number of competitors in their classes.
Shabazz described the event as an opportunity for the somewhat inexperienced fighters to gain valuable knowledge.
“Some of the first tournament that these young men went to, there were a lot of jitters at first and they didn’t really feel as if they really had their feet wet in the sport as yet, and after they competed in several tournaments they got to know what it’s like, they see that they can really compete and they look at their talent and realise that they can do a lot better than they did in previous tournaments. So it’s a matter of gaining more experience whenever they go out to these tournaments,” he said.
The boxers are expected to return on April 23.