By Neto Baptiste
Boxing fans across Antigua will be treated to a rare sight when the Uprising Boxing Gym stages its “No Retreat, No Surrender” Boxing Showdown slated for this Saturday at the Youth Empowerment Academy or the former BBC compound located in Lightfoot.
Owner and coach of the Uprising Boxing Gym, Anthony Severin, said the event will serve two purposes, one of which is to expose the young talents on the island who may not otherwise get the opportunity to box at the national level.
“We intend to showcase some of our young talents because we have a lot of boxers. We are going to compete against ourselves because we don’t have any competition on island right now. We have some of the best boxers here because they have been training here for, some of them, over seven years so they have developed, and we want to show the talent and we want to expose them because we are not getting the support we want, so we have to open our own doors. We have to help ourselves because God helps those who help themselves, so we are creating an avenue for the youngsters to show their talent,” he said.
Severin explained also that part of the funds raised through the effort will go towards purchasing much needed equipment for the gym after they were forced to discard most of their worn-out boxing gloves and other gear.
“We are making it free entrance because when you buy the ticket you’re [actually] paying for the barbeque, so it’s a win-win where you get to see good boxing, you get the little entertainment we are going to create there. What we are trying to do is pair entertainment with boxing because a lot of people are not into boxing yet in Antigua so we want to bring out the people,” he said.
The coach ensured that patrons will not be disappointed with the level of boxing on display come August 6.
“We are looking at at-least five good bouts, but we have some guys as prospects and we even have a guy from St. Vincent on island who works with Special Security and he is a heavyweight. He has been fighting amateur, so he wants to do a little thing so we have a few guys who might just come and do a little exhibition, and as I said, it’s amongst ourselves so there won’t be any judges to judge. We are going to use the crowd to judge the competition,” Severin said.
The event is slated to start at 3:00 pm with the barbeque with the first fight starting at 5:00 pm. Tickets for the barbeque cost $10.00.