Team Antigua and Barbuda flourishes at Boxing Championships

Team Antigua and Barbuda flourished at the recently concluded Caribbean Boxing Championships winning 4 medals. The six-man contingent gained two silver and two bronze medals at the December 12th- 17th event held in St. Lucia. Lance Robinson secured a silver medal after losing to Donovan Henry of Barbados in the finals. The other silver medal was won by Joshua Toussaint in the bantamweight category.
Uriah Desilver settled for bronze after he was defeated by Xavier Maclier of Cayenne in the bantamweight battle. Jerimiah Toussaint secured the final medal claiming bronze in the bantam-weight section. Another member of the team, Armor Speid, despite not securing a medal earned the title of the Best Junior boxer. “I am very proud of the guys in terms of representation.
They are getting better, and with assistance and more training, they will do even better,” stated Khalid Shabazz, manager of the team. Shabazz continued speaking on the strides that Antigua boxing is making regionally and called out the various sporting bodies for not being as supportive. “For the second time, Antigua and Barbuda walked away with the title of best junior boxer. We also finished behind Trinidad, which is a huge feat because they are known as boxing giants in the region.
This shows we are narrowing the gap between us and the top countries.” “We’ve done all this without much support from the association and the ministry itself and I think we all need to be more concerned about the future development of youth. Too many athletes with great talent, who could have made it on the regional and international stage, were not invested in.”
The former boxer urged both entities to come together and put differences aside to make sure the young people get the best and get the right type of support. The team was coached by Anthony Severin. Archibald “Fighting Jim” Richards was the assistant coach. Fourteen teams competed in the tournament with Grenada claiming top honors.