The United States Embassy in Jamaica sponsored the USA-based Humpy Dumpty Institute (HDI) that partnered with Fight for Peace and the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA) to provide boxing training at three venues, namely Denham Town Community Centre, Portmore and Montego Bay between November 14 and 19.
The HDI brought along a trainer and two accomplished female boxers to demonstrate their skills and assist with the training sessions.
The first two-day session on Tuesday and Wednesday last week was held at the Denham Town Community Centre and was preceded by a short launch on Tuesday morning where the parties - the US Embassy, the HDI, Fight for Peace and the JBA highlighted the benefits to be derived from the sessions.
Acting Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy, Gabriel Hurst said, "The support that we have towards the programme is a clear example of our steadfast support to Jamaica's bright future. Our overall training objective is the development of a safer, stronger and more secure Jamaica. (I am) really looking forward to seeing the positive impact that it’s going to have."
Lennox Blackmoore of the HDI decided to bring the programme to Jamaica, "Because Jamaica has good athletes and so we decided to try Jamaica."
Blackmoore along with another trainer Timor Juhasz and the female boxers Ronica Jeffrey and Jenna Gaglioti began the training session with an intense exercise session with the group of aspiring male and female boxers who are part of the Fight for Peace Programme on the island. They were supported by a number of local trainers headed by accomplished local boxer Sakima Mullings.
Blackmoore, a former British Commonwealth champion is from Guyana where he won his country’s lightweight and light middleweight titles during the 1970s. He now operates out of the Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, New York.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey was happy to share her knowledge with the young boxers. "We are here to teach the boys and the girls' defensive work and the skill of boxing. I think that boxing is such a great sport for young people. It directs them in a safe direction to relieve their anger or just to have something that can show them discipline."
For her part, Gaglioti believes that boxing “is a sport for your mental health, for your emotional health. It does have the kids stay off the streets, stay disciplined and that's what we want to teach the kids also."
Rasheed Evans who recently graduated from Mona High School welcomed the training sessions, adding that he likes the sport and plans to become a professional. "It has helped me to become a better person. It has helped me to motivate myself better. It has helped me to understand life and how it works," he said.
Mark Cole, the programme coordinator for Fight for Peace and who also works in a number of inner-city communities, using boxing and martial arts to guide young people to make better life decisions, detailed some of the components of the training.
"We will be doing biographies of some of the great boxers, walking them through some basic boxing techniques as well as have some advanced boxers do some advanced training, and exposing them to the different boxing styles and what it takes to become a professional boxer."
He believes the presence of the two female boxers will help to empower aspiring female boxers to help them take the sport seriously.
According to Stephen 'Bomber' Jones, president of the Jamaica Boxing Board, the sessions will help increase awareness about the sport across the island.
"We are grateful that this is happening. It's in line with what we have been pushing in terms of expanding the footprints of the sport. The boxing board is here to facilitate the programmes that we have in terms of what you see happening here through Fight for Peace.
“They are here to benefit from the two-day clinic and then we move to Fun Robics Gym in Portmore and then in Montego Bay where we have another national gym where Jasmine Graham will be leading the charge for the girls and boys there."
This boxing program is the third to be implemented by HDI. The first was held in the Dominican Republic in 2022 and the second one was with female boxers in the Palestinian territories in February of this year.
They were all done with the support of the US Embassy.
John Fury appears to headbutt member of Team Usyk ahead of undisputed bout
Tyson Fury's father John Fury was left with a nasty cut on his face after appearing to headbutt a member of Oleksandr Usyk's entourage at a pre-fight media day on Monday.
WBC belt-holder Fury will face Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, with both men defending undefeated professional records.
With both fighters and their camps present at a hotel in the city for media duties on Monday, the build-up to their bout – the most eagerly anticipated in the heavyweight division in recent years – got off to a chaotic start.
Fury's father was pictured with blood running down his forehead after becoming involved in an altercation with a man wearing a Team Usyk tracksuit.
Widely shared footage on social media appeared to show him headbutting the man, who then had to be restrained by other members of Usyk's entourage.
It was later reported that the Saudi Arabian authorities were aware of the incident but did not plan to take any action.
Ricketts opens season with 14.50m to win triple jump at Jamaica Athletics Invitational
Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts provided her home fans with a solid performance to win the women’s triple jump at the inaugural Jamaica Athletics Invitational at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
The two-time World Championships silver medallist produced a best jump of 14.50m on her first attempt that proved to be enough to win in the end.
American Jasmine Moore had a best jump of 14.28m for second while Dominican World Indoor Champion Thea Lafond jumped 14.22m in the sixth and final round to clinch third.
“I feel exceptional. I usually get started with my season much earlier but this year we decided to get a few things corrected before coming into competition,” Ricketts said following the competition.
“Competing with world class athletes who have been doing well indoors as well really pushed me and gave me a good implication of where I’m at this season,” she added.
The 2022 Commonwealth Champion also spoke on competing in Jamaica.
“It’s always a pleasure to compete in Kingston. Usually, I try to do a meet here before going overseas to compete in the Diamond League. The crowd has warmed up to the jumps because of how well I’ve been doing overseas over the years. I’m always grateful for the support,” she said.
Great Britain’s Hughes, Asher-Smith get 200m victories at Jamaica Athletics Invitational
Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and Dina Asher-Smith took victories in the men’s and women’s 200m events at the inaugural Jamaica Athletics Invitational at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
Hughes, a bronze medallist in the 100m at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, produced a season’s best 19.96 to win ahead of American Fred Kerley (20.17) and France’s Pablo Mateo (20.20).
“I feel really good. I think this is my second 200m race of the season. When I opened up I wasn’t ready so tonight I was just testing out the waters. We’re starting to sharpen up but not as much because it’s a long season,” Hughes said after the race.
“To run 19.96 now, I’m very happy. I just need to stay healthy and continue to execute my races accordingly and everything will be okay,” he added.
2019 World Champion Asher-Smith narrowly won the women’s event in 22.51 ahead of the Ivory Coast’s Jessika Gbai (22.53) with Jamaica’s Lanae-Tava Thomas running 22.84 for third.
Asher-Smith says she was hoping for a quicker time and has some things to work on.
“I’m in really good shape so I was hoping to get a quicker time today. Clearly, I’ve got some stuff that I’ve got to work on so I’m going to go back to Austin and work on them but I’m happy to have won here in Jamaica,” she said.
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