Dear Editor,

I would like to commend Leon Moore and Lennox Allen on their recent convincing victories.

These two boxers, together with Dexter Marques came up the ranks of amateur boxing, but because they felt that the financial resources were not there to take them to the top of amateur boxing, they became professional boxers, and as a result Guyana and amateur boxing lost boxers who had great Olympic hopes in them.

Leon Moore has been around as a professional for a few years now and time is becoming his enemy. He needs to get a title shot within the very near future and in a venue in which there can be a fair decision. The Guyana Boxing Board of Control with its dynamic president Peter Abdool needs to fight, beg, cajole and do whatever it takes to see that Moore has a title shot, if possible in Guyana.

His fights are unfortunately infrequent and the Guyana Boxing Board of Control and his promoters need to change that before he gets past his prime.

Both Leon Moore and Lennox Allen will make us proud and put us again on the pinnacle of boxing.

Compliments also to Mr Stanford Solomon for continuing to support boxing and making these cards possible. We need to support these cards, but what is also fundamental for boxing is that there must be tangible support for amateur boxing as without good amateur boxers, professional boxing in Guyana has nowhere to go. This support must come primarily from the government, and without a doubt there has been a lack of constructive support in this regard.

I have been attending professional boxing cards in Guyana for several years now, and what irritates me time and again is that when the ring announcer calls for the fighters to enter the ring, they fail to do so within a reasonable time and it is only after several calls and minutes that they emerge.

This practice must stop. There is no reasonable excuse for not entering the ring after the first call. The boxers and corners know the order that they have to come into the ring and it is most disrespectful to the spectators for them to behave in this way. The Guyana Boxing Board needs to correct this and one way to do this is to fine and/or deduct some sum from the purse of any delinquent boxer who fails to enter the ring when called.

Yours faithfully,
K.A. Juman-Yassin