Sixteen bouts were contested yesterday as the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) was finally able to get its National Open Championships underway at the National Gymnasium.

In this Orlando Charles photo, GDF’s Bert Braithwaite (right) traps Port Kaituma’s Mark Anthony against the ropes in their light welterweight bout yesterday.

The competition was scheduled to commence on Friday but was called off because of the absence of officials to conduct the matches. It was rescheduled to start on Saturday but a blackout caused the event to be postponed to yesterday.

The seven gyms that participated were Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF), Harpy Ealges, Republican (Rep), Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Ricola Warriors (RW), Port Kaituma (PK) and Essequibo.

In the Open category GDF’s Bert Braithwaite won the light welterweight division when his opponent, Republican’s Damion Ross was withdrawn from the fight after his corner threw in the towel.

FYF’s Boigny Miggins won the welterweight division by defeating Delroy James in the final.
Earlier in the day he won his first fight against Republican’s Dennis Daniels.

Essequibo’s Aubrey Moore was crowned lightweight champion when he defeated GDF’s Clairmont Gibon while Republican’s Jermain Cort was a runner-up to GDF’s Ray Sandiford in the featherweight division.

Devon Boatswain stopped his GDF teammate Kevis Wilson in the first minute of round two to win the middleweight category and FYF’s Delon Allicock gained a victory over his gymmate Delon Charles in the bantamweight final.

Prior to the finals, Braithwaite and Ross claimed victories against Mark Anthony (PK) and David Thomas (Rep) respectively.
Moore and Gibson moved on to the next round as they received walkover victories from Jermain Pompey and Kishawn Simon respectively.

Clive Atwell was a no show in the bout scheduled with Sandiford and Cort gained a decision victory over Stefan Gouveia while Allicock and Charles moved on to the final by defeating Clebert Harding and Dexter Jordan respectively.