The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedi.net

KENDRICK Stuart gave a good account of himself in his international amateur boxing debut, but he came up short in a hometown decision to Tafari Ebanks at the Island Air Party Friday night in the Cayman Islands.

Stuart, accompanied by coach Ronn Rodgers, was the lone Bahamian to compete in the tournament hosted by the Cayman Islands Boxing Association. He was joined by Tyrone Oliver, who was along on the trip to get in some training exposure with an AIBA boxing coach.

“We rocked the Cayman boxer in the first and second rounds, but Kendrick didn’t have the killer instinct and he allowed the guy to recover and the bout ended up going the distance,” said Rodgers of Ebanks, who is ranked as the No.1 bantamweight boxer in the region.

Ebanks, according to Rodgers, is on his way to Scotland this week to continue his preparation for the Commonwealth Games in July.

“Even though they have their elite training programme over there, we have only been training for eight months, so I was very proud of how Kendrick performed,” said Rodgers of Stuart. “We fought without the headgear, as mandated by AIBA, for the first time.”

The show was staged in a makeshift boxing arena on the Cayman Island airport. According to Rodgers, the organisers put the ring on the runway and they surrounded it with the helicopters and airplanes with a large crowd of spectators on hand to view the five bouts.

“This was the first time that I’ve ever taken any boxers outside of the Bahamas to compete,” Rodgers said. “This is only the second time that both Kendrick and Tyrone have been on an airplane, so it was a great experience for both of them. We were taking all kinds of photos with everybody.”

Rodgers said the organisers were so impressed with the professional manner that the Strikers Boxing Club exhibited that they have invited them to return on August 9 to compete in a Caribbean Invitational Boxing Tournament that they will be putting on.

The trip served as a tune-up and exposure for both Stuart and Oliver as the Strikers Boxing Club gets ready to host a series of international boxers in the coming months. The visits will kick off with an appearance from the Florida Silver Gold Champions during the second week of March.

A team from Mexico is expected to make an appearance at the end of March, while Rodgers said they intend to entertain a team from Nigeria in April as they also take part in a training camp.

Hopefully, he added, they are working on getting a team in from Canada in May.

Rodgers said that while they have not gotten any funding from the Bahamas Government or the Amateur Boxing Federation of the Bahamas, they are forging ahead with their programme at the Strikers Boxing Club in the Golden Gates Shopping Centre by acquiring their own sponsorship.