The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Strikers Boxing Club, the fastest growing amateur boxing club in the Bahamas, is forced to take their amateur boxing programme on the road because of no competition here at home and they have been making great strides in the United States.

The club just returned from the 2015 Paul Murphy world title belt championships in Atlanta, Georgia where the eight boxers performed exceptionally well.

Head coach Ronn Rodgers, assisted by Kayla Johnson and Jose Cruz, took the team of Kendric Stuart (123lbs), Tyrone Stuart (141 lbs), Rudolph Regis (141 lbs), Hubert Fernander (165lbs), Israel Johnson (178 lbs), D’Angelo Swaby (201 lbs), Davan Hamilton (201 lbs) and Davon Hamilton (201 lbs) to the tournament which hosted over 600 boxers from the US, Canada and throughout the Caribbean.

“We actually went above and beyond what I expected,” Rodgers said. “The calibre of fighters that they told us were going to be there, we went there looking to have our work cut out for us. We only had about three weeks to prepare and so we were looking at pulling off at least two belts.

“But the boys really kicked it in high gear, even though they had about three matches to get to the final. They won their matches and we ended up with four titles. We should have won five, but I think we got robbed in one. So it was way above my expectations. I feel extremely great.”

Rodgers said the goal was to get as much exposure for his boxers in the United States because it will be the place where the majority of them will be making their careers once they become professional fighters. We are dominating right now. We have developed a lot of fans,” he said. “We have even been invited to fight in a number of upcoming shows in Team Georgia versus the Bahamas, Team Florida versus the Bahamas and Team New Jersey versus the Bahamas and Canada versus the Bahamas.

“Because of the exposure that our boys got, we have also been invited to a number of training camps and people also want to come down here and do some training camps here. So we are maximising the exposure that we are getting out of these trips to the United States.”

The trip to Atlanta came on the heels of the Strikers Boxing Club’s participation in June to the Title National Boxing Championship in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where a seven -member team competed with 500 of the top boxers in the nation, bringing home three bronze medals and three national championship belts.

In August, Team Strikers travelled to Kansas City, Missouri to compete in the 2015 Ringside World Championships, which is the largest boxing tournament in the world, consisting of some 1,600 boxers from around the world.

With only a two-man team, Strikers dominated, bringing home two world championship belts.

After such an outstanding performance in Atlanta where the team won two bronze and one silver, bringing home four world title belts, Rodgers said they are now planning on travelling to the Cayman Islands in October where they will carry a 4-5 member team to compete against the Cayman national team.

In November, they are scheduled to travel to Ecuador and in December, they will either travel to New Jersey or California to compete and complete the year.

“We wanted to put on a show locally, but we have to bring in fighters to compete against our boys because we have already beaten everybody here,” Rodgers said. “In order to keep them elevated, we have to bring in the boxers. But it’s easier for us to travel, so that is what we are doing right now.

“We’ve been having some tremendous success, so I’m very pleased with the way the boxers are performing. We are hoping that they will get a chance to try out for the team for the Olympic Games next year. But if they don’t, we have some plans for them to continue to travel overseas to compete.”

The Strikers Boxing Club is located in the Golden Gates Shopping Centre.