TOP YOUNGSTER - Damien Tinker is presented with the Boxer of the Year award in the under 16 division by 'Sugar Kid' Bowe, during the Champion Amateur Boxing Club Year End Awards held last night at the Baillou Hill Sporting Complex Boxing Center.
Sports Photo by Donald Knowles
Butler, Mackey, Allen, Major all victorious
By SHELDON LONGLEY
NG Sports Reporter
As expected, the top four candidates for the senior (20 and Over) and junior (Under-20) boxing awards and the four boxers featured in yesterday's Guardian walked away with those awards last night at the 5th Annual Ray Minus Sr. Champion Amateur Boxing Club End-of-Year Awards and Christmas celebrations.
Senior henchmen Jerry 'Big Daddy' Butler and Jermaine 'Choo Choo' Mackey won the Boxer of the Year and the Most Improved Boxer respectively while junior sensations Alpachino 'Banger' Allen and Anthony 'Cougass' Major took home those awards respectively in the junior division.
Butler, Mackey and Major suffered only one defeat this year while Allen lost three matches but fought the most bouts out of the four. Butler, Mackey and Major suffered their setbacks at the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England while Allen lost all three of his bouts to foreigners.
One of three losses suffered at the hands of Puerto Rican native Josue Velez in Tampa, Florida was avenged two months later in New Providence. His only other two setbacks was a loss due to a bloody nose, suffered to Joel Elligon from Trinidad & Tobago at this year's Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) Championships in Fort-de-France, Martinique and a loss at the CAC Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Butler, Mackey and Major all won CABA gold medals while Allen brought home the bronze to lead The Bahamas to its first ever CABA Championship.
Damian Tinker won the Youth (Under-16) Boxer of the Year award while Ivan Moxey was the Most Improved Boxer in that division. Tinker also won a gold medal at this year's CABA Championships while Moxey won the silver.
GREAT JOB - Alpacheno Allen (center) along with his father Robert Allen, left, accepts the Boxer of the Year award in the under 19 division presented by Ray Minus senior during the Champion Amateur Boxing Club Year End Awards held last night at the Baillou Hill Sporting Complex Boxing Center.
Sports Photo by Donald Knowles
There was a tie between Mitchelen Adderley and Miguel Mackey for the Boxer of the Year award in the Under-12 division.
Butler, who holds the amateur titles of The Bahamas in the heavyweight and super heavyweight division, said that he felt compelled to have a strong year this year to rebound from a subpar year the year before and lead by example.
"I wasn't really trying for it last year but this year I stepped up my game a little bit. Last year I was on a little losing streak and I wasn't earning my stripes but this year I just decided to get back on the level that I should be on and everything just flowed into place," said 21-year old Butler.
"I let myself down when I went to England (only loss) but in the end all the hard work paid off. Next year is a real busy year for me and I have some of the best fighters on the agenda so I have to really be on top of my game. I'm going to be travelling like crazy next year so all the women and everything else got to stop," he added.
Junior Boxer of the Year Allen was probably the most impressive boxer this year. Allen fought the most bouts out of any of the four top winners and won a few bouts over foreigners this year.
"This is what I was looking forward to all year. I really fought hard for this one and with the way I performed I knew I was going to get it. I represented my country to the best of my ability and I really deserve it," said the 18 year-old junior welterweight champion of The Bahamas.
"This is not the end," he assured. "I am just getting started and hopefully I could make it to the Olympics. I am looking forward to going to Cuba to train and coming home when The Bahamas' team is going off to the bigger games," he added.
GOOD GOING - Jerry 'Big Daddy' Butler, left, is presented with the Boxer of the Year award in the senior division by Ray Minus senior, during the Champion Amateur Boxing Club Year End Awards held last night at the Baillou Hill Sporting Complex Boxing Center.
Sports Photo by Donald Knowles
During the course of the year, Allen moved up in weight category and won his inaugural bout in the welterweight division. He said his first goal for next year is to defeat amateur welterweight champion Reno Johnson in preparation for the CABA Championships in New Providence.
"Well I moved up in weight now and I am looking forward to fighting Reno Johnson. As long as I get over him March 19, I'll go on from there and win another Boxer of the Year award," he said.
Southpaw Jermaine Mackey was the only Bahamian boxer to record a victory at the Commonwealth Games this year which was one of the reasons why he took home the Most Improved Boxer award.
"I really didn't expect this. I got blind-folded on that one because I only had seven fights on the year but I won six out of seven so I guessed I earned it," said the 23-year old middleweight.
"Next year is another year and I am just going to take it one fight at a time," he added.
'Cougass' Major just might have been the most consistent boxer this year. Not only did he consistently record victories, he also consistently recorded knockouts. Light middleweight Major was 2-for-2 in his CABA experience this year with two powerful knockouts.
CABA coach Ray Minus Jr. coined the popular term 'spinaroni' to describe Major's knockout in the gold medal match at the CABA Championships. Just one minute into the first round, Major caught Marlon Mayers from Barbados with a powerful right which lifted the Barbadian off the mat and spun him around in the air.
"I put in a lot of hard work this year, especially for the Commonwealth Games. I think that is the hardest I ever worked for the whole year. I had a pretty good year and I think I deserved that award," said 19 year-old Major.
"I have a lot of fights scheduled for next year and there are a lot of big games to go to so I'm going to be very busy and I'll have to be prepared. I'm just going to try to fight harder and harder every time I fight," he added.
