Friday, October 2, 2009

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Valentino Knowles' big chance By FRED STURRUP ~ NG Associate Editor ~ frederick@nasguard.com: It doesn't have the popularity and accordingly, the fame of world championships in other disciplines, but the top event on the calendar of the Association Internationale de Amateur Boxeo (AIBA) is equally significant. This is the stage Bahamian elite boxers Carl Hield and Valentino Knowles are on in Milan, Italy. Hield unfortunately did not get beyond his first match. He had the tough luck of drawing a hometown favorite, Dario Vangeli, Tuesday during the first round, leaving Knowles to carry on the battle for The Bahamas. The view here is that Knowles is appropriate for the job. He lived up to expectations on Wednesday by scoring a Bahamian historic victory over Kenya's Joseph Njogu to move into the round of 32 against Serbia's Ljubomir Marjanovic. There are a lot of wishes in his country and throughout the Caribbean that Knowles will add another win to his record at these 15th world championships of amateur boxing. Who is this Valentino Knowles? Well, he is another of those youngsters from a tough inner city background. He's had his difficulties, his troubles, his disappointments and yes, he once demonstrated the inability to cope with reality. What is so huge for him though is the fact that he thus far has managed to climb over all of the early obstacles in life and he now stands poised to be a sports hero. He has indeed come a long way. I have observed him from he was a mere youth of 13 and at times there were the reasons to wonder about the combination of prime talent and raw character. However, last November, the Amateur Boxing Federation of The Bahamas accepted the invitation of the Pan American Caribbean Boxing Organization (of which I am the president), to battle in a two-nation tournament against Jamaica during the first Caribbean Awards Sports Icons event. During the boxing tournament Knowles, 21, cleaned up his opponent, but he did a lot of clowning and ended up on the wrong side of one of the worst decisions I have ever witnessed in over 40 years of involvement in the sport. Given his past history, I anticipated that he would be furious and do a bit of ranting and raving. To my pleasant surprise, he accepted the decision with an incredible amount of grace. Beyond the brief astonished look on his face when the decision was announced, young Knowles gave no other indication that he had been robbed. With ultra class, he congratulated his opponent and then the referee. Afterwards, he did the usual amateur gesture and went to the opposing corner men and congratulated them also. To me, that was the moment when Knowles demonstrated his maturity. In defeat, he shone like a true champion. And here we are today, hoping for him to be successful against Marjanovic. To be blunt, it has seemed in recent years that somehow the odds are always stacked against boxers from the western hemisphere. What can be expected for sure is that Knowles will give it all he's got. A victory would be good, but whatever the outcome, he has with that first round victory crossed over officially into the world elite category of his sport. Best wishes to him in the match with Marjanovic, the boxer in the opposite corner in today's bout. Friday, September 4, 2009