MARABELLA – Police intervened to put a premature end to an amateur boxing card featuring female boxers from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados in the southern city of Marabella on Saturday night.
Officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Amateur Boxing Association (TTABA) were told that the event was unsanctioned and they had no permission to stage the card being held at the Cosmic Gym.
Police stopped the card as local boxer Kimberly Jackson and Barbadian Kimberly Gittens were waiting for the announcement of the results of their four-round junior lightweight contest.
Gittens, who was accompanied by national coach Gary Bowen, was in the corner taking off her headgear when three police officers arrived with papers to stop the card.
The result of her bout was not announced.
President of the TTABA, Cecil Forde, said he could not produce a document from the Trinidad and Tobago Boxing Board of Control (TTBBC) giving permission to promote fights.
“It was strange that the police would come to stop the card since we have been promoting cards all the time,” said Forde. “Our last card was held less than a month ago and nobody came to stop it.”
TTABA sources said their calendar of events was submitted to the board earlier in the year, approved and sanctioned, and as such Saturday’s international card was legal.
The TTABA president pointed an accusing finger at people opposed to his administration who wanted to contest the next elections in October
“While there was no board in place, the association received a document from the last board before its term was up, giving us permission to promote bouts,” Forde explained.
“The thing is, I could not find it with the melee and so we had no choice [but] to discontinue the bout. I have a copy of the document as well as (one from) the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago, so we have nothing to hide.”
Trinidad and Tobago’s female amateur boxers’ are preparing for the upcoming Elite Female Continental Championships in Venezuela.
“The young ones are being victimized by this atrocious act of ignorance and mischief,” declared Forde.
“Boxers who were taken off the streets will now be back out there and heaven alone knows what will become of them.” (CMC)
