Guy, George head to boxing tourney in Poland

A T&T boxing team of Tianna Guy and Angel George will leave local shores on Friday at about 4 pm for the Feliks Simm International Boxing Tournament in Poland from September 20-29.

The tournament will be used by the fighters as much-needed practice ahead of the Women’s World Championships to be held in Serbia in March 2025.

Coach and manager Reynold Cox said the tournament is essential as the local boxers are saddled with no sparring partners to prepare for international events, which means that local coaches have had to put them in the ring against male boxers.

“This situation of putting our female fighters against males is not the ideal situation to be in, but it is the sad reality we are faced with. Just at the weekend, Guy fought against another female fighter, and she won easily.”

“This is the biggest challenge for us in T&T and also the Caribbean. The goal really is to expand the pool of fighters and increase our chances of being competitive internationally.”

The tournament is set to be overpopulated with fighters from Europe and Asia, Cox explained. Last year, T&T got a silver medal from the tournament from George, while Guy just missed out on a podium finish by being beaten in the semifinals.

Cox also said he is trying to get one male fighter to go on the tournament with them. So far he has only identified Anthony Joseph, who fought at the weekend on a Pro-Am card that was put on by Cecil Forde and the Cosmic Boxing Gym in Marabella.

Garcia claims victory over Hernandez.

Meanwhile, in the boxing ring, Shakir Garcia claimed a hard-fought 5-0 victory over his Venezuelan counterpart Angel Hernandez in the feature bout on Friday night on the first professional card at the Cosmic Boxing Gym in Marabella.

The win earned Garcia his first professional win after he was beaten in his first fight more than a month ago.

In the second of two exhibition matches, Anthony Joseph also emerged the victor when he took on Hermes Alfonso of the Evolution Boxing Gym.

The Golden Fist Boxing Gym fighter prevailed comfortably on points 5-0, much to the delight of the fans who made their way to the southern gym. And in the other exhibition fight, boxing queen Tianna Guy took it easy in the early round against Aleisha King of the Siparia Boxing Gym, before she brought an end to the contest in the second round due to claims by King’s corner that their fighter could pull off the upset.

That fight was used by both fighters to prepare for the Feliks Simm International in Poland from September 20-29.

In other results, Darnell Sinaswe (Prodigy Boxing Gym) defeated Shalome Phillip (Golden Fist) on points; Kozo Martin (Prodigy BG) prevailed over Angelo Anthony (Golden Fist) on points; Shiva Toolsie (Evolution BG) got the better of Maikol Figueroa (YTC) by unanimous decision; and Ishmael Hypolite battled to a unanimous-decision triumph over Arlon Reid.