Carryl’s boxing investment starts producing
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
May 10, 2004
IN JUST three stagings, participation has swelled in the annual Carryl Golden Gloves amateur boxing champions, with boxers battling in 22 divisions, many entries coming from Linden.
The championships have grown tremendously from its first gong back on April 26, 2002 when boxers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) gym propped up the card staged at the Christianburg basketball hardcourt.
In fact, almost all the boxers came from the GDF gym, with a few others from the Young Lions gym and Forgotten Youth Foundation. It was staged over two nights, with the finals at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground and GDF’s Rudolph Fraser was named Best Boxer, gymmate Paul Lewis Jr. the Most Improved Boxer and FYF’s Dexter Marcus the Most Charismatic.
Eight bouts were staged on the first night, with ten boxers from the GDF, five from YL and one from FYF.
Had the GDF not fielded boxers, the card probably might not have been possible because several boxers from the Linden seemed to be stand-ins who even fought under assumed names.
Eleven bouts were staged on the final night, with 13 boxers from the GDF, five from FYF, three from YL and one from Republicans.
The following year, the championship started with two nights at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and the finals in Linden, with Andrew Murray Jr. emerging the Best Boxer, Michael Jordan the Most Improved Boxer and Siebert Blake the Best Coach.
Again, however, the participants were mainly from Georgetown, particularly FYF and Harpy Eagles. Again, also, very few boxers came from the mining town, all from One Mile gym.
But a year later, most boxers were from Linden, putting up impressive performances. Noticeably, there was no pugilist from the GDF gym, the first signs of improvement for the sport.
USA-based Michael Carryl invested heavily to revive the sport he so loves, in the town he was born and his efforts may now be starting to pay off.
Carryl who coaches at a gym in New York and officiates in amateur matches in the USA Metro, began investing in boxing in the mining town for several years but was not getting the kind of response for the money he was investing.
He firstly donated equipment acquired from Everlast to a prominent club but had to retrieve them because nothing was being done. He thus embarked on establishing a gym, but again regular competition was not forthcoming.
Carryl took the situation in hand and came to personally get the sport moving, and staged the first Golden Gloves tournament, using trophies that were sent but were never used. A ring was even built locally.
Several fight nights were staged, almost every two months, involving boxers from gyms in the mining town and Georgetown. Officials trained by Carryl’s colleagues from USA Metro.
Later, the Carryl Boxing Gym was officially launched on Mora Street and that training facility now has a ring set up in its own permanent tent where the first night of this year’s Golden Gloves championships was staged.
The gym won a trophy for entering the most boxers in the recent 3rd Golden Gloves championships for which some 88 boxers registered for the three fight-night event.
It was a tremendous response from mostly young boxers, who put in exciting performances in all three nights and which if sustained could spell a resurge in the sport that could one day produce an Olympic gold medallist. And Carryl would be the man who started the process.
Falshback: Michael Carryl hands over gear to Guyana Boxing Board secretary Trevor Arno..