J’can boxers perform creditably as Cuba, Mexico dominate at CAC qualifiers

Cuba’s boxers continued to show their dominance in world boxing when they took top honours in the recently concluded Qualifying Championships

for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Guadalajara, Mexico from March 10 - 17.

They topped the medal tables with five gold and two silver medals from their male boxers and two silver and one bronze from their females.

Also in the hunt for most medals, however, were Colombia, host country Mexico, and Venezuela. Mexico ended up with four gold and six bronze,

Colombia had four gold, three silver and two bronze, and Venezuela one gold, seven silver and four bronze medals. Cuba dominated the men’s division and Mexico had the top women’s team.

A total of 12 countries participated, including Jamaica, who had a two-man team comprising Tevoy Barrett in the 70kg weight class and Sanji

Williams, who competed in the 60kg weight class. Barrett had the misfortune of drawing the number-one ranked boxer in the weight class and eventual

gold medal winner, Cuban Yusnier Sorsona in the first round of competition, and lost, the referee stopping the contest in the second round.

Sorsona, who won all his bouts inside the distance, is without doubt on his way to becoming another Cuban super-star boxer.

Williams met Barbadian Jazari Mayers in the preliminary round of the competition and won with a mixture of clever boxing and power punching.

He then met Haiti-born Geronimo Seidi, who was adopted at age 10 and now lives in the Netherlands, in the quarterfinals.

A clever boxer, Seidi used a mixture of slick movement and smart punch selection to take a comfortable decision. Williams was never able to engage his opponent at close range, and that made the difference.

A win would have earned him a semi-final spot and at least a bronze medal. Seidi, however, lost to the Cuban Saidel Horta in the semi-final.

The Cubans were dominant in the men’s division, taking home five of the seven titles on offer.

The champions were 55kg Alejandro Claro, 60kg Saidel Horta, 65 kg Erislandy Alvarez, 70kg Yusnier Sorsano, and 80kg Keylor Garcia. Olympic champion Julio Cesar La Cruz, who was expected to win a gold medal in the 90kg class, suffered a cut in his final and had to settle for a silver medal as the bout was stopped.

The Mexicans were as dominant in the female division as the Cubans were among the males, and took home four gold medals. Their champions

were 50kg Valeria Amparan Pizzarro, 65 Darienne Hernandez, 70kg Citlali Ortiz and 75 kg Lorien Elizabeth Alonso Salas. Most of the boxers who competed in Mexico will qualify for the CAC Games boxing competition.

The organising committtee is now in the process of issuing wild cards and putting together the final list of competitors for the games, which will be in Santo Domingo from Friday July 24 to Saturday August 8.