BRITISH-BASED boxers Phillip Bowes and Reece Shagourie will try to qualify for a place on Jamaica’s team to the Commonwealth Games when they take part in another in the ‘Hands of Gold’ series on May 29 at Liguanea Club in

New Kingston.

Due to their Jamaican ancestry, the fighters have made themselves available for selection to represent the island. In fact, both boxers who hail from the Repton Boxing Club in London fought successfully at the last staging of the boxing series in February at the Barbican Beach Complex.

Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC) vice-president Stephen Jones told the Observer the two have applied successfully for Jamaican passports and will be given the chance to fight for a place on the Commonwealth team.

“Once boxers have that (family) heritage and can acquire Jamaican passports, they can make themselves available to fight.

“More boxers from Canada and Britain are interested, so once they are eligible and can prove that they are good enough, they will also have a chance,” he said.

According to Jones, another boxer who was here in February, Ahmet Patterson, has also applied but is yet to receive his passport and may miss out on the Commonwealth Games to be held in India in October this year.

This, he claimed, is not a great setback since the main aim of the series is to prepare the boxers for the 2012 Olympic Games.

“The ‘Hands of Gold’ is really the preparation for the Olympics, but it so happens that we have the Commonwealth and the CAC (Central American and Caribbean) Games (in July) along the way,” he said.

“We are looking for the best persons to represent Jamaica, so it’s only fair for us to make them fight against our best local boxers.

“Having the overseas boxers can only help our boxers who are here… when more persons are interested it should result in a stronger Olympic team,” Jones added.

Shagourie is set to face Jonathan Hanson of Spartan Gym in the middleweight division, while in a light-welterweight battle, Bowes is confirmed to face Camion Goldson, also of Spartan.

The fight card will run from 8:00 pm to approximately midnight and Jones says the venue can accommodate up to 700 patrons.