THE Jamaica Boxing Board of Control’s (JBBC) 2011 Burger King Boxing Series gets underway next Saturday, September 24, with the Brusing Gym 3rd Anniversary Fight Night at the Stony Hill Community Centre, starting at 7:30 pm.

The card, which was launched at the Altamont Court Hotel in Kingston yesterday, will feature 16 amateur fights with boxers from nine gyms across the country, including G4S, JDF, Boys’ Town, GC Foster, Stanley Couch, Sugar Knockout, Hard Knocks, Heavy Metal, as well as hosts Brusing Gym.

The feature bout of the night will see Commonwealth Zonal middleweight champion Sakima Mullings up against local pro fighter Lloyd Smith.

This will be Mullings’ first event since the Wray & Nephew Contender Series earlier this year and he told reporters he was well focused and looking forward to the fight which will be one of four more he needs to be able to qualify to fight for the Commonwealth middleweight title.

“I’ve been training. It’s a blessing to be able to fight in my back yard. I had a cut from my last fight that I was allowing to heal properly. Since then the intensity and the focus has been there. I’m working real hard to get ready for this fight,” Mullings stated.

Said Smith: “People in the sport want to see boxing. I think Jamaica want to see boxing so we’re going come out and do what we know to do.”

Meanwhile, first vice-president of the Jamaica Boxing Board, Alexander Johnson, expressed pleasure with the progress of the sport in 2011 following the Contender Series’ Hands of Gold Fight Night and the upcoming five-card Burger King Series, which will be followed by the National Championships in December.

The Board is also trying to qualify a boxer for next month’s Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“If you look at the amount of boxing that we have had this year, it’s unprecedented. The fans are very excited. They want more. You whet their appetite and it’s tough to keep them satisfied. That’s our plan,” Johnson said.

“The idea is to use this as a jumping-off point to really start getting international recognition. AIBA, which is our most direct international contact, has now taken notice of Jamaica, but what we have to do is make sure that when they look at Jamaica what they see is a robust infrastructure, a strong administration, as well as a lot of boxers that are actively fighting.

“We want to get back to the days of Mike McCallum and Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke when Jamaica was right up there,” Johnson stated.