Female boxers aiming for the stars
FEMALE boxer Neisha Gaye McLean, presumed to have legitimately claimed the featherweight Open crown at the recent Axe Anarchy/National Amateur boxing championship at the Stanley Couch Gym, had her bubble burst after learning her ‘no show’ against Felicia Groves cost her the title.
According to general secretary of the local boxing board Leroy Brown, McLean, who is a novice, was scheduled to fight Groves for the Open title. However, she was pulled from the contest by her gym on the night of the fight, which prevented her from being crowned champion as the rules state that a fighter must compete to be declared champion.
Although McLean had won her earlier fight, Brown said there was no featherweight novice class, so she could not be declared champion of that class either.
However, McLean felt she did very well in her debut fight, and is thankful to have finally got her career off the ground.
“I feel very grateful for the opportunity to box. I really wanted to go out there and do my best,” she said.
She now has her sight on big things in the future.
“I want to go as far as I can go in this sport. I have not put any limit to myself, so all I have to do is listen to my coaches… and just take it one step at a time,” she added.
Meanwhile, light flyweight champion Nyoka Hewitt also has her eyes set on becoming a star in the male-dominated sport.
Despite her relatively short career, she said the recent title success of Nicholas ‘Axeman’ Walters motivated her and she believes the sky is the limit.
Hewitt defeated Antonette Rose for the light-flyweight novice crown and says her ambition is to win a world title one day.
Richard ‘Shrimpy’ Clarke, the trainer for both fighters and coach at the Stanley Couch Gym, was pleased with their debuts.
“I wanted them to start fighting even before this championship. I wanted them to get warm-up fights because they were showing me a lot,” he noted.
He now hopes for more opportunities so that the youngsters can improve their skills and rankings, as he believes they both possess good boxing ability.
