MONTEGO BAY, St James

President of the Montego Bay Cricket Club Clive Waldron says the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Jamaica Boxing Board (JBB) to set up a boxing gym here, forms part of a move by the club to position itself as the sports hub of the resort city.

Presently, Montego Bay Cricket Club, which is adjacent to Jarrett Park, hosts several sporting events, including basketball, netball, table tennis and darts and hosted its first boxing card last Saturday, the Jamaica Boxing Board’s Gloves over Gun eight-fight card which featured local amateurs as well as some from Canada.

“This location’s potential is awesome and has been underutilised,” Waldron told the Jamaica Observer West at the recent media launch of the fight card that also saw the signing of the MOU.

“All the head offices for the various sporting bodies are located here, and we are adjoined to Jarrett Park where football and cricket are played. We already have table tennis, darts, netball, basketball and we are being developed to be the sports centre of the city, we encompass almost every sporting discipline.”

The boxing gym, which will be run by Job Walters, father of former WBA featherweight champion, Nicholas, is expected to start operation in January, and it is hoped will help to revive the sport of boxing in the city.

Under the MOU, the club is to provide the space “rent-free for the period of four years as we know there will be a lot of costs involved in setting it up, but it is the responsibility of the Jamaica Boxing Board to furnish it and make it a viable functional boxing facility”.

Waldron noted that his club had made an attempt in the past to set up such a facility on its own, but could not afford it then.

“At our evaluation it would cost (the JBB) about $5 million, as when we were trying to set up one for ourselves that was what it would have cost, but we don’t know what equipment they have already,” he said.

— Paul Reid