HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER Ricardo ‘Big 12’ Brown followed his welterweight compatriot Joshua Fraser into the professional ranks in 2022. Both have been perfect.
After his disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Brown went pro and has decimated his opponents to date for a 5-0 record.
Fraser had six of his seven pro fights in 2022 and was equally impressive in disposing of his opponents, ending the year with a 7-0 record.
England-based Jamaican welterweight boxer Shiloh Defreitas has also been making waves.
The 23-year-old, who turned pro in 2021, added two wins last year to his two from 2021 to take his pro record to 4-0.
Local boxers Daniel Hylton (welterweight) and Jerome Ennis (lightweight) competed at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, in August. Hylton was knocked out at the round of 16, while Ennis exited at the quarterfinal stage.
The nation’s five-man team of Daniel Hylton, Jerone Ennis, Sherikee Moore, Jasmine Graham and Jaden Eccleston were outstanding at the AMBC/Caribbean Championships in Dominica in December. The team came away with five medals, four gold and a silver.
The national boxing championships, usually staged at the end of January, missed its traditional date for a second year running, cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In March, the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA) signed a partnership with G.C. Foster College in an effort to upgrade local boxers, coaches and officials.
The college hosted seminars for coaches and officials. Twenty officials took part in a one-month training course with 13 graduating in November.
That month, a Gloves Over Guns fight card was also held at the college campus, which provided the graduates with their first taste of official competition.
The G.C. Foster gym was also sanctioned as the JBA’s third national gym, joining Stanley Couch and Montego Bay gyms at the signing of the partnership in March.
