Tansley trades guns for gloves

LEADING boxing promoter Tansley Thompson has organised a professional card for Thursday, March 17, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain in an effort to highlight the spiralling crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago. Thompson said yesterday the card will be held in memory of Devon Cox and Zimba Scott, two boxers who recently lost their lives violently, victims of shootings which cut short their promising careers. Cox was the son of Winston Cox, top trainer at the Tigers Gym on Prince Street in Port-of-Spain.

“Both boys were budding sportsmen who held out a lot of hope for what we are trying to achieve in changing the gun culture,” said Thompson. “They lost their lives innocently, bringing grief to their families and robbing the boxing pool of valuable human resource,” said Thompson. But he is confident that his efforts to transform the violence on the streets into controlled aggression in the gyms will soon bear fruit since he has committed himself to long-term results. The Oval card will feature Trinidad and Tobago against their counterparts in Barbados with rising middleweight Kirt Sinnette featuring in the main bout against Julian Tannis over eight rounds.

Sinnette, a former outstanding amateur is undefeated in a five-fight professional career and is being groomed by Thompson for title-challenges at the regional and Commonwealth level. In the main bout of the undercard, Kevin Placide, the “Fighting Policeman” takes on Derrick Jones of Barbados over six rounds in a welterweight scrap. Placide unsuccessfully challenged “Fighting Postman” Floyd Trumpet for the Trinidad and Tobago championship last December 26 at The Oval. His fight against Jones is being used as a stepping stone for a rematch against Trumpet, a former world ranked kickboxer who won the Boxing Night bout on a unanimous points decision.

Iwan Azore, a Guyanese with a reputation, comes up against Trinidad and Tobago’s Sherwin Marshall in a six-round welterweight contest which is expected to produce a knockdown according to the card’s organisers. John Monroy, a Guyanese light-heavyweight domiciled in Port-of-Spain gets another opportunity in the local ring when he fights Daniel McMillan, also over six rounds. McMillan has the dubious distinction of being the first victim of heavyweight Kertson Manswell when the Tobagonian started his professional career last year. Manswell is currently in the United States preparing for a bout. Yesterday Thompson said he is negotiating to also have two top women boxers on the card and an announcement will be made shortly.

Last year Thompson embarked on a crusade to expose the latent boxing talent of the young local boxers offering them opportunities to fight and develop their potential. He finished the year with five successful promotions and took Manswell and Sinnette under his wings promising to do what he can to take them all the way to world championship bouts. Yesterday Thompson pledged once again to keep on the path to his objective and refuse to be distracted. “Sponsors are coming on board and we are going to begin regular cards again to keep the boxers active. We must not fail,” said Thompson.