By Adrian Frater, Staff Reporter
Taking a swing: Dreamscape's Damian Clarke (right) takes a swing at Orane Walters of the Smoking Job Gym. Clarke won easily, much to the delight of the large Dreamscape contingent. - Adrian Frater
WESTERN BUREAU
DREAMSCAPE BOXING CLUB, led by 16-year-old boxer Courtney Simister - the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control's (JBBC) Boxer of the Year for 2001 - dominated Saturday's 13-fight card at Sheffield, Westmoreland, by winning seven of 10 bouts that had outright winners.
"I am happy and proud of my boxers as they all trained hard and are now getting the results to show for it," said an elated Robert Harris, the driving force behind Dreamscape which has produced numerous national representatives. "Boxing offers these kids a way out of poverty and a chance to become the best at something they love."
Simister, who was presented with the Boxer of the Year Trophy prior to his bout against Nicholas Walters, had to work extremely hard to prevent his opponent from spoiling his night.
The explosive Walters of Smoking Job Gym (SJG) had Simister on the run for long periods and many felt he was unfortunate not to have gotten the vote of the judges.
"I feel honoured to be named Boxer of the Year," said Simister, who won gold medals for Jamaica at both the 2001 Caribbean Junior Boxing Championship and the 2001 Ohio State Championship. "My next stop is to win a gold medal for Jamaica at the Olympic Games before turning professional."
The card, which featured five junior contests, five novice bouts, two junior exhibition contests and one open class exhibition bout, saw Ricardo Smith, Navado Malcolm, Adrian Dixon, Ricardo Munroe, Clive Cribb and Clement Rose all emerging as winners for Dreamscape.
Other results on the 13-bout card are: Ricardo Munroe (DBC) bt Kedan Forrester (SJBC), Navado Malcolm (DBC) bt Oshane Reid (SJBC), Adrian Dixon (DBC) bt Ricky Williams (GC Foster), Dwayne Burgess (DBC) bt Damion Swaby (Stanley Couch Gym), Dwayne Rose (Olympic Boxing Club) bt Dwayne Peart (Olympic Boxing Club), Clive Cribb (DBC) bt Phillip Walters (OBC), Rohan Alexander (OBC) bt Anthony Thompson (SCG), Edgar Hanson (SCBG) bt Clement Rose (Dome House BC), Ricardo Smith (DBC) bt Rudolph Hedge (SJBC) and Courtney Simister bt Nicholas Walters.
No winners were declared for the junior bouts, which featured Damion Clarke (DBC) vs Orane Walters (SJBC) and the open class bouts featuring Tsetsi Davis (GC Foster) against Courtney Harvey (SCG) and Owen Brown against Ricardo Green by virtue of the fact that they were deemed exhibition bouts.
In the presentation ceremony following the last bout, the awards given were as follows: Best Junior Boxer - Navado Malcolm, Best Novice - Rohan Alexander, Best Junior who fought and older fighter - Ricardo Smith and Best Open Class Tsetsi Davis.
