It was standing room only last Saturday night as an enthusiastic crowd, led by member of parliament, Andrew Gallimore, and former world-rated heavyweight, Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock, turned out for the opening of the Bruisin Gym in Stony Hill, St Andrew.

The opening marked a milestone in the Jamaica Boxing Board's development programme and it is the second new gym to be opened recently. Heavy Metal Gym in St Ann, which is run by Porter Reid, was opened recently.

Bruisin Gym, which is being run by former boxer Carl 'Bunny' Grant, already has 15 young boxers registered.

Saturday's seven-bout card, which was sponsored by Burger King, featured boxers in the Novice, Junior and Open classes.

The most exciting bout was the light heavyweight contest between Kirmani Campbell and Oshane Reid, who are from the Job Walters Gym in Anchovy. It was the final bout of the night and Campbell, who already had a victory over Reid, was expected to win again.

Aggressive

Reid had other ideas, however, and was unusually aggressive. He built his attacks behind the jab and repeatedly outscored his opponent by mixing these with slick combinations. Campbell kept it close by launching his own counter attacks, but Reid's consistency earned him a decision that was popular with the large crowd.

After a slow start, Pan American bronze medallist Ricardo Smith from Hard Knocks Gym stepped up the pace in the last two rounds to gain a unanimous decision over Camion Goldson from the Stanley Couch gym. This was a hard-fought and fast-paced bout between two Jamaica representatives.

In the other bouts, the results were as follows: Kadrick Smith (G.C. Foster gym) defeated Kerome Kelly (Hard Knocks gym); Ainsworth Royes (Heavy Metal Gym) defeated Rakeem Mason (Stanley Couch Gym) on points; Cleon Phillips (Job Walters Gym) outpointed Fana Walker (Stanley Couch); Catoney Robinson (Stanley Couch) defeated Tingana Thomas (Heavy Metal) and Oraine Walters (Job Walters Gym) beat Kevin Hilton on points.