Regatta international boxing tournament - Young Seychellois boxers shine |03 October 2016

While there were many sports to be occupied with during the annual Regatta festivities, boxing was one of the major tournaments that people came to see, especially as it took place on Friday night.

The tournament was a great one as the boxers gave it all they had to put on a good show for the decent crowd who showed up to witness these eight fights.

Of the eight bouts on offer last Friday, there were four between Seychellois boxers, while the remaining saw local fighters compete against those from Rodrigues who were invitees for the annual tournament.

Before the fights could start however, all boxers had to submit to a medical check-up by doctors who were at the scene to ensure that they were all fit to take punches inside the ring.

Speaking to Sports NATION, Dr Ken Freminot said: “The check-ups are not too detailed as we only want to ensure that the boxers do not have any injuries or conditions that could cause them problems when fighting. We will also be on site during the competition in case of any in-ring incident.”

The first bout of the day saw Dean Gabriel and Craig Bamboche square off in a 60kg contest, where both young boxers gave their best for the crowd. At the end of a closely fought match, it was Bamboche who was declared the winner on a 2-1 score.

The next fight was in the same weight class where Anthony Jérémie lost by technical knockout in the first round after taking a number of punches from Luc Zialor. After three eight counts, the referee decided that enough was enough and stopped the fight, awarding victory to Zialor.

Daniel Auguste and Christopher Jean met each other in a closely fought 64kg category bout and when the judges awarded a 3-0 win to Auguste, the public made its discontent known as it felt Jean could have at least taken a point, if not the bout.

The only all-Seychellois elite bout was between Alexson Prudence and Dave Cesar in the 60kg category and it was another exciting contest as both boxers gave their all much to the joy of the fans. It was no surprise that after three rounds, no one had a clue where this one would go and finally the judges’ verdict was a 2-1 win for Prudence.

The international bouts began with two junior boxers – Sebastiano Pierani and Rodriguais Stephano Heritte – crossing swords in the 54kg category. Pierani produced a great and very promising performance against a strong opponent and eventually won the contest on a 2-1 score to give Seychelles its first win against the Rodriguais.

Next to take to the ring was another promising Seychellois, Edrian Volcy, who was up against Jean-Christophe Casimir in a 64kg bout. Volcy was dominant in this one, making his punches count to win the contest on a 3-0 score.

There were also two fights involving elite boxers.

Seychellois Nelson Molle took on Jean Clement François in an 81kg contest and the former made his experience shown through in the contest as he looked composed and easily managed to win 3-0.

Lorenzo Bonne was the last Seychellois in action and he met Olivier Collet in the 69kg contest. This was one of the most interesting contests and Bonne really showed why he is considered one of the best young boxers in the country right now.

If there was ever going to be a knockout, this bout dared to give a few indications that it might happen to Collet, but despite getting an eight count, Collet held on, but ultimately lost 0-3 to Bonne.

At the end of the tournament, Edrian Volcy was voted the best youth boxer of the tournament, while Lorenzo Bonne received the award for best elite boxer.

All boxers also received medals and cash prizes for their efforts.

S. N.