Four Bermudian Boxers Heading To Bahamas
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Four local amateur boxers will look to improve their ringcraft when they compete at a regional tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, next month.
Adrian Roach, Gabriel Curiel, Bruce Perinchief and Annan Zuill will represent Controversy Boxing Gym at the Leonard “Boston Blackie” Miller/Wellington “Sonny Boy” Rahming Memorial Championships from March 2 to 4.
Nathan Dill [pictured], the Bermuda Boxing Federation president, said the tournament will help provide the quartet with much-needed overseas experience.
Roach, who has won 17 of 22 bouts, is the most experienced of the four fighters and will use the competition as a tune-up for the AIBA Men’s World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in May.
Lightweight Curiel will make his debut in the Bahamas, while middleweights Perinchief and Zuill have both fought once already.
“We need to get our boxers more overseas experience, so they develop and grow a bit faster before they reach the national team level,” Dill said.
“We don’t want these guys’ [Curiel, Perinchief and Zuill] first overseas experience to be representing the national team.
“This tournament makes sense to us. We don’t want guys going overseas and being out of their depth.
“Our long-term goal is to try and build a [national] team so we can be eligible for team tournaments.”
Roach, who represented Bermuda at the American Boxing Confederation in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in March last year, has a busy schedule of international events on the horizon.
The welterweight hopes to compete at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador, in June and July, and the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in October and November as he looks to reach the Olympic Games in Paris next year.
Dill, who will accompany the team along with coaches Leo Richardson and Jermal Woolridge, said: “Adrian is absolutely ready for the challenge ahead and learned from his experience in Ecuador. We expect him to qualify for the CAC Games, where his performances will determine whether he fights at the Pan American Games.”
Local boxers Andre Lambe and Tyler Christopher both represented Bermuda at the previous CAC Games in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 2018. The pair have since turned professional and are undefeated after seven and five fights, respectively.
