JBA boss upbeat ahead of first fight night for 2025

President of the Jamaica Boxing Association (JBA), Stephen ‘Bomber’ Jones, is upbeat ahead of tonight’s first fight night for 2025.

The boxing card is being staged under the banner of the Gloves Over Guns Futures Initiative which is designed primarily for community development.

“After having three very successful Futures events at the end of last year, we will build on that momentum with its resumption this Saturday at Stanley Couch Gym, Parade Gardens, downtown Kingston. The Future series is a platform born out of the Gloves Over Guns Initiative where the future stars of Jamaica get to showcase their talent and the public gets to see first-hand the journeys of our champions from the outset,” Jones said.

“Saturday will feature our grassroots boxers from high schools, elite boxers on the road to the Olympics 2028 and culminating with two exciting pro bouts. So, it’s a good start to the year and we’ll be having a card the last Saturday of every month,” Jones added.

There will be 11 bouts overall and the night will start with novice boxers who are going into the ring for their first competitive fight and will move on to experienced boxers then to the pros.

Boxers from clubs all across the island and some schools such as Irwin High in St James, Muschett High in Trelawny as well as from Penwood High in the Corporate Area have been preparing to showcase their skills. Action begins at 7 p.m. Some of the clubs who will be battling for supremacy are the Jamaica Defence Force who has a very strong team, Suga Gym of Olympic Gardens, Port Antonio Gym and Fit Like a Fighter Initiative out of Portmore.

The sponsors include Sandals Foundation, KFC and Good Life Water.

The fight night comes on the back of the clinic for coaches which was held in January at the Stanley Couch Gym under the guidance of Ava Sturm, a sports performance coach out of Canada. The clinic attracted 20 coaches from across the island.