Guyana Chronicle
May 25, 2001

GUYANA'S first world boxing champion, Andrew `Sixhead' Lewis continued to enthrall people of all levels of society, catching the attention of local and foreign dignitaries at the reception hosted in his honour by President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Umana Yana Wednesday night.

The champion mingled with members of the Diplomatic Corps who took time out to admire the World Boxing Association welterweight championship belt.

Other special invitees to the function took the opportunity to pose with the champion and offer words of encouragement.

There was no formal programme with speeches but Chronicle Sport asked the president what was the meat of his talk with the champion on Tuesday.

"I said to him, apart from the things we've done, we gonna extend duty-free concession to him to bring in the stuff for his house, some vehicles and a number of things," the president said.

President Jagdeo, who is a big boxing fan, went on to say: "I hope this would give a boost to the youngsters, because whilst we are keeping our promises to Sixhead, we have to deal with the issue in a systemic way. We have to make sure that the youngsters who are enthusiastic now because of Sixhead's win, that we give them the facilities so that they can grow."

The president said he is looking forward to working with the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) in providing facilities right across Guyana so that the young people can train to produce a new crop of champions in 10-15 years time.

"We need to capitalise on the boost that his win has given to the country," the president said.

President Jagdeo said that the new gym in honour of the champion should not be the only one, but others must be built nationwide.

"In fact, I made this proposal a year and a half ago to the boxing association. So it is not now that Sixhead has won the fight," President Jagdeo said.

The president disclosed that he likes boxing, that was why he supported the teams going abroad from the government's financial resources.

President Jagdeo also met Guyana's first and only Olympic medallist, Michael Parris, and expressed similar views, promising to work with the amateur boxing body to implement plans to have boxing matches staged in various parts of the country.

The president also endorsed the general feeling that boxing will be the sport discipline to give Guyana an Olympic Gold medal.