SPORTS SECTION E
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018
NFL
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Boxer Amron Sands reflects on undefeated season By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net mron Sands had a spectacular showing in 2018, going undefeated in all five fights as a professional heavyweight boxer based out of Orlando, Florida. The performances of the 24-year-old, 6-foot, 6-inch contender enabled him to get a nomination for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s Future Star award at SuperClubs Breezes this past Saturday night. However, he suffered his first loss in his two-year career as he got knocked out by Deandre Ayton, the first round draft pick by the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association.
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Despite the loss, which won’t appear on his résumé, leaving him with a 7-0 record, Sands said he was extremely pleased with his achievement this year. “I had a very busy year,” said Sands, who was home for the awards ceremony. “I turned down a lot of fights. They just called me for a fight for CBS for December 22 in New York. I don’t know if we will take it. “If I do, that would be my first real television fight, but that’s something we haven’t decided on because this year, we were just trying to get my feet wet in the sport. But we had a really busy year.” So far the unblemished season has culminated with a TKO win over Francois Russell on October 5 at the Bryan Glazer Family ICC Auditorium in Tampa, Florida.
COACH Ronn Rodgers (left) and boxer Amron Sands. Photo: Eric Rose/BIS “I am ranked the second best heavyweight in the state of Florida,” said Sands, who had all but one of his four fights this year and six of his seven overall outside of the sunshine state. The only fight that didn’t take place in Florida was on May 28 when Sands made
his pro debut at home with an unanimous decision over Jerry ‘Big Daddy’ Butler. It was on the undercard of the first show promoted by heavyweight Sherman ‘The Tank’ Williams in his hometown at the A Social Affair and Convention Centre in Grand Bahama. Whether or not he fights
again this year, Williams already has a few fights lined up for 2019. He’s scheduled to open up in Atlanta, Georgia on January 5 and February 1, according to his management team from Fight Night Promotions. He’s training at the Orlando Boxing Academy where his coach is Jose Cruz. “Next year it’s going to be just as busy, but they are looking for me to fight for the WBC Junior World title too,” he said. “So next year we hope to make the breakthrough on the world stage.” Sands, who got started fighting as an amateur at coach Ronn Rodgers’ Strikers Boxing Club, was invited to train in Florida where he made his debut on August 5, 2017 with a TKO win over Julio Mendoza at
the Lakeland Events Center in Lakeland, Florida. “It was good. I am still training here with coach Rodgers at the Strikers Boxing Club,” Sands said. “But it’s been really good because I’ve been exposed to a lot of stuff and they are really pushing me out there to the American public. “I’ve met a number of world champions like Keith Kerman, Riddick Bowe and (Evander) Holyfield and they know me by name, not just by my face. So it’s really good. I get to go to the (Floyd) Mayweather Gym, the Golden Boy Gym.” By 2020, Sands said it’s projected that he will fight for a world title. It doesn’t matter, but he said the WBC could be the first shot. He hopes that he can also compete for the WBC
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Suns rout Saints, 73-41 By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net IT was a lopsided Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools senior boys’ basketball affair as the Temple Christian Suns delighted their home crowd yesterday with an impressive 73-41 rout over the visiting Kingsway Academy Saints. Not long after they utilised their potent full court trap defence, the Saints found themselves in a hole as they couldn’t find any answers to combat their scoring drought in the second half. In what started out as a pretty good matchup between two teams tied with identical 2-1 win-loss records, Temple Christian broke away on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 17-9 early in the first quarter and they were never threatened as they held on for a 17-11 margin at the end of the first break. With their swamping defence intact, the Suns went on to shine 32-27 at the half. But it was what they did in the third quarter that made the huge difference. They came out of the half and went on a 19-2 spurt to extend their lead to 51-29 heading into the final break. And even though they rested their starters midway through the fourth, they still managed to surge to a 22-14 advantage to seal the deal as the Suns shone with three players in double figures with Miguel Barnes leading the attack with 14 points and Garreth Edgecombe and Christian Sturrup both connecting on 13 points, while Deyton Albury added eight and Mitchell Fynes chipped in with seven. In a losing effort, McCallister Smith canned a game high 18, Ashton Webb had eight and Dacoda Johnson five, but it wasn’t enough. “Last year we played Kingsway and it was a very competitive game, so we knew they
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were going to come back with that same intensity,” said Temple Christian’s head coach Jammal Smith. “We took care of the ball and executed well on both ends of the court. “But it was our defence which made a statement today and that was critical in our victory,” he added. Smith said although they are sitting pretty good in the standings, their goal this year is to win the BAISS title and so they are just taking it one day and one game at a time. “If we can sharpen our intensity and improve on our mental focus, the sky is the limit for us,” he projected. “But we have to work hard at it every day. Nothing is going to be given to us. We have to go out there and play hard every day.” The Suns’ only loss was 48-44 to the St John’s Giants, but their biggest rout came against the Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders, whom they demolished by almost 70 points. The Saints, whose previous loss came against the Queen’s College Comets by two, simply didn’t play up to their potential and they were blown out in a game that head coach Andrew Bobb said they deserved to lose, for various reasons. “We are nursing some injuries at the moment, so I knew I had a lot of bench problems,” said Bobb, admitting that he was not trying to make any excuses. “I had to run some of my guys too long. Even when we managed to stay with them in the first half, it was kind of difficult to keep the pace up in the second half. “Other than that, I expected a tough fight. I believed my boys could have done way better. We had some careless turnovers, which were costly and the floodgates just opened after that.” Now 2-2 on the season, Bobb said he’s not giving up on his team because he feels they have a couple games they should win and enable them to get into the playoffs. “Hopefully we can recover from the injuries sooner than later and we can get some better performances off the bench,” he said. “But the objective is to just get into the playoffs and once we do, we will take it from there.” One of the highlights of the game came in the third quarter when Randall was hit with a foul and technical foul that sent Edgecombe to the line as he iced the three charity shots to extend their lead to 47-28. Then just before
ON THE REPLAY: The Temple Christian Suns routed the visiting Kingsway Academy Saints 73-41 at home yesterday in Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools senior boys action. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff the break, Albury dribbled the ball from half court through the Saints’ defence for a one-handed dunk, much to the delight of their fans.
The theatrics continued in the fourth when Sturrup scored a fading three-pointer as he fell to the floor with the Suns enjoying a 57-29 margin.
Before they were done, Nicholas Jones got another break away one-handed dunk that cushioned their 65-32 lead and they kept on cruising from there.