Andre' Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

A Sportsman of the Year award for Nicholas 'The Axeman' Walters and the Chairman's Award to female fighter Alicia Ashley meant that last Friday evening's RJR Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards ceremony was a good one for the sport of boxing.

The sport's big night came 53 years after another boxer, George 'Bunny' Grant, won the first ever Sportsman of the Year award and 24 years after the iconic Michael McCallum won the last of his unprecedented seven awards in 1990. Percy Hayles, who won in 1964, is the other boxer to have won the award.

ATTENTION STRUGGLE

There was a time when boxing was quite a big deal in Jamaica, and in spite of Walters' successes as well as the emergence of the TV-friendly Contender boxing series, the sport, these days, struggles for attention and support in comparison to others.

It's largely why the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC) president Stephen 'Bomber' Jones is hoping to maximise on its current goodwill and push the local product forward with a full appreciation of what the latest boxing stars' exploits could mean for the sport in Jamaica.

"There is a Nicholas Walters out there as a result of the trend that Bunny Grant started, and we as a board need to work alongside the managers and coaches to see what it will take, to work as a team to keep it going. Once we work together, the sky is the limit, there is so much left to be done," Jones said.

"As prepared as I thought I was for it (Walters winning the award), because I really thought that he was going to win, just hearing them announce it and watching him get the award, I was overwhelmed," Jones told STAR Sports shortly after the function which was held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

"It gives us the impetus to continue in the way that we have been going because I believe we are on the path to taking boxing once again on top in Jamaica and having a tremendous impact on our youth," Jones noted.

The JBBC head is convinced that it starts with the schools.

"I believe it has to start with the development of the youth, and we have to get the sport back in the schools. Having a Nicholas Walters here now, when we get it in the schools, like we hope to do this year, and we have him as an ambassador, I think you will see another flame ignite in the sport," said Jones, who shared that there have already been encouraging signs.

andre.lowe@gleanerjm.com