The ‘Frog’ Holmes show sparks calls for boxing overhaul
RICHARD “Frog” Holmes raised the bar for a serious overhauling of local boxing following his recent gritty, ultra-bold and exciting performance in the final of the Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum Contender boxing Series against the Canadian whip Ricardo “Magic Man” Salas at the Chinese Benevolent Association, boxing enthusiasts have suggested.
It was a display that many believe to have raised the bar of consciousness among local boxing literati and prompted the forceful suggestion that local boxing gyms should begin to produce better boxers from the available young talent around.
This, too, is the view of Patrick Rhone, managing director of St Andrew-based New Era Fencing, whose company is the sponsor of Holmes — the man who went down in defeat during a distinguished performance against Salas in the recent 15-fight Contender Series final over 10 rounds.
It was a fight that may go down in local boxing annals as the best and most competitive Contender final witnessed so far in the competition’s short and eventful history.
Left so pleased with the improved display by Holmes following the sponsorship he received at the end of the fight, Rhone has extended his sponsorship of the fighter to a date to be announced. “It just goes to show what a little help can do. With a bit more time, it is not far-fetched to think how Jamaica and Holmes could have been winners.
“In the aftermath of this, there is an opportunity which now exists in the local boxing consciousness that wasn’t so visible before through this Wray & Nephew Contender Series that I think all the boxing people should come together and use this opportunity to galvanise and develop the overall standard of the sport. And this, no doubt, should begin mainly at the grass-roots level with amateur boxing,” Rhone suggested.
He argued that gyms need to get back into shape so that they can produce a wider pool of boxers so that whenever the Wray & Nephew Contender boxing series comes around a greater number of better prepared boxers will be on hand to choose from.
“The thing about boxing is preparation. It is the key to success. You have to prepare the man ‘fe go out there and tek lick’. You cannot go out there just like that. When you go out there you have to be able to defend yourself. Maybe you can put back a few punches, but more importantly you have to develop a stamina to stay even four or five rounds without folding so that patrons can get their mony’s worth of ‘Lick im, Shrimpy lick im.’ Even though the opponent may be stronger, you need stamina to give yourself a chance to throw a couple punches in the hope that one may just connect.
“I think that now is the right time for something good to happen for boxing. Some of those gyms that were prominent but now dormant should now get back on their feet and start regrouping and come back with a nice pool of boxers. If we have only six gyms, each can put out eight to 10 boxers between amateur and semi-professional. And from the available gyms we should be able to come up with about 50 boxers that could put us in a good spot to start improving the overall standard.
“We used to be more active even on the international circles, CAC Games and the like. And to add fillip to the move in the overall rebirth, we can invite the Cuban boxers to come here and box as they have always provided a pool of good boxers. Their coaches can even come to Jamaica and help out with training of both our boxers and their coaches and so forth. I think local boxing at present has a good platform to encourage this type of invitation and stratification. But what we do with the platform is up to us. The writing looks good, but to persevere we just have to seize the opportunity. With this type of development, we could have a Jamaica Championship box-offs with elimination fights across the island. And then have a grand finale where there will be several categories for individual titles of Jamaica, starting from lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, super heavyweight, or based on the number of categories available,” Rhone said.
Rhone is no stranger to boxing and even tried it as a young man at a time when the temptation was high due to his youthful vigour and fitness. At the time he was a schoolmate of now boxing coach Carl Grant.
“Basically, I was always interested in boxing and Carl Grant is someone I went to school with. and in the early days when he started his Bruising Gym programme it actually started on the streets in Stony Hill. Then it was a sort of street boxing thing and I used to be part of it every Tuesday night and any time like they are giving out a Magnum or so to the winners, and they would walk around in the crowd with a big sweetie jar to collect money and at the end of the bouts the money collected was then shared up among those who took part in the boxing show,” Rhone stated.
“The set-up eventually moved up into a community centre and was called Bruising Gym. By this time Burger King came on board as sponsors. I, myself, came on board along with Tom Tavares- Finson and boxing was conducted there sometimes once a month.”
He recounted the years when Bruising Gym had several boxers from the area, one of whom was now prominent boxer Sakima Mullings, who began life under the tutelage of Grant.
“One day Carl came to me with Sakima and I basically started some sponsoring with him in the same Contender Series promotion type of thing. So, there is where the sponsoring of a boxer came in early. So, it was with Sakima Mullings first that I began sponsoring in the Contender Series. After this I continued to watch the Contender over time. ‘Frog’ Holmes was always one of the most consistent boxers in the Contender and after watching him in the first match in this Contender Series I saw where his potential continued but he seemed really in need of some additional help. I immediately gave Carl a call, telling him that I am seriously considering sponsoring Holmes with his training, his nutrition and his overall preparation for the Series. We started off with a sponsorship of $250,000 and ending up spending over $4 million all told. But to me it was money well spent as it was a gainful experience for I saw where it helped the young man and it improved the boxing programme and I am very pleased at this point,” said Rhone.
“Going forward,” Rhone continued, “Frog Holmes is now almost a household Jamaica name and when things are going for you the best thing to do is to cash in on the opportunities that will come and here at my business I will structure a programme with Carl to see how best we can assist Holmes to benefit from some of these things that are happening for him at the moment which include attracting a few fights overseas as his Canadian counterpart has shown interest in that sort of undertaking already and word on the ground is that local audiences are looking for something more from him in the not too distant future.
“We are going to have a meeting sometime shortly to see how best we can set up a programme, and put a business plan together to present it to Corporate Jamaica. At present I am Frog’s manager but that will be formalised shortly,” Rhone disclosed.