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09/30/2005 Archived Entry: "Boxing From Dominica!"
Boxing From Dominica!
By Bill Donahue
[Editor's note: Bill Donahue originally sent this message, along with photos, to friend and CBZ writer, Katherine Dunn after a visit to Dominica, where he was impressed with some local boxing. Enjoy!]
I thought you might enjoy these pix. They're of some boxing matches that I stumbled upon, quite randomly, when I was in Dominica last week, touring the hills there on a bicycle.
One night, we were scheduled to stay on the Carib Indian reserve and upon arriving we found, lo and behold, that there was a series of fights being held right there on the concrete porch of our hotel. The lowly and impoverished Carib Indians against the (sort of) vaunted Dominican national team. (Dominica has a total population of only 70,000.)
Anyway, I talked at some length with the coach of the Caribs--noted featherweight Augustine Frederick*--and he spoke of how this was his fighters' first match ever. They'd been training for a year on a concrete-floored "ring," lifting rocks in lieu of weights; boxing barefoot, mostly; and often without mouth guards.
An appreciative audience enjoys the action before them
And well, the long and the short of it was that the Caribs, in red in these pix, won all four fights, the last one on a knockout about 45 seconds into the first round. They were essentially avenging long years of oppression, and so it was *bedlam* there at the hotel (recorded in my notes, not on my camera).
In any case, this guy Augustine did ask me if I knew of anywhere in the states where I might locate a source for free used equipment and I'm writing on the off chance that you might have some thoughts...
Hope all's well.
Bill
For those who would like to make donations to the Carib boxing team, please contact Carib chief Charles Williams, whose contacts are below:
Charles Williams
Carib Territory Guest House
Crayfish River
Commonwealth of Dominica
caribgh@hotmail.com
Phone: 767-445-7256
(These are the only numbers you dial; no 011)
Also, a follow-up message from Bill went as follows:
Great to see all those messages on the board. Very encouraging.
But what's critical is that this is NOT the Dominican Republic. I don't want to be a stickler, but I also don't want to see the stuff being sent to the wrong place.
Dominica is a small island nation of 70,000 midway down the line of Caribbean isles. It is tiny--just 275 square miles--and more mountainous than you can imagine. Two-thirds of it is still covered in rainforest.
Once a British colony, and frequently controlled by the French as well, it has been an independent nation since 1988. English is the official language, but in the countryside a lot of people speak a local Creole, a mix of French and old English...... it kind of amplifies the underdog quality of the place I think.
--B
