PHILIPSBURG-- St. Maarten Boxers Malcolm Philips and Stephan Duzong won Championship Belts at the Sugar Bert National Boxing Championships in Florida.
Stephan Duzong won his fight by unanimous decision over Anthony Burgess of Virginia in the Middleweight division.
Burgess was an aggressive fight, that liked to move in close and limit an opponent’s reach. “I made sure “I did not back up,” said Stephan. “It was a tough fight. I have never fought anyone like that.” He continued, “I wanted to make sure I won.”
“In the last round I went for the knock-out. I have never tried to hit someone so hard.”
While Burgess survived the beating, Stephan’s hand has swollen up and he will be out of the ring for a few weeks.
This was Philips third time boxing at Sugar Bert and his third belt. He went up against Leonardo Garcia of Louisiana. Philips won by a split decision.
“For me the first round is an exploration. I try things and see how my opponent reacts.” Philips continued.” Then in the next two rounds I become really aggressive and take the fight to them.”
Philips and coach Duzong will be heading to Trinidad Wednesday to compete in the Caribbean Championships.
“There were more than 500 boxers at Sugar Bert,” said the Coach. “They had three rings set up. They had to get in 40 fights in each ring each day.”
Action would begin in the morning and the last fight would start around 10:00pm.
Making the trip possible by support from Pineapple Pete, Wasabi Charlie, T-shirt Max and the St. Maarten Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports.
