Beckles focused on enhancing Guyana’s boxing judges’ credentials

The Caribbean’s highest ranked boxing referee-judge, James Beckles, is enthused by the positive signs shown by local referees and judges at a seminar he is conducting in Guyana as a precursor to the Caribbean Schoolboys and Boxing championships, slated for August 17-19 at the National Gymnasium.

The seminar commenced on Monday and according to the Trinidadian, the Guyanese are already at a certain level.

“This is just an upgrade with the new rules from AIBA and hopefully it gives enough experience to officiate at the Caribbean championships this week because they have not done a refresher since the new manual came out in April,” the three-star accredited referee explained.

Given the short space of time, Beckles explained that the core of the seminar will focus on judging.

“We all know how that [judging] causes a stir when we have boxing in the Caribbean or anywhere in the world and we are trying to focus on that in the couple of days we have. We will do some other stuff, but we definitely will be focusing on the judging criteria and how best we can get the wonderful results.”

Beckles, who has been in the profession for 21 years, revealed that judging is one of the most critical aspects of the sport and it can dictate the exposure one as a referee can achieve.

“How you judge affects your refereeing and how far you can go. You can be a wonderful referee, but if you’re a bad judge, you still won’t go far. You need to be a good judge in order to go far in international boxing. You have to know both,” Beckles strongly advised.

The sessions are being held at the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis gym in Albouystown and close to 16 officials are set to benefit.