African Zone 4 Boxing Championship |27 February 2018

Gold medallist Keddy Agnes returns home

Keddy Agnes, the Africa Zone 4 Boxing Championship super heavyweight (+91kg) champion, returned home yesterday afternoon after beating a South African in the final on Saturday to win the gold medal.

The championship was held in Maputo, Mozambique.

Agnes and the rest of the delegation, who included 2017 best boxer Edrian Volcère who won a bronze medal in the 64kg category and coach Rival Payet, arrived home yesterday on an Ethiopian Airline regular flight from Addis Ababa and were met outside the Seychelles International Airport by the director for sports management and development in the National Sports Council (NSC), Terrence Barbe.

He presented Agnes with a hamper basket and the chairman of the Seychelles Boxing Federation, Brian Esparon handed Volcère his.

Seven countries ‒ Botswana, South Africa, Seychelles, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and hosts Mozambique ‒ took part in the week-long tournament.

Known to be a hard hitter, Agnes won a bye straight into the semifinal where he beat a Mozambican 3-0. In the final, after taking a lot of punishment in the first round, the South African could not take it any more in the second as he was pounded and knocked out with a devastating heavy right hand blow from Agnes that ended the fight.

“The fights on the whole were not easy especially with the Mozambican guy who was fighting in front of his public and I had to give it all to make it to the final and my strategy is to always control the first round and see off the other rounds. The South African came all out to catch me in the final but like I just said I always make sure I dominate the first round for me to gain advantage in other rounds,” said Agnes who added that this competition also served as a preparation for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in April later this year.

Boxer of the year 2017 Edrian Volcère was able to reach the semifinal but lost to settle for the bronze medal. He also described his fights as not easy especially in the semifinal where both him and his Zimbabwean opponent, Brendon Benet, put on a good show as they traded lots of punches which resulted in him sustaining a cut above the eye and his opponent below the eye.

He lost the fight 1-2. Before the semifinal encounter, Volcère had beaten Bokhang Khoai of Lesotho 3-0 in the quarterfinal.

Zimbabwean Benet went on to win the gold medal.

“The competition was not easy at all. I took my first fight as if I was fighting a semifinal and I passed and I was happy, but I didn’t put my hope high on the gold medal as I had to aim for the silver medal first and it didn’t come my way, so for me it’s a great experience as the cut I got on my left eye served as an indication that I am becoming a real boxer,” said Volcère who described the semifinal as a “great fight”.

Coach Rival Payet was satisfied with the level of boxing since the start of the year but would like to discuss further with Seychelles Boxing Federation (SBF) chairman Brian Esparon on training and other issues as a way forward to achieve results.

He was very satisfied with the performance of both boxers, especially Agnes whom he described as a very quick boxer but is too short for the weight category.

As for Volcère, coach Rival said if he had not pushed him to go further he would have abandoned the competition as early as the first round of the first fight.

“We have to work with him to make him understand that once you’re a boxer you fight and there is no turning back. He gets frightened too easily. He wanted to quit in both fights and in the semifinal after forcing him to continue after the second round, he put up a good show and if he had done that before he could have won the fight,” said coach Payet.  

Both Agnes and Volcère are getting ready for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in April this year. They will be in the company of another Seychellois fighter, Shain Boniface (69kg).

Agnes has also won a bronze medal this year after losing to Indian Satish Kumar in the super heavyweight (+91kg) semifinal of the Spicejet India Open international boxing championship at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in late January.

Hosts Mozambique won the competition with 14 medals including six gold, two silver and six bronze. South Africa was ranked second followed by Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Seychelles and Swaziland.

P. J.