KINGSTON, 牙买加 (七月 24, 2017) – 名人堂裁判大厅 史蒂夫·斯莫杰 and International judge Steve Weisfeld, arguably the top two worldwide in their respective positions, are both working 本周三 (七月 26) championship final of the seventh annual Wray and Nephew Rum Contender Boxing Series, outdoors on the grounds of The Mico University College in Kingston, 牙买加.

Former Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) and Jamaican welterweight champion Sakina Mullings (22-3, 14 科斯) 发生在 菲尔 “刺客” 罗斯 (9-4-1, 5 科斯) in the 10-round championship final.

Mullings’ most significant victory to date is a 12-round decision in 2013 以上 霍华德·伊士曼 (46-11), the former European champion and two-time world title challenger from Guyana. Mullings was born in Kingston and lives in Stoney Hill, 牙买加.

Fighting out of Whitby, 安大略, 加拿大, Rose stopped two-time Canadian Olympian Adam Trupish (11-1) in the second round of their 2014 战斗, and last November he upset previously undefeated Ryan Young (10-0) with an opening round knockout.

Two Jamaicans battle it out in the consolation fight as 理查德 “The Frog” Holmes (14-7, 8 科斯) faces his fellow countryman Tsetsi Davis (18-6, 5 科斯. The championship and consolation bouts are both scheduled for 10 发.

The purse breakdown for the top four fighters is $2,000,000 ($15,623 美元) for the champion, $500,000 ($3905 美元) runner-up, $250,000 ($1953 美元) third place, 和 $200,000 ($1562 美元) fourth place.

该 2017 series originally pitted 16 professional boxers, featuring eight junior middleweights from each country, Team Jamaica vs. Team Canada, fighting in qualifying rounds leading up to 周三 championship final between. This is the first year Canada has competed in the tournament. 前世界冠军 德马库斯 “劈斩” 科利, who hails from Washington D.C., was champion of last year’s tournament held in the United States.

Phil Rose & Tyler Buxton

“My fiancé is from Jamaica and I first went there looking to promote shows there,” 说 Tyler Buxton (United Boxing Promotions), who has served as consultant to the television producer, in addition to being the promoter/manager for Team Canada. “I spoke to the Jamaica boxing commissioner and he told me about past Contender shows. He was concerned about the team fighting Team Jamaica being able to fill the eight-fighter field. I agreed to bring Team Canada and it’s been a great experience for me and all the guys.

“They flew in on a 星期五, 战斗 周三, and flew back to Canada the following day. They stayed in a mansion, where there was a beautiful in-ground pool, and the fighters had their own cooks. They had to adjust to the heat having been used to fighting and training in Canada. 但, 哎, they had no problems losing weight. Everybody here has been super nice. The Jamaican media wasn’t nice to us at the beginning, claiming we weren’t good enough to compete with Jamaican fighters, but we won the first round, 5-3, and then got some respect. Our fighters even have some Jamaican fans now.”

Unlike the original version of 竞争者 在美国, which was a reality television show, 该 “Jamaican Contender” is all about fighting, no behind the scenes stories. It has aired on JTV in Jamaica, drawing 800,000 viewers for the quarterfinals, 1-million for the semifinals, 和 1.2 million viewers are projected for 周三championship final. These are incredible viewing numbers considering there are only 2.8 million people living in Jamaica. Fans outside of Jamaica may watch a live stream the championship final online via 1Stopmedia.com.

Jamaica has a rich boxing tradition, producing many world-class fighters and champions such as 迈克·麦卡勒姆, Trevor Berbick, Donovan Ruddock, 格伦 - 约翰逊, Simon Brown, 尼古拉斯·沃尔特斯, O’Neil Bell, Uriah Grant, 艾丽西亚阿什利, Alex Stewart 和 霍华德·格兰特. 在 1973, Kingston hosted the World Heavyweight Championship between a pair of future Hall of Famers, “大” 乔治·福尔曼 (37-0) 和 “斯莫” 乔·弗雷泽 (29-0), in which Foreman captured the WBC and WBA titles from defending champion Frazier by way of a second-round knockout.