THIS is a description of my
observation of the night I spent at a hotel for an event (more like a journal
entry).
I turned up at Lamana Hotel’s
Gold Club, in Port Moresby, the so-called South Pacific Capital, on Saturday night,
May 31.
No, I was not there to party
but to report on the boxing bouts scheduled “to be fought”.
Although it was not my first
time to be at Lamana at night, it was my first time to sit through not just one
boxing match – but 12 separate bouts, including 9 international fights, three
of those were for female fighters.
(The last night I was there
was last year for the French National Day celebration.)
The fights were between some
of our best national boxers and a team of Queensland/Australian champions. (I
thoroughly enjoyed watching the fighters in action and appreciated the sport a
bit more.)
The Team PNG Manager pulled
up a ringside chair for me, just beside where the master of ceremony sat.
As soon as I made myself
comfortable with my notepad and pen on the table, I started clicking the
shutter button of my camera taking shot after shot of people and the fighters
until the battery of that first camera died and I switched to using the second –
that was probably after the 10th bout.
Photo: Queensland and
Australian champion Skye Nicolson (right) in action against PNG’s Anette Kora
in the women’s 60kg category.
I observed some interesting
things.
Firstly, some women there
can really scream as supporters – even if their language skills are not good.
There was one at our back
who was screaming really loud for the PNG fighters to “kill somebody” – at
times laughing and saying “oh oh oh” really loud when a PNG fighter made some
good punches.
Then all of a sudden, she
said “cut the craps” to someone.
For a moment I was thinking
– did she mean “cut the crap”?
But then she went on
hollering nonetheless.
Secondly, a little later, there
was another lady who was screaming for a relative, I think. She sounded a bit funny.
But then the swearing stuff
came on – and I found it quite frightening; from the way she was going, she thought
that was good.
I did not say anything
because it was my first night to watch a fight at that particular place and
thought such attitude was accepted.
Oh, yeah, thirdly, there was
this white guy (possibly in his 50s) who was booing the Australians and saying
“Come on PNG, come on PNG” – and making some of the most illogical comments. (I
assumed that he is originally from Australia.)
Some of the Queensland
fighters who participated were Australian champions, as well as world-class
fighters. (I know at least one female fighter is world-class, possibly in the
top 5 in her division in the world.)
The three PNG girls who
fought lost their fights but that would help them prepare for the Commonwealth
Games next month and the Pacific Games next year.
Three of our local boys won
their international fights, including the PNG fighter in the main/final bout of
the night, Henry Umings who beat sixteen-year-old Queensland and Australian
champion, Jesse Travers, in the 64kg bout.
There were two local females
close by who were observing Travers and after the fight when he took off his
head guard, the women said: “Ey, look at him, he is just a kid.”
And yes, Travers is just a
kid but he is the Queensland champion.
Last year when he was 15,
Travers became the Australian champion by topping his weight category in the
Golden Gloves tournament.
On Saturday night, Travers’
elder brother Luke fought earlier in the 75kg and won his fight.
Overall, I enjoyed the night
... hopefully we get behind our young people and get them involved in the sport
too.
Cheers.
