NASSAU, BAHAMAS- With The Bahamas’ borders reopening on July 1, Bahamian professional boxer Lester Brown Jr. was looking to get a fight one month later but that was postponed due to a rise in COVID-19 confirmed cases in the United States of America (USA).
Brown was set to fight American Jesus Vasquez Jr. on Saturday, August 1, in New Mexico, USA. The fight was set to be a championship fight for the American Boxing Federation (ABF) featherweight title.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a spike in confirmed cases in the USA. According to the Johns Hopkins University and Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center, as of yesterday afternoon, the total number of confirmed cases was over 2.4 million.
Asked if he wants to fight in an alternative location other than the USA, Brown said he would not mind fighting in Mexico, but is not fully on board with that location either.
He said he has been working out during the COVID-19 pandemic and is in good shape, ready to hit the ring. He said his focus for this fight was on dropping weight naturally.
“I was mainly working on dropping weight naturally instead of having to drain myself for a weigh-in, so that’s what I needed to work on the most for my next fight in the near future,” Brown said.
Brown’s father, Lester Brown Sr., and his uncle, legendary boxer and trainer Ray Minus Jr., have been training him locally.
The younger Brown had a tough year a year ago, winning one match to start the year off before ending the year with two draws and losing two matches. His only victory was against American Alvin Brown in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The Bahamian said he has learned from the fights he lost and drew.
“My last couple bouts taught me a lot,” Brown Jr. said. “For one, if you see the knockout, go for it because fighting in someone else’s hometown, the judges appear to be biased. In my last bout, I blame myself for how it went because I was dehydrated and knew I was dehydrated and still went on and went in the ring. Dropping 15 pounds in less than two days can be very draining and I just couldn’t recover the next day, so I learned that the hard way.”
His last match was against Cuban Manuel Correa in Miami, Florida. He lost that one by way of technical knockout (TKO) in the third round. That fight was for the vacant ABF super featherweight title.
Brown’s record now stands at 4-2-3 (wins/losses/draws). The 25-year-old said it was unfortunate that matches didn’t go the way he wanted them to go last year.
There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the sports world, especially as other countries reopen their borders to international travel. Restarting sports is a difficult task, especially a contact sport like boxing. Brown hopes he can get a fight scheduled in short order. He said he is hungry to get back in the ring, and would love to do so, once it’s safe and secure.
