T&T’s elite box­er Don­nel Phillip cruised in­to yes­ter­day’s semi­fi­nal of the 67kg Elite di­vi­sion with a unan­i­mous de­ci­sion win over Jemel Joe­sph 5-0 on the open­ing day of the Na­tion­al Box­ing Cham­pi­onships at the South­ern Re­gion­al In­door Sports Are­na in Pleas­antville on Wednes­day night.

The fight was ex­pect­ed to be the fea­ture bout on the night fol­low­ing Phillip’s re­sume, which fea­tured his ex­pe­ri­ence of hav­ing rep­re­sent­ed the coun­try at the Olympic Qual­i­fi­er last year, as well as a de­but ap­pear­ance at the AI­BA World Box­ing Cham­pi­onships in Bel­grade, Ser­bia, where he was beat­en on points in a 60kg con­test 5-0 by Tun­ga Oyum­baatar of Mon­go­lia.

On Wednes­day, though Phillip had the up­per hand, dom­i­nat­ing every round of the three-round con­test to earn the right to face his name­sake, Shalom Phillip, in the round of four. Phillip (Shalom) squeezed in­to the semis as an out­side choice af­ter three oth­er par­tic­i­pants in the di­vi­sion, Ish­mael Hy­po­lite, Stan­ley Brooks, and Nevin By­er, did not show up for ac­tion.

Coach Vic­ki Boodram, ap­point­ed the head coach of the box­ing pro­gram ahead of the com­ing Olympic box­ing cy­cle, said the fi­nal of the 67kg di­vi­sion will take place tonight, with the win­ner ex­pect­ed to take on the Guyanese cham­pi­on in an ex­hi­bi­tion con­test.

Al­so on Wednes­day, Joshua James pulled off a unan­i­mous de­ci­sion vic­to­ry over Kel Sobers in an 80 kg novice con­test; Kestell Ram­dass of the Evo­lu­tion Box­ing Gym out­point­ed Joshua Har­riper­sad (MA); and Ma­tias Her­nan­dez re­ceived one of two walkover wins on the night at the ex­pense of Eli­jah Ho­sein.

The oth­er walkover vic­to­ry fell in­to the lap of Akeem Jack of the GFB Gym af­ter Tris­ton Pe­terkin of the TEB Gym failed to show up.

Boodram said she would be on the look­out not on­ly for vic­to­ries but for tech­ni­cal and tac­ti­cal su­pe­ri­or­i­ty, as well as dis­ci­pline.

RE­SULTS

Day 1: 22nd Jan­u­ary

67kg Novice

1. Eli­jan Ho­sein (SBE) vs. Ma­tias Her­nan­dez (FLFF) win­ner walkover

2. Akeem Jack (GFB) win­ner walkover vs. Tris­ton Pe­terkin (TEB)

80kg Novice

4. Kel Sobers (MA) vs. Jousha James (HFB) win­ner RSC 2

5. Jonathan Trim (EBG) vs. Jabari Hall (BBG) win­ner points

92+kg Novice

6. Kestell Ram­dass (EBG) win­ner points vs. Jousha Har­rop­er­sad (MA)

75kg Youth

7. Luke Tees­dale (CBG) win­ner points vs. An­to­nio Jagna (EBG)

8. Glendrown Alexan­der (CBG) vs. Zade Williams (CBG)win­ner points

67kg Elite

10. Jemel Joe­sph (SBG) vs. Don­nel Phillip (HFB) win­ner points

YES­TER­DAY’S CARD (23rd Jan­u­ary)

71kg Novice

Ray­mond James (EFC) vs. Je­re­mi­ah James (YBG)

60kg Novice

1. Shi­va Toolsie (EBG) vs. Li­jer Hem Lee (FLFF)

63.5kg Novice

2. Aiden Ram­paul (EBB) vs. Dar­rious Pitt (TEB)

67kg Novice

3. Chris­t­ian Williams (SBG) vs. Ma­tias Her­nan­dez FLFF

4. Akeem Jack (GFB) vs. Zachary Gon­za­les (HFB)

75kg Novice

5. Nicholas El­liott (HFB) vs. Xavier Camp­bell (TEB)

86kg Novice

6. Ron­del Oliv­er (HFB) vs. Dy­lan Dukhan (EBG)

67kg Elite

8. Don­nel Phillip HBG vs. Shalome Phillip (GFB)