SPORTS SECTION E
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2025
Boxers Hield, Williams bring home title belts By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
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ith their two belts each in both hands, professional boxing champions Carl ‘King Flashy 242’ Hield and Rashield ‘Raw’ Williams were welcomed home by local trainer and mentor Ronn Rodgers as they prepare to travel next month to fight again on the same card. The duo are back home briefly for some “rest and relaxation,” but it will be “business as usual” at Rodgers’ Strikers Boxing Club on Boyd Road as they stay committed to training. “It’s good to be back home training here with Mr Ronn Rodgers and staying as fit as we can until we head off to training
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camp,” said Hield, who was accompanied by his wife and motivator, Irina Chacon. “We will be working on our strength and conditioning.” Hield, a 38-year-old super welterweight, said he’s looking forward to fighting in Colombia at the end of the month, along with Williams, who is a 35-year-old welterweight. Appearing on the same card in their last fight in Macuto, La Guaira, Venezuela, on April 5, Hield won over Felipe Larez to stay undefeated at 11-0. He successfully defended his World Boxing Association’s FedeCaribe title and added the World Boxing Association’s FedeCaribe title to his collection. Williams, on the other hand, won over Nestor Gonzalez to push his record to 13-3 with 11 knockouts. The National Boxing Association champion claimed the FedeBol AMB title in the process. Both fighters are looking forward to their next fights at the end of May, which will provide them with the opportunity to get a top 15 world ranking, if they are successful. So for both of them, it’s important to stay focused here at home. “I’m grateful to be here with him. We both got a chance to win a title in the same ring in our last fight,” Hield said. “We travelled together as amateurs and now as pros, we’re trying to make the best of it. “We’re trying to fight for a world title before the end of our careers. So we’re trying to stay ready until we get that shot.” With the loss of his mother, Norma Hield, his greatest supporter, Hield said his wife has taken on
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ATHLETES
SUNLAND BAPTIST PLAYERS SIGN THEIR LETTERS OF INTENT By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
WARM WELCOME HOME: Shown, from left to right, are boxer Carl Hield, trainer/mentor Ronn Rodgers and boxer Rashield Williams. Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr that role and she motivates Williams also noted that “We hosted a mini trainhim every morning to get Rodgers has become a ing camp for them before up and train and stay in confidant, who is always their last fight and they shape. willing to lend a helping dominated their fights. Williams, on the other hand, no matter what situ- They are both preparing hand, said there’s no ation they find themselves to fight again in June in greater feeling than to be in. He noted that’s one a World Boxing Council able to spend some time of the reasons why they eliminator and, if they win, with his family and friends. can trust him with helping it will put them in the top “I just have to stick to them to train whenever 15 ranking and a chance to the game plan, keep myself they return home. fight for a world title.” in shape. I have a fight Rodgers, a former amaHield thanked all of coming up in June for a teur boxer turned trainer his sponsors, too many to much bigger title. and promoter, said he’s just mention, for keeping him “I feel good about doing whatever he can to motivated to fight his last myself because what we help support the two Baha- three bouts. have accomplished so far is mian pros in their quest to He also thanked Rodgbig, but there’s still more to become the world’s best. ers, who has been in his come.” “It’s always good when corner helping him to train As for his relationship they come home. This in his gym whenever the with Hield, Williams said gives us the opportunity opportunity presents itself. they were always child- to prove to the world that “I want to dedicate that last hood friends, but they got we can prepare them right fight to him,” Hield said. even closer when they here at home,” Rodgers “I have his full support. were training together in said. “We want to encour- Whenever I need anything, Cuba in 2008. From then age the youth of the nation he is always there. He was to now, they support each that if both of them can do the main man making sure other whether they are it, then they have the abil- that everything went well fighting or not. ity to do it as well. for me out there.”
AFTER helping the Sunland Baptist Academy Stingers to establish themselves as one of the top high school basketball teams in the country, Grand Bahamian players Jason Williams and Jermaine Woodside are now headed to college on athletic scholarships to the United States. At a press conference on Monday in Grand Bahama, both players in front of their family, friends and coaching staff, signed their letters of intent for Spoon River Community College in Canton, Illinois, as they prepare to play during the upcoming collegiate season. Woodside, a 5-foot, 11-inch guard, served as the Stingers’ captain, having played for the past three years, while Williams, a 6-8 forward, was only with the programme for one year before he transitioned to the United States for a post-grad high school programme. Both players, who hail from Abaco, expressed their excitement of playing basketball at the next level as they move from winning championships to becoming productive citizens. Williams thanked God for giving him the strength, his family, including his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles for pushing him and his coaches, Sunland Baptist, for affording him the opportunity to develop his skills and coach Bonnie Basden for “taking me in as a total stranger in your
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‘BUDDY’ HIELD SCORES 15 IN WIN OVER ROCKETS By JANIE MCCAULEY AP Sports Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jimmy Butler converted three free throws with 58.7 seconds left, grabbed the game-clinching rebound with 4 seconds to go and then made two more free throws on the way to 27 points in his return from a pelvic injury, sending the Golden State Warriors past the Houston Rockets 109106 on Monday night in a heated Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series. Fred VanVleet missed a 3-pointer under pressure at the buzzer.
The teams return to Houston for Game 5 in the best-of-seven series on Wednesday night as seventh-seeded Golden State tries to close out the No. 2 seed Rockets on their home floor. Brandin Podziemski scored 26 points, Stephen Curry finished with 17 in the frantic finish and Chavano “Buddy” Hield hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with
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THE SPORTS April CALENDAR ROAD TO TOKYO THE Silver Lightning Track Club is scheduled to hold its annual Track and Field Classic on Saturday, May 10, at the original Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, starting at 9am. The event, dubbed the “Road to Tokyo,” will be used as a qualifier for athletes wishing to make Team Bahamas that will compete at the World Championships
from September 13-21 in Tokyo, Japan. Interested athletes can contact coach Rupert Gardiner at 821-2836 for more information. BOCCE SPECIAL OLYMPICS CHAMPIONSHIPS SPECIAL Olympics Bahamas has announced that its National Bocce Championships is
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