BRETT MCGINTY IS IN Washington with a County Antrim Boxing Team and is in action tonight.
At the Washington Marriott Wardman Park, McGinty faces 19-year-old Deonte Washington.
McGinty and the other boxers, including senior champion Kurt Walker, Connor Wallace, Aiden Walsh and Dylan Duffy are out with a team under the guidance of Spike Martin and Mark O’Neill as part of the Belfast-Beltway Project.
The project is described as offering ‘an annual athletic and cultural exchange program that bridges the gaps between cultures and provides a unique opportunity for children and teenagers, many of whom have never left their own neighborhoods, to develop self-respect and respect for others, expand their horizons, experience international athletic competition and learn about the lives of their peers in other cultures.’
Every spring, the Belfast-Beltway Boxing Project offers a cross-community team of youth boxers from Northern Ireland the opportunity to travel to Washinton DC for a week to participate in cultural and educational tours with local youth and train at local gyms.
The week culminates in The Belfast-Beltway Boxing Classic, a sit-down dinner with ten rounds of amateur boxing – which takes place tonight.
2015 Commonwealth Youth Games silver medalist and six-time Irish champion McGinty takes on Washington, a 19-year-old who trains out of Diamonds N The Ruff. Washington has been in Northern Ireland twice as part of the project and will face one of the rising stars of NI Boxing in St Johnston man McGinty.
