Boxer Adrian Roach has hailed the performance of some of the island’s youngest fighters after a Bermuda squad picked up five medals from the Brampton Cup.

Mustafa Abdul-Jabbar and Hurven-Jay Burgess led the way for Bermuda with two gold medals and they were backed up by Zane Furbert-Tankard, who came away with a silver medal. Tristan Burgess and Murywah Swan completed the medal haul with two bronze medals.

Roach, who had competed at the competition in Ontario while at Crandall University in Canada, travelled with the squad as coach and took immense pride in the achievements of his proteges.

“I'm super proud of these guys and it’s just great that five kids out of our eight-strong squad medalled at the biggest Olympic-style boxing tournament in Canada,” Roach said.

“They put a lot of hard work into getting themselves ready and it’s amazing that guys from all three gyms could showcase their talent. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in club versus club, but this shows we are a force to be reckoned with on the international stage.”

Roach is convinced that the experience of fighting in Ontario will hold his guys in good stead.

“Everybody impressed me and even the guys who didn’t medal I think have a lot of talent,” Roach said.

“Everybody had hard fights and I don’t call the losses as losses, I call them lessons. It’s a tough schedule and more than 700 boxers are there competing. They all had tough fights but it’s really cool to see them coming up behind me. It makes me happy to see that the sport is progressing.”

Roach got one of his first tastes of life as a coach at the tournament and was surprised by how invested he became in the athletes.

“This wasn’t just about me as this was a venture between all the other coaches and professional boxers on the island, but I really enjoyed it,” Roach said.

“It's really rewarding and you feel the same level of gratitude and the same level of excitement when they win as when I win. So it was surreal every time our fighters won and did well as it felt like I won a fight myself.”