Latest news with #Conde
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Chicago Sky Draft Pick Dealt Bad News Before WNBA Season
The Chicago Sky made a unique choice in the 2019 WNBA Draft. They selected Spanish forward María Conde in the third round, who spent two seasons playing at Florida State in college. Conde never made her way to the United States, however, so it was essentially a wasted pick by the Sky. She chose instead to play professionally in Europe, joining teams in Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. Advertisement It is rare for a late-round pick to gain any traction in the WNBA anyway, but especially for a player with so little experience. However, there were two players drafted after her that have carved out multi-year careers in the WNBA. Former Chicago Sky draft pick María Conde (22).Kyle Terada-Imagn Images When it came time for the Golden State Valkyries to pick players during the 2024 expansion draft, Chicago still had the rights to Conde. New head coach Natalie Nakase selected Conde in hopes that she would make the trek to the Bay Area. The Valkyries waived several players on Wednesday and announced their final roster. Unfortunately, Cande did not make the team, which means she will likely head back to the Czech Republic and play for ZVVZ USK Praha. Chicago, on the other hand, has hit on several draft picks in recent years under general manager Jeff Pagliocca. Last year's rookie duo of Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso looks to be one of the best in the league already. Advertisement The Sky also grabbed Hailey Van Lith and Maddy Westbeld this year, both of whom made the final roster. If Slovenian star Ajša Sivka can join the fold next year, it will be a completely new era for the Sky full of homegrown talent. Related: Hailey Van Lith Turns Heads After Chicago Sky Practice Video Surfaces Related: Angel Reese Gifts Every Sky Teammate Before Caitlin Clark Game
Winnipeg Free Press
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Semi-pro FC Laval looks forward to Canadian Championship test at CPL's York United FC
FC Laval has had the date circled on its calendar for months now. On Tuesday, the semi-pro Ligue1 Quebec champion visits York United FC of the Canadian Premier League in preliminary-round play in the Telus Canadian Championship. 'We're very very eager to be on the pitch (Tuesday),' said Laval coach Amro Radwan. 'They've been working hard for this. It was an objective last summer. They're really excited about this opportunity.' Laval lost 3-0 at Forge FC in preliminary-round play in 2023 in its only other trip to the cup competition. In the other cup game Tuesday, Pacific FC hosts Vancouver FC in an all-Canadian Premier League matchup. On Wednesday, it's Halifax Wanderers at Forge in another CPL showdown in Hamilton and League1 B.C.'s TSS FC Rovers at Winnipeg's Valour FC. Four teams have already made it to the two-legged quarterfinals, including the MLS-leading Vancouver Whitecaps who received a bye into the final eight as defending champion. CF Montreal dispatched Toronto FC in a penalty shootout, CPL champion Cavalry FC blanked League1 Alberta's Edmonton Scottish 6-0 and CPL-leading Atletico Ottawa downed League1 Ontario's Scrosoppi FC 2-0. The York-Laval winner will face Ottawa in the quarterfinals while the Pacific-Vancouver FC survivor takes on Cavalry. Laval, which topped Ligue1 Quebec last year with a 12-5-3 record, has had just one league outing to date this season — a 3-1 win at CS St-Hubert on April 25. But Radwan says the team has been training since January, 'We've had enough games and training to make sure we're ready for this challenge,' he said. The team, which only has a couple of holdovers from the 2023 squad that played in the cup competition, gets together three or four times a week in advance of matches. The young talent on the Laval squad includes forward Ibrahim Conde, the lone Canadian invited to the MLS College Showcase in San Diego in December. Conde is a good friend and former college teammate of Canadian international defender Moise Bombito at Iowa Western Community College and the University of New Hampshire. 'He's a top talent and we've got a few other players of similar quality to Ibrahim,' said Radwan, who also coached Conde as a youth. 'It's a really talented group — boys who've know each other for a long time so they're familiar with each other on the pitch.' Lava's co-captains are central midfielder Quentin Paumier and centre back Bilal Bouchemella. Radwan's choices in goal are Martin Cantona and 19-year-old Aydan Kancel-Marie. 'We're aware of what they can bring,' said York coach Mauro Eustaquio, whose team is coming off a 2-1 loss to visiting Cavalry on Friday. 'So it won't be an easy game. They have quality players, they're well-coached and they're here to prove a point as well.' York (1-3-1) currently stands sixth in the eight-team CPL and is winless in four games (0-3-1) since the season-opening 2-0 victory at Vancouver FC on April 6. Eustaquio's team, been hit by injuries, is still finding its footing. 'We've shown what we can do with and without the ball … The results haven't been going our way,' said Eustaquio. 'The players understand the way we want to play,' he added. 'We've had really good spells but then we just turn off in certain (moments) and we've been punished by that … Tuesday is another opportunity that we have to show what we can do.' Pacific FC at Vancouver FC The teams drew 1-1 when they met in league play April 26 in Langley, B.C., with French midfielder Aly Ndom scoring the tying goal for Pacific in the 70th minute. Veteran Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas Mezquida, a former Whitecap, had given Vancouver the lead in the 17th minute. The rivalry between the two was shown by the game's seven yellow cards and one red. Vancouver (1-2-2) is fourth in the CPL standings, three places but just one point ahead of Pacific (1-3-1). It is unbeaten in its last three outings (1-0-2) since dropping its first two games of the campaign (against York and Ottawa). 'They have a lot of quality in the higher area of the pitch in (Alejandro) Diaz and Terran Campbell and Mezquida,' said Pacific coach James Merriman. 'This is a very good front three and we need to make sure that we're focused on the detail for 90-plus minutes, because, as you see, they can get one or two chances and they take those chances.' Pacific (1-3-1) has not won since the season-opening 2-0 win over visiting Valour. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Vancouver is looking for its first cup win, losing by 1-0 scores in the preliminary-round at York in 2023 and at Cavalry last year. 'We're growing not only every season but also every match, especially this season,' said Vancouver coach Afshin Ghotbi. 'We're in a very good place. All the players feel very confident. At the same time humble and they're hungry for more.' The Canadian Championship winner hoists the Voyageurs Cup and wins $50,000 and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the elite club competition in North and Central America and the Caribbean. — This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2025.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Guinea's Military Junta Is Digging In for the Long Haul
In early April, the military-led government of Guinea announced a constitutional referendum for Sept. 21, with at least a presidential election likely to follow later this year. The announcement seems to be an attempt by the country's interim leader, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, to accelerate his efforts to normalize his regime. The polls are expected to mark the end of the 'transition' back to constitutional rule after the military coup led by Doumbouya—then a colonel—against then-President Alpha Conde in September 2021. But Guinean authorities no longer speak of a 'transition,' instead referring to a 'refoundation' of the state, while openly asserting their intention to remain in power. Ever since the coup three and a half years ago, the National Committee for Reconciliation and Development, or CNRD—as the junta named itself—has implemented delaying tactics to postpone the return to constitutional order. It organized 'national consultations' and 'political dialogues,' all of which were boycotted by the main political parties, and claimed that it needed to conduct a census to create a new electoral roll. It has spent the past year drafting a new constitution, whose text so far remains a closely guarded secret. The goal was to gain time to consolidate power and eliminate opponents, even as Doumbouya promised he would hand power back to a democratically elected civilian government. The CNRD knew its legitimacy was weak, based solely on having overthrown Conde, a president widely despised by Guinea's population. By contrast, a number of political parties—especially the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, or UFDG, led by Cellou Dalein Diallo—had greater democratic credibility from having opposed Conde's controversial bid for a constitutionally prohibited third term in 2020. As a result, quick elections after the coup could have cost the CNRD its hold on power, most likely in favor of Diallo. That is why Diallo, who like other opposition and civil society leaders initially welcomed the coup, soon became a target of the new regime. He went into exile in 2022 after the CNRD seized and demolished a house he owned in the capital, Conakry, claiming he had acquired it illegally while serving as a minister two decades earlier. Shortly afterward, the judiciary launched an anti-corruption investigation against him related to the privatization of the state-owned airline, Air Guinea—a case dating back 20 years. Today, it is unclear whether he will even be able to participate in future elections. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. The CNRD also co-opted several UFDG grandees, including Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, whose tensions with Cellou Dalein Diallo are well known. The CNRD appointed Ousmane Gaoual Diallo as government spokesperson in November 2021, for which he was expelled from the UFDG the following June. He went on to form a dissident faction of the UFDG in February 2024, even as legal proceedings he brought to contest his expulsion continue, all of which has destabilized his former party. The government has also neutralized its other main challengers. Conde went into exile in Turkey in 2022, and former Prime Minister Sidya Toure fled to Cote d'Ivoire that same year. In any case, both will be barred from running because the new draft constitution will likely stipulate that candidates must be under 80 years of age. Another political leader, the young and popular Aliou Bah, was sentenced in early January to two years in prison for 'insult and defamation' against Doumbouya after criticizing the lack of transparency in the management of the $20 billion Simandou iron ore mining project. Still awaiting the verdict of his appeal, it is likely Bah will be behind bars during the presidential election. The international context is now similarly favorable to the junta. In Gabon, Gen. Oligui Nguema easily won the country's presidential election earlier this month, its first following his coup in 2023, as did Chadian President Mahamat Deby in May 2024, following his unconstitutional seizure of power in 2021. Meanwhile, the countries of the Alliance of Sahelian States, or AES—Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger—have resisted international and some domestic pressure to hold elections, to the point that they are no longer facing any urgency to do so. As for the international community, it seems largely indifferent to Guinea. The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS—West Africa's regional bloc—mainly wants to avoid losing another member after the AES countries' withdrawal earlier this year. France is trying to avoid a diplomatic rift with yet another former colony. And the U.S. under President Donald Trump cares little for democracy promotion abroad or for engagement with Africa. To the extent that foreign powers take any interest in Guinea, it is to attempt to secure a share of its immense mineral wealth, including reserves of iron ore, bauxite and gold. So if the CNRD is now rushing to organize elections, it is less due to any international pressure and more because it has eliminated all major political opponents and faces no real competition. Posters glorifying Doumbouya are now ubiquitous in Conakry, and local officials are organizing a stream of rallies in his honor in smaller towns, while prohibiting other parties from holding their own demonstrations. Though Doumbouya has not yet officially declared that he will run in the upcoming presidential election, government officials openly refer to him as their candidate. Additionally, the CNRD has decided that the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, or MATD, will oversee the polls, rather than the Independent National Electoral Commission, or CENI, as had been the case since 2010. As a result, the UFDG has denounced the upcoming poll as an 'electoral farce,' claiming the MATD is under CNRD control. Indeed, military personnel run the administration, with a retired general leading it and the country's governors, prefects and sub-prefects all hailing from its ranks. At the local level, the CNRD has removed any remaining checks and balances by dismissing elected mayors and appointing interim ones, giving the junta full control over the organization of the elections. Meanwhile, repression of dissenting voices has become particularly harsh. The CNRD has shut down major broadcast media outlets and banned protests. On the occasions that political parties and civil society groups have tried to defy the ban, security forces have responded violently. In total, there have been nearly 60 deaths in various protests between June 2022 and December 2024, according to Human Rights Watch. While protest-related killings had already occurred under Conde, a new type of repression has emerged under the junta: enforced disappearances. Civil society leaders Mamadou Billo Bah and Fonike Mengue, journalist Habib Marouane Camara, and government official Saadou Nimaga were kidnapped in 2024, and no one has heard from them since. Today, CNRD opponents live in fear. The repression has even reached inside the CNRD itself: Gen. Sadiba Koulibaly, whom the CNRD had appointed chief of General Staff, fell out of favor and died in custody under suspicious circumstances in 2024. The recent presidential pardon granted to Moussa Dadis Camara, who headed a previous junta in 2008-2009, appears to be part of a strategy to solidify alliances ahead of the upcoming election. Camara was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for crimes against humanity related to his role in the September 2009 Conakry Stadium massacre, when security forces under his control trapped attendees of an opposition rally in the stadium, killing more than 150 and raping over 100 women. The CNRD had organized Camara's trial to appeal to the international community by marking a break with the impunity that has historically prevailed in the country. While the pardon came as a shock to victims and human rights advocates, it offers the CNRD many political benefits. To begin with, it will help Doumbouya win support in Camara's home region, Forest Guinea, where the latter remains popular. It also helps him tighten his grip on the military, which includes many enlisted personnel from the region who were upset by Camara's sentencing. Finally, it was likely an attempt to calm popular sentiments in Forest Guinea following a more recent tragedy at Nzerekore stadium, in the regional capital, in December 2024, when a police intervention in an overcrowded stadium during a football match in Doumbouya's honor caused a stampede, resulting in around 100 deaths. Local nongovernmental organizations have accused the authorities of hiding bodies in an attempted cover-up. Still, Doumbouya does not appear at ease. He never moves without being accompanied by a large contingent of Special Forces personnel; the elite unit, which Doumbouya led before his coup, has now become a de facto presidential guard. He rarely speaks in public and makes few nonspeaking appearances either. He lives in seclusion, mostly on an island off the coast of Conakry, and has delegated the running of the country to close associates, particularly his chief of staff, Djiba Diakite, and the secretary-general of the Presidency, Gen. Amara Camara. Incidents such as the death of Koulibaly in custody and the spectacular escape from prison in 2023 of Claude Pivi—one of the military men indicted for the September 2009 massacre who clearly had inside help for his escape, though he was later recaptured—have made Doumbouya suspicious of his own military. Some sources report tensions between the well-equipped and well-paid Special Forces and the regular army. Another coup is not out of the question. The momentum in Guinea is clearly not moving in the direction of democracy. As elsewhere in West Africa, a military regime is consolidating its power, yet another sign of a new era in the region. Unlike during the 1990-2020 period, when military regimes often failed to stay in power, the years since 2020 are reminiscent of the Cold War era, when military rulers stuck around for years. Doumbouya clearly intends to do the same in Guinea. But it remains to be seen whether he, or some other rival in uniform, succeeds. Tangi Bihan is a journalist based in Guinea, where he is a correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI). He writes also for Afrique XXI and Le Monde diplomatique. The post Guinea's Military Junta Is Digging In for the Long Haul appeared first on World Politics Review.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Yahoo
South Londoners jailed in April so far including three murderers and YouTuber
A man who celebrated the killing of Lee Rigby in YouTube videos, three murderers and an man who stabbed his ex-partner with a tyre repair tool are among the south Londoners jailed so far this month. Here are the names and faces of the men who are have been sentenced to prison time in April 2025 so far. Jason Conde (Image: Met Police) Jason Conde, 41, stabbed his ex-partner six times with a tyre puncture repair tool then burnt his clothes in the woods. The incident took place on May 9 last year when the victim, the mother of one of Conde's children, went to his home to confront him over a parenting issue, prosecutor Gary Venturi told Croydon Crown Court. Conde claims she was 'spoiling for a fight' and was armed with a police-style baton, something the woman denies. A fight broke out instantly during which the victim felt a number of heavy blows to her body, she didn't know it at the times but Conde had stabbed her six times with a sharp point tyre repair tool. Conde stopped his attack when the woman began coughing up blood, the court heard. Conde was jailed for three years and four months. Read the full story - Orpington man stabbed mum of his child six times with tool Tyler Roberts-Emmanuel (Image: Met Police) Tyler Roberts-Emmanuel, 19, murdered 30-year-old Shaquille Graham outside Silks nightclub in Catford. Shaquille was shot dead in the back of the neck in the early hours of March 10 last year. Roberts-Emmanuel was noted by a judge to be a 'confident and outgoing person' and had run his own drug-dealing business selling cannabis for two years. She told Roberts-Emmanuel: 'There was no link between you and Shaquille Graham and therefore it is likely you were acting under the direction of others." Natasha Barrow, the victim's mother, described the 'devastation' of losing her only son. She said: 'The heinous and cowardly way he was taken away from us adds poisonous salt to an irreparable wound.' His father, Norman Harris, said his son was taken away in a 'senseless act of violence' 'We gave him life and no one else had the right to take it and him away from us,' he said. Roberts-Emmanuel was jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years. Read the full story - Teen who fatally shot man outside Catford's Silks nightclub jailed Keahn Williams (left) and Kai Nelson Palmer (right) (Image: Met Police) Keahn Williams, 20, from Coulsdon, and Kai Nelson-Palmer, 17, from Croydon, murdered 22-year-old Lucas Sutton. On April 26, 2023, Lucas was lured to an address in Croydon where he was joined by his former friends Williams and Nelson-Palmer. Whether Lucas knew the others were going to be there is not clear, but he left the flat with Williams and Nelson-Palmer to walk to a shop to buy drinks. Unbeknownst to Lucas, they had been exchanging Snapchat messages in the days leading up to the meeting with the intention of attacking him. As they returned from shop in Northbrook Road, Williams produced a knife and stabbed Lucas who was caught completely unaware. He dropped the drinks he was holding and ran, pursued by Williams and Nelson-Palmer. Williams caught up with him as he ran along Mayo Road and stabbed him again before both the assailants fled. Both men have been jailed for life - Williams will serve at least 23 years, and Nelson-Palmer will serve at least 16 years. Read the full story - Pair sentenced for murder of Lucas Sutton in Croydon Viet Tran (Image: Manchester Police) Viet Tran, 22, of Leigh Crescent in New Addington, travelled 240 miles to stab his ex-girlfriend and a man she was on a date with after tracking her using the dark web. In the early hours of August 4 last year, a Vietnamese man and woman were on a first date in Manchester City Centre when a man sprayed UV paint in their eyes to disorientate them before stabbing them both. 'At the moment I was stabbed, I had the genuine belief that I was going to die,' said the male victim. Both victims survived the attack, which at first appeared to be completely random. But detectives soon revealed that it was carried out by Tran who had been meticulously planned the trip to Manchester to carry out the attack. Tran was determined to cause harm following the breakdown of their relationship and became obsessed, police said. He paid someone on the 'dark web' to hack her phone to enable him to track her and see her private messages. Tran was jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of Section 18 and Section 20 assault. Read the full story - Croydon thug Viet Tran stalked and stabbed ex-girlfriend Royal Barnes (Image: Met Police) Royal Barnes, 34, glorified and laughed at the murder of Woolwich soldier Lee Rigby in videos posted on YouTube. In videos he hailed the murder as a 'brilliant day' and mocked the outpouring of public grief, laughing uncontrollably as he drove past floral tributes. Barnes was jailed for over five years in March 2014 for inciting terrorism overseas and three counts of transmitting a terrorist publication. He has now been returned to jail for four and a half years after breaching his notification requirements Lee Rigby was murdered by Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, as he returned to his barracks in Woolwich on May 22, 2013. Read the full story - Man who glorified Lee Rigby's murder in Woolwich jailed again Kurtis Hoyte (Image: NCA) Kurtis Hoyte, 35, from Beckenham, was jailed after his encrypted phone showed he imported half a tonne of cocaine worth £17 million. He was arrested in May 2020 after he was observed handing over five kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of £180,000 to the driver of a flat-bed truck near Beckenham Hill Station. At the time, officers seized three phones from him, one of which was an encrypted EncroChat device. It was found that he used this to orchestrate the importation of 540 kilos of cocaine over a nine-month period between June 2019 and March 2020, using the handle 'retroblade'. Hoyte has been jailed for 18 years. Read the full story - Beckenham drug dealer jailed after importing cocaine worth £17m Tzolio Kampasa (Image: Met Police) Tzolio Kampasai, 32, of Upper Norwood, ambushed a woman on her walk home in Tooting before violently assaulting and trying to rape her. He attacked the woman as she walked alone along a footpath near Tooting Bec Road on April 14 last year. After the attack, he drove to Dover and boarded a ferry in an attempt to evade police. A major manhunt was launched, and he was arrested around four weeks later when he returned to the UK. Kampasai was found guilty of attempted rape, two counts of sexual assault, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He has now been jailed for nine years. Read the full story - Tooting attempted rapist jailed after major manhunt Brockley man Jonathan Watson (centre) was jailed for street fight involving his brother Kenneth Watson (right) and Lenny Evans (left) (Image: Cambs Police) Jonathan Watson, 38, of Ivy Road in Brockley, has been jailed for a street fight in which his brother and another man were stabbed. Police received a flurry of 999 calls about a fight on Hornbeam Close in the town of March, Cambridgeshire, at around 1pm on March 18, 2023. Lenny Evans, 33, and Kenneth Watson, 43, were facing up to each other with baseball bats and started brawling when Jonathan Watson got out of a car and joined in. All three men fled when police arrived but Jonathan Watson was seen in his Audi at the end of the road and arrested. Police then received a call from the ambulance service reporting that a man who had been dropped off at a nearby filling station had been stabbed. Evans had stab wounds to his face, hand and torso, and was taken to Addenbrookes Hospital. Kenneth Watson also received multiple stab wounds to his head during the brawl. Jonathan Watson was jailed for two years and two months for affray and was given an additional four months for dealing cannabis. Kenneth Watson, of Hornbeam Close in Cambridgeshire, and Evans, of East Drive in Cambridgeshire, were both jailed for two years and two months for affray. Read the full story - Brockley drug dealer Jonathan Watson jailed for street fight Elijah Henry-Goodin (Image: BTP) Elijah Henry-Gooding, 27, was stopped by plain clothes British Transport Police officers in Richmond and found to have drugs in his underwear. They had intelligence that he was carrying a county lines phone and was regularly coming to Richmond to sell drugs at the station and nearby areas. During the search, Henry-Gooding was found to be in possession of £760 in cash and two mobile phones - one of these was a Nokia burner phone confirmed as the drugs line phone. While in custody, a strip search uncovered a large clingfilm-wrapped package hidden in Henry-Gooding's underwear. It contained 64 wraps of crack cocaine and 37 wraps of heroin. A folding lock knife was also found hidden on him. Henry-Gooding was jailed for three years and two months.
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘This was for her': how boxing brought a mother and son back from the brink
Reese Mistretta wasn't thinking about history after he climbed through the ropes on Saturday night. He was thinking about his legs, which felt like cement. About his lungs, which wouldn't quite fill. And about the man across from him: Ali Conde, a sinewy technician from El Maestro's Gym in the Bronx who has made his mark by waiting for opponents to strike first, then exploiting their openings. Two nights earlier, Mistretta had narrowly beaten Conde under the lights of Madison Square Garden in the elite 176lb final of the Ring Masters Championships, New York's premier amateur boxing competition. But the finals are double elimination. If Mistretta wanted to bring home the title, he'd have to beat Conde a second time at a sweaty gym in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn. 'He definitely came back, re-corrected, he put it on me a little bit more,' Mistretta said. 'So I had to be a little busier, not get countered at the same time. He's a good counterpuncher.' His mom wasn't just a spectator. Desiree Mistretta, who won the New York Golden Gloves herself in 1999 and again in 2005, was also in his corner: coaching him, centering him, carefully watching every exchange. When the decision was announced and Reese was declared the winner, they became more than just relatives with a shared calling. They became the first ever mother-son duo to win titles in the New York Golden Gloves, the world's longest-running boxing tournament besides the Olympics. 'That's everything,' said Reese, who is 26. 'This tournament specifically was for her. I have my own goals – we want a national title too – but this was the sweet spot. We became the pair.' The Ring Masters Championships is the legal successor to the Golden Gloves in New York. The name changed after a 2017 trademark dispute between USA Boxing Metro and the Daily News Charities, but the general structure remains intact: elite- and novice-class tournaments, culminating in finals at Madison Square Garden that once attracted throngs of more than 20,000 spectators at the peak of boxing's popularity. Winners at the elite level today receive a custom-designed ring and qualify for the national Golden Gloves tournament. The New York Golden Gloves, started in 1927 by Daily News sports editor Paul Gallico in a gambit to boost the infant tabloid's circulation, has long been one of the most prestigious amateur sporting events in the world. Past winners include some of the sport's most towering figures: Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson, Héctor Camacho, Mark Breland, Riddick Bowe. But while some participants go on to fight professionally, most use the competition as a proving ground for something deeper: self-respect, self-control and the belief that they belong. Desiree still has her first winner's necklace, the 10-carat-gold miniature gloves awarded for decades by the Daily News before the legal dispute ended its use. It's smaller, daintier than the rings now given to champions. She wore it around her neck this year. Reese's will be newer: thick, gleaming, heavy with meaning. Their story spans decades, weight classes and generations of New York boxing. Desiree took up the gloves in 1997 after battling substance abuse and depression in her 20s. 'I struggled with addiction, alcoholism, depression and all that stuff,' she said. 'It just seemed like something intrigued me. And once I started, that was it. I just loved it. I loved everything about it. I love punching. Just the fun of moving your head and making someone miss, being able just throw one down the middle and pop 'em.' She found her way to the doors of the Academy of Boxing for Women in Huntington, Long Island, and something clicked. 'If it hadn't said 'for women', I might not have walked in,' she said. Only two years prior, women had finally been allowed to compete in the Golden Gloves after local fighter Dee Hamaguchi campaigned for their inclusion. She took instruction from coach Rich Mancina, who primarily worked with women. 'At first, I was pummeling,' she said. 'I didn't see three rounds until the Golden Gloves. All my fights got stopped early because the referee stopped them.' Desiree's first white collar fight was at Gleason's Gym and she didn't know she was pregnant at the time. ('I ended it in the first round,' she recalled.) She dropped out of the Golden Gloves because of the pregnancy. But a year later, after giving birth by C-section in September, she returned to the gym and won the 1999 edition in the 156lb women's category by outpointing the more seasoned Jill Emery. 'I was on my way to the gym the morning I went into labor,' she said. 'Back to my pre-pregnancy weight in 30 days.' Then 28, she went on to place runner-up at Nationals. 'We were just starting,' she said. 'I absolutely feel like I'm one of the pioneers. Kathy Collins, Jill Emery, Jean Martin, Stella Nijhof, Jamie McGrath – we were all in the dark, like the infancy of [women's] boxing in New York.' Desiree was already out as queer before she began boxing, even while in a relationship with Reese's father. She found enduring support in both the LGBTQ and sober communities, which continue to be vital for her and Reese. Her first girlfriend worked near the gym where she trained. 'That's how I found the Academy,' she said. 'It was all connected.' Eventually, she stopped fighting to start a family. Then she relapsed. When she got clean again, she decided to make one last run before she aged out at 35. That's when she met Joe Higgins, the former marine and firefighter who ran the Freeport PAL gym on Long Island. Together, they won the 2005 Golden Gloves in her last year of eligibility. Reese grew up around boxing but tried other things: BMX biking, DJing, wrestling. He sparred a bit as a junior, but didn't recommit until a few years ago. 'I had a rough couple of years,' he said. 'I kept having a bad winter after bad winter. I tried for a job with the fire department and didn't get it. And it hurt. It really hurt. I wasn't doing well mentally. I went back to boxing because I needed to.' Desiree didn't push. 'She never made me do boxing,' Reese said. 'Not once.' She focused instead on supporting him: driving, cooking, coaching. 'This is harder for me emotionally,' Desiree said. 'Back then I had my weight, my training. This is different. It's dealing with my son's emotions. We've all sacrificed to support him so much.' Back at Freeport PAL, the old rhythms returned. Higgins, the same boxing lifer who had trained Desiree, took Reese under his wing. 'I've known him my whole life,' Reese said. 'Now I've earned his respect as one of his boxers.' The tournament didn't come easy. Reese had entered the same event a year earlier, only to suffer a broken jaw during sparring one day after Christmas. 'Boxing was my savior,' he said. 'Then it became the source of my pain. So to come back and win? Full circle.' Last month he was outpointed by Rodney Phoenix from the Harlem House of Champions in a grueling preliminary bout. Then came the first meeting with Conde on Thursday night at the Garden's 5,600-seat theater. Reese controlled the tempo, moved well, won on points. But he had to do it again. Between bouts, Desiree barely slept. 'I didn't want to pressure him because of the history,' she said. 'But we both had it tucked away in the back of our mind.' The second bout, at the New York Fight Club in south-east Brooklyn, was tougher. Conde adjusted, stepping up his punch volume. Reese had to match him move for move and he did cleanly. And when the referee raised his hand again, he knew what it meant. 'I've won all three New York tournaments now,' Reese said. 'This was the one that mattered most.' The win was personal for both of them – but also for the memory of Patrick Day, the former Freeport PAL standout who died from injuries sustained in the ring in 2019. 'We both have tattoos for him,' Desiree said. 'Even Reese's trunks have 'All Day' and the Haitian flag [a tribute to Day's Haitian-American background]. I saw Patrick when he was a teenager, when he first came to the gym, and I was there encouraging him. Then Patrick was there encouraging Reese. He was a role model to my son. He's got a special place in our heart. We have a very beautiful story in this gym – with Joe Higgins, with Pat. It all comes together.' Reese can also remember watching his mom win the 2005 Gloves at the Garden when he was six years old. 'The theater is big and it's got the nice lights, but it's not like a massive stadium,' he said. 'But when I was a kid, that's how I remember it. I remember being like the Colosseum, being like too big for me to even comprehend. And I remember seeing her after she won with my coach Joe. I think about that moment a lot now, having won it at MSG.' Next up is the National Golden Gloves in Tulsa. After that? He's not sure. 'You know, I'm kind of an as-I-go type of person,' he said. 'If I get an opportunity to go pro and my coach thinks I'm ready, I'd do it. But I won't do it without their support. I want to keep winning and I really want that national title. That would be, I think, another first mother-and-son accomplishment.' Desiree will be on the apron in Oklahoma, cheering, working the corner, maybe crying more tears of pride. 'It's not about living through him,' Desiree said. 'It's about sharing this part of myself with him. Seeing him grow into his own man, that's the real win.' They didn't just win titles. They fought their way back – in sweat and in stillness – from setbacks, from sorrow, from the lonely brink. That's the real inheritance between mother and son: the courage to fall, the stubborn act of trying again, and the force of will to carry on.
