champion

Legendary Boxer Ray Minus Jr, who was one of the country’s best boxers, inspiring a generation of young athletes, died on Thursday. He was 58.

What to Know About Ray Minus Jr

1. He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2022, a rare neurological disease affecting motor neurons. His muscles have been in decline since the diagnosis. In an interview with ZNS last year, his daughter said she believed it was spurred by his tedious fights in the boxing ring.
2. He was the former Bahamas and British Commonwealth bantamweight and lightweight champion. Queen Elizabeth recognized him as the Commonwealth Boxer of the Year in 1989.
3. Ray Minus’ arch-rival and sparring partner in the ring was Quincy Pratt. He said of Quincy in 2021: “During some of the sparring sessions, it was really competitive, so I knew when we fight, it was going to be a fight.” Minus won the first two fights in 1992 and 1999, and the third fight was given to Pratt in 2000.
4. He was trained by his father Ray Minus Snr, a legendary fighter. “My father, I always had the respect for him,” he said. My father was there for me. My father was a very good coach. He taught me some things and helped me to be creative in my fights. That is what I was able to continue with as I started to develop some of the great young fighters who came along behind me.”
5. Minus was inducted into the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s National Hall of Fame in November 2022.

Roy Seligman did not win the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday evening, but he made the country proud of his accomplishments when he advanced to the finals of the competition.

The eighth-grader reached the 12th round of the finals when he stumbled on the word ambystoma, which is a class of salamanders that live in the North American region.

Roy spelt it as a-m-b-i-s-t-o-m-a.

Judges initially announced that Ron spelt the word correctly, but later reviewed the audio recording to determine that Ron said -i instead of -y.

Roy, one of the eleven finalists, was eliminated and he joined Vivinsha Veduru and Dhroov Bharatia of Texas for fourth place.

“I feel like I could have gotten it right if I just took my time,” he said on the sidelines of the competition.

Roy said he was still proud of himself.

Other difficult words Roy spelt correctly during the finals were : towhee, glottis, hemiola, telford, physiolatrous, potiche and trophallactic.

Why it matters

The twelve-year-old Lyford Cay School student is the first Bahamian to make to the Finals of the Script Spelling Bee Competition.

State of play

Zaila Avant-Garde of New Orleans, Louisiana, won the competition and became the first African-American to win the coveted title.

Photo credit: John Raoux/AP