After living to tell the story of the seriousness of COVID-19, former Grenada and OECS Super heavyweight boxing champion, Andre Stewart, Also known as ‘Andre the Giant’, died in Brooklyn, New York City, early Saturday June 27, 2020.
The 6’ 6”, 250-pound Stewart, who originated from River Road, Saint George’s, and lived in the USA was among the thousands of New Yorkers who tested positive for COVID-19 in March/April. He spent time in hospital battling the disease and upon his release gave media interviews highlighting the severe challenges he experienced and urged fellow Grenadians and others to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols.
Stewart will be remembered as one of the biggest and toughest boxers to represent Grenada during a career spanning more than a decade. He dominated his competition both in Grenada and at the annual sub regional OECS Championships, winning several gold medals.
His biggest boxing achievement was representing Grenada at the 1995 Pam American Games in Argentina. There he encountered some of the best super heavy weights in the world from Cuba, the most dominant amateur boxing nation in the world at that time, along with fighters from the USA and South and Central American countries
Stewart was one of the many Grenadian boxers trained by veteran Norbert Grant, a former Grenada champion now the oldest on the island.
Interim President of the Grenada Boxing, Johnson St Louis, in a press release said the Boxing Association is saddened by his death and described Stewart as a passionate supporter and follower of Grenadian boxing.
He noted that Stewart, while living in the US, supported boxing in Grenada by collaborating with other local boxers in the US to send barrels of much needed gears to assist his counterparts at home.
Johnson specifically made mention of Stewart’s last involvement in a regional event in 2017 where he presented two gold chains along with boxing gloves to two of the brightest local prospects in the sports – welterweight Javis Joseph and heavy weight Shevon Lewis, both from the River Road Boxing GYM. Hi According to St Louis, the Boxing Association of Grenada will be naming the Annual March 13 Boxing Extravaganza in the name of Andre Stewart and Trevor Thwaites.
Stewart’s Grenadian friend, Gerry Hopkin, who lives in New York, posted on his Facebook page, “Andre would also be remembered for the rock solid security he provided for many years, at Kings Plaza Mall, at The Palace Club on Clarkson Avenue and at Mike’s Diner in Brooklyn. He was also a Grenadian entrepreneur well known for tasty fry fish and other delicacies.”
Although he was medically cleared of the new virus, in a widely circulated video he spoke of the impact COVID-19 had on his body as his health was compromised with an underlying medical condition.
