Kevin Dever Sports Management has announced the signing of undefeated heavyweight prospect Amton “Sandman” Sands to an exclusive managerial contract.
The 25-year-old Sands (8-0, 7 KO), a native of the Bahamas, lives and trains in Orlando, Florida. He stands 6′ 6″ and weighs 250 pounds.
Dever has been a boxing manager for many years, however, issues with his last two boxers left him discouraged, and he had walked away from boxing. Only a phone call from a close fiend about Sands drew him back to boxing.
“I was disgusted,” Dever commented. “A good friend I really trust told me about Amron and suggested that I give boxing one more try. So, I watched some tapes of him and saw that he punches hard and he can take a punch, too. He’s athletic and very quick on his feet for a big guy. I now know that he’s a very graceful, carefree guy but, when the bell rings, it’s like a switch goes off and he’s a different guy. He reminds me of how Lennox Lewis was, and I got my start working on his team. I learned a lot and hopefully Amron will be close to being as successful as Lennox.”
Sands is thrilled to have a veteran boxing manger such as Dever in his corner. “I signed with Kevin because he is very educated about the sport of boxing and he came highly recommended,” Sands said. “He really knows boxing and I feel comfortable working with him. I know that we are going to make some big things happen.
“I can do it all. I can box, but I favor brawling, because it shows who has the bigger heart. No one has a bigger heart than me. I just need to listen to my team and let Kevin do his job. I’ll do mine and we can make it to the top.”
Sands was a hot basketball prospect until he damaged hos ACL and MCL, which led him in a roundabout way to boxing. With a lesser vertical jump, Sands realized that basketball wasn’t in his future. He had moved to the United States to enhance his basketball recruiting opportunities but returned home to the Bahamas after recovering from his knee injury. There he hooked up with his former basketball coach, Ron Rodgers, who had opened a boxing gym there.
Rodgers suggested that Sands box because he was such a good all-around athlete. “I looked at Ron like he was crazy,” Sands remembered. “I was too handsome to box, but I started boxing for fitness and as time went by, he persuaded me box.”
At the age of 18, Sands had his first amateur fight, knocking out his opponent out. All of a sudden Sands had a change of mind. Not only did he study bowing, he traveled to training camps in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other places to learn his new craft.
Sand’s plan was to represent the Bahamas at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
“I tried to go but was told that I wasn’t experienced enough,” Sands added, “The heavyweights they had weren’t at my level. I had been boxing three years and was knocking out people without head gear. I didn’t get to go (to the Olympics) and since I could live in America and the Bahamas, I moved to Orlando (Fla) and started calling coaches who I had met in the amateurs. I loved training, turned pro, and that’s when the party started.”
