Four-time stick­fight­ing cham­pi­on Sel­wyn John re­claimed his cov­et­ed King of the Rock ti­tle and was crowned Kalin­da King of Trinidad and To­ba­go af­ter de­feat­ing his nephew, An­der­son Mar­cano, in a jaw-drop­ping bout in Moru­ga yes­ter­day morn­ing.

To the steady, hyp­not­ic rhythm of bon­go drums echo­ing through the Moru­ga Mul­ti­pur­pose Youth and Sport Fa­cil­i­ty in St Mary’s, the two men stepped in­to the gayelle in the ear­ly hours of yes­ter­day morn­ing, blend­ing fierce tra­di­tion with deeply per­son­al fam­i­ly ties. As mist set­tled on the field and cam­phor burned eeri­ly in the gayelle—fed by cam­phor and pun­cheon rum—the drum­mers chant­ed, “Jumbie in the ring,” height­en­ing the in­ten­si­ty of the mo­ment.

Tired and blood-soaked from two pre­vi­ous fights, John ex­e­cut­ed the kalin­da dance to per­fec­tion, wield­ing his bois with au­thor­i­ty and con­trol.