GBA’s Terrence Alli National Open C/ships
Harpy Eagles’ Kevin Allicock (left) connects to the head of GDF’s Kevin Isaacs during their flyweight contest at the National Gymnasium on Friday night.
Harpy Eagles’ Kevin Allicock (left) connects to the head of GDF’s Kevin Isaacs during their flyweight contest at the National Gymnasium on Friday night.

Defending champions GDF lose three of four fights on opening night

IT was sheer punches in bunches when Guyana Boxing Association’s (GBA) Terrence Alli National Open Championships got underway at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, on Friday night.

Despite a late start, the few boxing enthusiasts that dotted the stands and ringside were treated from the start of the championships with some very entertaining bouts.
It was, however, a sad night for the defending champions, Guyana Defence Force (GDF), as they could have secured only one victory from four fights in three weight divisions.
There lone victory was an all-GDF affair in the welterweight division that saw Quincy Boyce secure a third-round technical knock-out (TKO) win against his `squaddie’ Royden Grant.

Earlier in the night, Forgotten Youth Foundation’s (FYF) Seon Griffith gained a unanimous points-decision win against GDF’s Julius Kesney in their lightweight contest of the Elite Class and in the same weight division, Harpy Eagles’ Kevin Allicock secured a split decision win against GDF’s Kevin Isaacs.

The other soldier to lose his opening-round fight was Kevin McKenzie, by a split decision to Police’s Dewani Lampkin in their junior welterweight contest.
What could be arguable is the most entertaining fight of the evening was the McKenzie versus Lampkin bout which saw McKenzie (GDF) step forward from the first bell while Lampkin (Police) bided his time using counter-punches.

McKenzie went into the second round even more aggressively but Lampkin countered well on most occasions and this caused McKenzie to adapt a ‘bulldozing’ attitude, but Lampkin was equal to the task, covering well with high guards, staving off the power of McKenzie’s shots.

From the start of round three, McKenzie went out firing on all cylinders, but his punches landed on Lampkin’s guards and the latter continued to counter-punch to good effect.
Nearing the end of the three-minute round, McKenzie appeared to be tiring and Lampkin took advantage of this and scored quite a few shots and in the end, Lampkin was declared winner of the contest.

Another keenly contested flyweight bout was between Kevin Allicock and Isaacs. Both boxers started off very aggressively and seconds into the opening round Allicock was clipped with a straight right to his chin and was given a standing eight-count.
However, he slowed the pace of the fight and started to pick his punches, looking for the haymaker, but he could not find his target.

Allicock started the second round more cautiously and continued picking his punches, connecting to his opponent’s head and body with some clean right-hand shots.
In round three, Isaacs started to use his longer reach to keep Allicock at bay, but the Albouystown resident, who made a welcome return to the sport on Friday night, started a peek-a-boo style, got close to Isaacs and landed some telling shots to both his opponent’s body and head. Allicock won the fight by a split decision.

There were two bouts in the Junior category and both were won by boxers from the Harpy Eagles Gym.
In the opening encounter of the night, Colin Williams won by unanimous decision over Rose Hall Jammers’ Travis Sancho, while Williams’ gym mate Kevon Mullings also secured a points-decision win against Forgotten Youth Foundation’s Fitz Heywood.

There were two exhibition bouts on the night’s card between Albert Thomas of GDF and Anil Chaitraj also of the GDF. The other exhibition involved Richard Howard of FYF and his gym mate Richard Subratee.
The championships continued last evening at the same venue and will culminate this evening. Admission is $500 for stands and $1 000 for ringside.

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