GDF win 19th consecutive title at  Terrence Alli Open Boxing Championships
The GDF reign continues with eight wins from 11 finals on the final night. (Faizool Deo photos)
The GDF reign continues with eight wins from 11 finals on the final night. (Faizool Deo photos)

….Crawford and Gibson adjudged best boxers

By Faizool Deo

THE Guyana Defence Force (GDF) won eight of the 11 finals on Sunday night, which handed them their 19th consecutive title when the action concluded in the Terrence Alli Open Boxing Championships at the National Gymnasium.

For his continued dominance, GDF’s Terrence Poole (MS) was named best coach.

Two of the victors on the final night, Forgotten Youth Foundation’s (FYF) Mark Crawford and the army’s Clairmont Gibson were adjudged the best boxers in the Juniors and Elite divisions respectively.

Sixteen-year-old Crawford, who had won the Intermediate best boxer title, continues to impress in his young career; while Gibson, 35, showed resurgence over the three-days of competition en route to the National Lightweight title.

FYF, who again showed grit and fight due to the hard work and dedication by their coaching staff led by Sebert Blake, finished second overall in the competition.  The gym also had the trump card of the championships, Keevin ‘Lightning’ Allicock, who is arguably Guyana’s best amateur boxer.  Fighting in the featherweight final, the youngster used little effort to dispose of Teusimar Peters in the opening round.

Although the night belonged to the GDF team, Allicock was not the only individual to stand out.  

Police boxer Dennis Thomas, who returned from an over 18-month hiatus, showed superlative form in his bout.

His high IQ and superior boxing skills won him his fight with GDF’s defending Light Heavyweight champion, Markember ‘Violence’ Pierre.

Pierre lived up to his name and did not allow his disadvantages in reach or boxing skills to short-change his attack. He barreled into the body of his Police opponent and unleashed a barrage of shots, most well defended by Thomas.  At one time in the second round, the GDF boxer lost his footing, but Thomas was quick to indicate to the referee, who was behind them, that it was just a slip.

The officer counteracted his opponent’s fury by targeting his body in the fight and he did so with precision, which resulted in a clear victory.

Caribbean middleweight champion, Desmond Amsterdam also exhibited superior boxing skills, when he battled gym-mate Aluko Bess.  In that bout, Amsterdam was just imposing. He delivered a shot to the head, which forced the referee to make an eight count. Before the end of round one, Bess had suffered his second eight count.

Early in the second round, Amsterdam cornered his opponent and bombarded him with body shots before firing a decisive blow to his head, which ended the bout.

Earlier, Crawford had defeated Alex Butcher from the Winston Pompey Warriors Boxing Gym in the Youth Junior Welterweight final.

In the Elite division, Quacy Abrams got past FYF’s Richard Subratee in the Junior Flyweight division, while Julius Kesney defeated Asheer Al Azeem (FYF) in the Bantamweight Division and former Caribbean Lightweight Champion Lewis Colin showed his class against Police’s Dewani Lampkin in the Lightweight (63 KG).  Gibson, who also won a national lightweight title, had defeated fellow GDF teammate Delroy Fordyce in the 60KG class.

Sisters Abiola and Alesha Jackman (both from the FYF gym) also battled in a female exhibition bout.

The night climaxed with the heavyweight battles and both GDF boxers, Daren France (heavyweight) and Kevin Hunte (super heavyweight) showed their dominance with emphatic victories.

Both boxers also finished the year as triple champions after having also won the Novice and Intermediate championships.

France was able to gain revenge for his gym-mate Osbert Robertson, who was knocked out by Omar Sukhdeo in the semi-finals on Saturday night.

In the bout, he caught the FYF boxer a few times, which resulted in a standing eight. Although wobbly, Sukhdeo opted to continue and he walked into a solid left hook from the 23-year-old France, which sent him crashing to the canvas.

Hunte also had an easy win. He caught fellow gym-mate, Anthonio Williams several times early, which resulted in two standing eight counts.  He then braced him in a corner and delivered ‘school-yard’ beat down, which forced the referee to stop the fight.

According to president of the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Steve Ninvalle, the national team for next month’s Caribbean Championships in Trinidad would be selected in the coming days.

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