… Dexter Gonsalves to face American DeMarcus Corley

CONTRACTS have been inked for the Guyana Boxing Board of Control’s (GBBC) August 27 `Bad Intentions’ five-fight card scheduled for the Giftland OfficeMax Mall, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.The card will feature Guyana’s Dexter Gonsalves in a 12-round contest against former World Boxing Association’s super lightweight champion American DeMarcus `Chop Chop’ Corley for the World Boxing Council’s FECABOX) lightweight title.
Gonsalves, who last fought in October 2015 when he earned a 10-round technical knock-out (TKO) victory over fellow-Guyanese Clive ‘The Punisher’ Atwell, thereby winning the Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) lightweight title. He has since been stripped of that title since he failed to make a mandatory defence of the title and will now be seeking to win the FECABOX title to restore some pride not only for himself, but for all Guyana.
Despite not fighting since the Atwell encounter , Gonsalves has been in the gym three times per week and has recently stepped up preparations for his fight against a well-seasoned fighter in Corley.
To date, Gonsalves has compiled a record of 8-12 with a lone loss to Michel Agard who also drew on another occasion. He also drew with Jamaica’s Mohammed Dawes in 2007.
Corley is a veteran with a 47-27-1 record, winning 28 of his bouts by the knock-out route and will surely be a handful for Gonsalves who has not fought the quality of fighters that Corley has engaged.
Corley earlier this year participated in Jamaica’s `The Contender’ series and won three fights with knock-out victories against Richard Holmes and Guyana’s Revlon Lake while recording a points win against Michael Gardner.
The American was born in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and during his career fought world renowned Zab Judah in a WBO super lightweight title which he lost.
He also faced Guyana’s Olympian Dillon Carew twice.
Corley who was a world champion from 2001 to 2003 also went the distance with former world champions Devon Alexander and Marcos Maidana and lost his title to Judah in 2003.
However, yesterday at the signing of the contract at the office of GBBC president Peter Abdool, Gonsalves said he is not worried by Corley’s record and experience.
He admitted that for his last fight last year (versus Atwell), he was not really prepared and after viewing footage of that fight, he realised that he was lacking in movement of his feet and has since started to work on it.
He said he is much more focused now and is working on his lifelong dream of becoming a world champion, and to this end, his mother is very supportive, always making sure that he attends gym and eats properly.
Asked how he plans to deal with the more experienced Corley, Gonsalves said he and his team, which includes his manager Aleem Hussain, have been reviewing tapes of Corley’s fights and they are working on taking advantage of Corley’s weaknesses. “We know Corley has a very good left jab and we’re working on that,” Gonsalves stated.
Meanwhile, in the main supporting bout, Mark Austin will face Michael Gardner of Jamaica in an eight-round middleweight contest.
The opening bout brings together Kelsey George and Charwin Estwick in a four-round super middleweight affair, while Anthony Narine will make his debut as a professional in a four-round lightweight contest against Keeve Allicock.
The next bout on the night’s card will see Imran Khan and Quincy Gomes battle for a third time in a six-round lightweight contest.
The two previous times they met, the first fight was drawn and Gomes won the second encounter.