‘I will fight anybody’ – Allen
LENNOX ‘Too Sharp’ Allen signalled his intention yesterday when he stated that Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman was not as “big a threat” to him ahead of Saturday’s ‘Big Showdown’ card.

‘Too Sharp’ Allen, back from his three-month training stint in the USA with coach Colin Morgan, said yesterday at a press conference at the King’s Plaza, that his training was very good and he was certainly enlightened with what he has learnt because in the world of boxing he is still “green”.

He stated that while he acknowledges the experience of Eastman, his skill, flash and power will be enough for him to be victorious come Saturday night.

Allen who has fought nine fights as opposed to Eastman’s 50 is confident because he has one of the best coaches in the world.

Further, he somewhat downplayed Eastman’s record and achievements of his long illustrious career when he insinuated that Eastman, when he fought ‘the big names’ like William Joppy and Bernard Hopkins, lost.

“I am not worried about Eastman because I am willing to fight anybody but at the end of the day it is who you beat as a fighter,” a confident Allen elaborated.

When asked by Chronicle Sport how he intends to deal with the experience, wiles and characteristic rally from the middle rounds to down the stretch from the seasoned pugilist Eastman, Allen positively stated that he and his camp have a “secret weapon” to unleash.

Further, he elaborated that someone’s finish can only be deadly depending on the opponent he is fighting.

Allen, fighting against Eastman for the vacant super middleweight title of Guyana, stated that he has seen Eastman fight, especially in Guyana, and he doesn’t think his performances were extremely special.

In fact, Allen feels that his own skills, stamina, power and flash are sharper than those of Eastman, ‘Deadly’ Denny Dalton, Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis, Guyana’s first world title holder, and Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes (all of whom Eastman has beaten in the past year). He referred to Gilkes as a ‘bum’.

On the other hand, Allen’s local coach Blake told media operatives yesterday he will be contacting Morgan so that he can take over where Morgan would have left off in the USA.

However, he also plans to conduct some sparring sessions with Allen before the fight.

Blake said that Allen has an advantage over Eastman because he has worked with Eastman for two of his local title fights and he knows most of Eastman’s strengths and weaknesses.

He stated that the Allen camp will be looking to exploit this knowledge which may lead to Eastman’s defeat on Saturday.

On a point to note, however, Allen has not fought since he sustained an injury last year in St Lucia. Allen attributed this move to the bad management he was receiving at the time.

Meanwhile, in the five other bouts scheduled for the night under the S&S Promotions group, will also see Guyana’s bantamweight champion Shondell Alfred go up against Stepheney George.

Alfred, who also holds the WIBC Iberian bantamweight title, told reporters yesterday that she has kept herself active since December although there were a few glitches along the way.

Alfred explained that she is not worried about George because she has beaten her before and that she has fought stronger and better opponents and has prevailed.

She said that she has been sparring eight rounds every other day for the past five weeks.

Also on the card are debutantes Debbie Tyson, 41, of America Street and Avlon Scotland, 22, of Linden. Tyson said she was inspired to box when she was watching the Barack Obama inauguration speech and he said “Yes we can”.

She also said that she was a fan of boxing for many years and that she frequently shadow-boxes to keep fit. Tyson said that patrons will be treated to an impressive performance on Saturday.

Conversely, Scotland benefits from the services of Commonwealth amateur medallist Clevon Rock who takes her through her paces. She said that she has been boxing for only a few months and patrons must come out to witness the best fight.

The six-fight card also has ‘The Agricola Boom’ Shelly Gibson, who will be looking to avenge her loss in a grudge match against Shondell Parks of Linden, who said that she is not afraid of Gibson in her “own backyard”. Gibson stated quite tersely that she will do all her talking in the ring.

Also on the card is Linden debutant Randy Tello fighting against Kwesi Jones while Paul Lewis goes up against the fiery Dexter Marques. Lewis said that though he is 42 years old, he will be raining blows on the younger Marques who stated confidently that he will produce all the sparks in the ring and fight fans will see why fighters are constantly avoiding him.

Weigh-in for the fight will be on Friday evening from 19:00 h at the King’s Plaza Hotel. Tickets can be uplifted from the same location, Brain’s Watch World, Nigel’s Supermarket, Cell Works, on Regent Street and White Castle Fish Shop.