-opponent unknown for Rogers
THE Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) will be in a frenzied mood come Saturday 26th September, when the much anticipated ‘Caribbean Fury’ which is jointly promoted by Holland Entertainment Promotions and S and S Promotions rings off.

At a simple ceremony held in the boardroom of Abdool and Abdool Insurance yesterday, which is also the office of president of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Peter Abdool, five of the pugilists who are slated to compete in what will be the biggest international boxing card held locally, inked their names to their respective contracts.

But while some of the boxers who are schedule to compete on the card are aware of who their opponents are, an opponent for national heavyweight boxer Mitchell Rogers is yet to be announced.

Making some brief comments prior to the signing of the contracts, Carwyn Holland of Holland Entertainment Promotions said that it is not that no one is willing to fight Rogers, but due to his craftiness and ring technique, some boxers are charging $250,000 to $400,000 to match gloves with him.

“I don’t know if it is his ring record or his punching power, but local boxers are asking for a huge amount just to face Rogers, something that is way beyond our reach. However, due to the magnitude of this card, we will be signing an opponent for him, even if we have to bring in one from Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)” said Holland.

Holland was ecstatic about the card which will be breaking new grounds locally, as it will be the first time an entire card will be televised live out of this country, thanks to Caribvision and the International Boxing Network (IBN).

“This card promises to be a sizzling affair and thanks to Caribvision and IBN, over three million viewers around the Caribbean will have the opportunity of watching same from the first bell to the last, the first time a card will be televised in its entirety from Guyana.”

There will be two feature bouts involving a total of five titles being up for grabs, with Corinne ‘The Sexy Panther’ De Groot who is of Guyanese decent, facing Shaundell ‘Mystery Lady’ Alfred over 10 rounds for the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) bantamweight title.

De Groot, who is also a member of the Gladiator family on the popular television show American Gladiators where she is known as the ‘Panther’, has promised to teach the ‘Mystery Lady’ a lesson in the ring.

“De Groot has an unbeaten record in the ring, where she has seven knock outs from 11 victories, while on the American Gladiators show, she also boasts an unblemished record and plans to keep things that way when she faces Alfred, whom we all know is no pushover, so there alone boxing fans and enthusiasts will have their monies worth”, said Holland.

Another first will be made on the card, when Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore who is ranked at number seven on the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight list and was scheduled to face Colombia’s Mauricio Pastrana, will now face Reynaldo Lopez also of Colombia, where he will be defending his World Boxing Council (WBC) CABOFE bantamweight title.

Added to that belt, the two pugilists will be going at each other for the North American Boxing Association (NABA), WBA Fedelatin and the WBA Fedecaribe bantamweight titles, making it the first time four titles will be up for grabs in the squared circle locally.

Added flavor to the pot for that night’s boxing meal would be the Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman versus Kevin ‘Fighting Policeman’ Placide in a middleweight encounter over 10 rounds, a feat Eastman (43-6) is labeling as revenge for his countryman Denny ‘Deadly’ Dalton (16-7-1).

Both Placide (11-4-1)and Dalton matched gloves on three occasions, with Dalton who also lost to Eastman by a majority decision when the two met for the national middleweight title last year, coming out victorious on two occasions and was disqualified on the other.

Since his return to these shores, Eastman who once held both the British and Commonwealth middleweight titles while residing in England, has defeated all that was placed in front of him, including scoring a split decision over Guyana’s first world champion Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis.

He last fought on 28th February, where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes, and was scheduled to face Lennox Allen in a defence of his national middleweight title, but was a no show for reasons that need not to be mentioned.

However, he has vowed to continue his unblemished record at home against Placide who is looking to use this bout as a stepping stone onto the international arena in the fistic sport.

The other bouts on the card will see Iwan Azore and Wayne Briggs battling it out over six rounds in a welterweight clash, Dexter Marques facing Hewley Robertson in a four round super bantamweight and Paul Lewis matching gloves with Shawn Pile also over four rounds in the flyweight division respectively.

The promoters are pleading with boxing fans who have decided to grace the CASH with their presence for the Caribbean Fury, to be on their best behaviour and at the same time desist from using indecent language.

The Government of Guyana, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and several other sponsors including furniture giants Courts Guyana Limited, has thrown their full support behind this card which is being sanctioned by the GBBC.