–    Camacho, O’Neil deliver as promise
Saturday June 5 was carved as a day local boxing fans will forever remember because of one person; Shondell Alfred, Guyana and the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) Bantamweight champion.
Alfred met her foe, Corrine De Groot in a rematch for the title she won last year at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and it took her one minute, 23 seconds of the fourth of their 10 round encounter, to deliver one of the best Knock-outs ever seen in boxing to date.
The Princess Hotel and Casino was filled to capacity as even the Head of State, His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo was in attendance at the Bris ‘O’ Promotions card that saw Gwendolyn ‘The Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil winning her third world title (WIBA Heavyweight title) with a unanimous decision win over Veronica Blackman and Hector ‘Machito’ Camacho jr getting the same against Guyana’s Deadly Denny Dalton in the headline card.
Also gaining an entertaining win is Elton ‘Coolie Bully’ Dharry over the journeyman of the sport, Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers.
It wasn’t suppose to be the main event but after Shondell’s display of brute force and class, nothing else mattered in the minds of those who witnessed a different fighter as compared to when she first won Guyana’s seventh world title last year.
De Groot had called for a rematch on the grounds that the then referee Eon Jardine, aided in her defeat to Alfred and WIBA President Ryan Wissow granted her the fight.
Her entrance to the ring (De Groot) was heralded with some boos from the crowd given the fact that many Guyanese felt she came across cocky in her attitude. Alfred on the other hand was ushered in with thunderous applauds as the capacity filled venue all rose to their feet to welcome the champion.
The eagerness to put De Groot to sleep could have been sensed from the opening round as Alfred wasted no time to launch at her opponent with vengeance but yet still tactically planned her every attack.
All the rounds were the same until the third when the Guyanese hurt the American in the closing minutes of the round and De Groot was like ‘Zack’, the famous character from the hit sitcom ‘Saved by the bell’.
Noticing De Groot was weakened from the blows of the previous round; Alfred came out like an assassinator in round four and went straight for the kill which she got in dramatic fashion.
A three shot combination did the damage – it started with a launching right, then a hard left which followed by a jaw twisting right that sent De Groot threw the ropes on the canvas.
The crowd were more amazed than shocked and took sometime to respond to what unfolded before there eyes as even President Jagdeo sitting ring-side couldn’t help standing to join Alfred in celebration.
There was no way the referee, who this time was Andrew Thorne, could be blamed for handing Alfred the win. As a matter of fact, De Groot would want to thank the referee who called it quits and summoned the Doctor to the ring, since she was out cold.
The main bout between Dalton and Camacho Jr for the World Boxing Federation (WBF) Intercontinental Middleweight title was more of a one sided affair and a display of the American’s boxing skill.
It was not what local fans expected out of the much anticipated match as Camacho simply proved that he was too good for the Guyanese fighter.
There was nothing ‘Deadly’ about Denny Dalton as he was soundly and technically beaten by the son of one of boxing’s greats (Hector Macho Camacho) and the disappointment of his performance was made known by the crowd who booed his moves and at times cheered on Camacho who skillfully extended his ring record to 52 wins from 57 fights.
The Guyanese boxer is known as a hard hitter in the game but his punches seemed impervious to Camacho who often during the clash, went into a corner and called Dalton to hit him and showed utter disrespect to the fighter who’s record has slipped to nine loses from 29 fights with 16 wins.
In 2004 Gwendolyn O’Neil became Guyana’s first female world Champion with her win over Kathy Rivers for the WIBA Light Heavyweight title and in the same year she picked up the WIBC light heavyweight championship by stopping Krystal Lessey.
However, O’Neil went on to loose both titles, surrendering them to Carlette Ewell in 2008 and has since then been hunting a way back to the top of the female boxing food chain.
On Saturday last, O’Neil found success with a well fought win over compatriot Veronica Blackman to lift the vacant WIBA and Global Boxing Union (GBU) heavyweight titles via unanimous decision.
The three judges scored the card 96-94, 98-92 and 98-92 all in favour of O’Neil. It was evident that sluggish looking Blackman wouldn’t have stood a chance against O’Neil after the first three rounds as the Champion jab and moved her way around the ring and seldom went into any slug out with her opponent.
Another one-sided fight, but the crowd showed their appreciation to the two women who went the full distance of the fight (ten rounds) and entertained in every bout.
O’Neil now 40 years old, has moved her ring tally to 15 wins from 22 fights and six loses while
Blackman has lost her fifth out of eight fights but has three wins under her belt.