Austin, Moses and Augustine record victories  
… Rogers/Hutson declared technical draw  
DEBUTANTS Mark Austin and Anthony Augustine, along with Mandessa Moses, chalked up victories, while local punching bags Orlon Rogers and Wilmot Hutson were involved in a technical draw when the fifth round of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC)/Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport ProAm Friday Night Fights, was held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall last Friday night.
Austin got things started when he recorded a unanimous decision over Cecil Smith, another journeyman on the professional side of the fistic sport and a last-minute replacement for Clive Atwell who encountered flight problems with LIAT to get home in time.
Whether he received a late or early notice of this bout, Smith should have come out with an attitude, wherein Austin, who had tremendous support from the fans in the Western stand, would have had to wait for his second fight to record his first victory as a professional boxer.
However, he made the match a love affair, as he hugged and clenched at every jab and punch that was thrown by Austin, who packed a vicious left hook that rocked the head of Smith every time it was thrown –  approximately eight times per round.
But the hugging and clutching from Smith prevented Austin from recording his first knockout, hence leaving the judges to decide the winner of the encounter which to the crowd’s approval was Austin by a unanimous decision.
The Rogers/Hutson affair lived up to its hype before the fight, as both boxers who suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of Elton ‘Coolie Bully’ Dharry, went at each other at some point of the fight.
Rogers set the ball rolling with some crisp combinations as he probably sought to have the tag of being the local punching bag removed from his name but midway through the round, Hutson retaliated with some ferocious jabs and a straight right which knocked back the head of Rogers.
The second round was no different from the first as Hutson continued to hit Rogers at will early in the round, before he suffered a gash on his left cheek, courtesy of a head butt during a clench.
The blood flowed profusely in the third round forcing the ringside physician Dr Max Hanoman to call a halt to proceedings at 57 seconds into the round, while the judges had no alternative but to call the bout a technical draw.
Mandessa Moses asked Margaret ‘Chico’ Walcott not to ‘underestimate her’ before they met in the squared circle and based on Walcott’s previous encounter against Gwendolyn O’Neil, Pauline London and Geraldine Cox, that warning had no significance to her.
Therefore, Moses used the opportunity to show why she should have taken heed to same, as she manhandled and scolded Walcott, the way a parent or guardian scolds the child that is in their care.
Moses had told Chronicle Sport that she loves looking at old tapes of former world champion Muhammad Ali and that was evident as she employed the jab to not only keep Walcott at bay, but also stun her at times.
Her jab certainly stung like a bee as Walcott’s head was rocking back and forth like a ball on a string, while she punched through Walcott’s guard at will as if it was not there, to come away with a unanimous decision, much to the delight of the near packed-to-capacity venue.
Prior to facing Augustine, Gilkes had fought boxers the calibre of Lennox Allen and Mitchell Rogers, while he had a convincing unanimous decision over Theophilus King, another professional debutant in the last stanza of the FNF.
But despite all this, he was no match for Augustine who only called on the services of his left hand to paw at Gilkes, while it was his right hand which had a telling effect, as he constantly found the body of Gilkes at will.
He had to first endure a few telling body punches from ‘The Lion’, whose roar was more of a meow, as Augustine took his time to pick his body shots and hit his more illustrious opponent at will, to also walk away with a debut victory to emulate Austin.
In the amateur side of things, Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) selectees Clevon Rock and Bert Braithwaite had to endure a torrid time from Nandkumar Singh and George Anthony respectively before they came away with 3-0 victories.
Dexter Jordan and Orlando Allicock another CAC selectee were also in winners’ row. Jordan defeated Ryan Alli 2-1 while the referee was forced to call a halt to proceedings in the second round, after Daneshwar Narine failed to find any answer to Allicock’s punches.
All the fighters were complimented by the GABA for their performances before being awarded with hampers from furniture giant Courts (Guyana) Incorporated.