… London named Best Female Amateur Boxer
THIRTY-TWO-year-old Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore and 28-year-old Shaundell ‘Mystery Lady’ Alfred were last Friday night named the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Male and Female Boxers-of-the-Year 2010, when that entity held its first ever annual awards ceremony and dinner at the Georgetown Club. Theresa London was named the Best Female Amateur Boxer while the Guyana Defence Force’s Bert Braithwaite won the male version of that category, with Republican Gym’s Nandkumar Singh, who lost out to Braithwaite for the Best Boxer award, was named the Most Exciting Amateur Boxer.
Moore fought twice last year defeating Marangin Marbun for the Pan American Boxing Association (PABA) super bantamweight title in Singapore last January and came out with a unanimous decision that landed him the title.
Up next was Venezuela’s Breilor Teran who promised much hype and even a victory, but after being on the receiving end of Moore’s fist for 10 rounds at the Princess Hotel and Casino, he suffered a majority decision loss.
Prior to those two encounters, Moore fought and also defeated Mauricio Pastrana of Colombia via another unanimous decision to take the vacant World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation (WBC/CABOFE) super bantamweight and the vacant NABA bantamweight titles.
On the distaff side, Alfred rose to prominence when she scored a unanimous decision victory over Canada’s Corrine Van Ryck De Groot in September of 2009 to win her opponent’s Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) bantamweight title.
Not satisfied with the way in which she lost, De Groot cashed in her rematch clause and faced Alfred at the Princess Hotel and Casino on the same card that Denny Dalton faced Hector Camacho Jr and did not leave anything for the judges to decide, as she recorded a superb fourth round knock-out victory over De Groot to retain her title in the presence of His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Her feats for the year also landed her the National Sports Commission’s (NSC) Sportswoman-of-the-Year, a fitting award to someone who flew the Golden Arrowhead proudly during 2010, with the GBBC’s honour being the perfect icing on the cake.
President of the GBBC, Peter Abdool, told his audience which included Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Director of Sport Neil Kumar and president of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) K. Juman-Yassin, that the historic event was one with a difference.
“Tonight, we are here to honour our boxers such as Dennis Andries, Motee ‘Kid’ Singh, Patrick Forde, Terrence Alli, Wayne Braithwaite, Andrew Lewis, Vivian Harris and countless other great fighters, who in the past and even at present make up this country’s rich boxing heritage.
Last year was an amazing year for boxing in Guyana, as five professional cards were staged along with the exciting Friday Night Fights, which saw 10 months of intense, exciting ProAm boxing that shook the walls of the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall,” stated Abdool.
He continued, “The ProAm/FNF built experience, records, exposure, skills and dreams of many boxers while it has rejuvenated and re-invigorated our sport and created an atmosphere where we now have fighters from a number of countries in the Caribbean flying to Guyana to get on these cards.
“All in all, 110 fights were fought in the year 2010, and that in itself is an incredible achievement.”
In his brief remarks, Minister Anthony lauded the GBBC and its hard-working band of executives for the exemplary work they put in last year, reminding his audience that Guyana’s lone Olympic medal came through boxing, thanks to Michael Parris’ 1986 bronze medal.
Dr Anthony encouraged the GBBC to maintain the hard work they have been doing, with the view of making Guyana the boxing home of the Caribbean, wherein many would come to these shores to exploit and fully develop the art of boxing.
Other recipients of awards for their sterling contribution to the fistic sport in Guyana were: Oswick Mars, Maurice ‘Bizzy’ Boyce, Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis, Gwendolyn O’Neil and Howard ‘Stealth Bomber’ Eastman, while Mohan Persaud, Cecil Henry and John Quail who are all former members of the GBBC, were recognised for their dedicated service to boxing.
Present GBBC members, Trevor Arno, Andrew Thorne and Eion Jardine were given awards for their distinguished and continued service to the GBBC, while head of Holland Entertainment Promotions (HEP), Carwyn Holland, was voted the Promoter-of-the-Year.
Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers and Floyd Grant were honoured for their sterling contribution to boxing in Regions Six and 10 respectively, following which Kaieteur News’ and former national champion Michael ‘Tyson’ Benjamin was named Best Reporter.
Alfred’s trainer Lennox Daniels, national amateur coach Terrence Poole and Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym were named Best Trainer, Best Second and Best Boxing Gym respectively.
The first Debbie Tyson/Pauline London matchup was voted Fight-of-the-Year among the female, with the Troy Lewis/Iwan Azore clash taking the Male version. Leon Gilkes and Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy were named the Most Exciting Fighter and the Fastest Knockout-of-the-Year winners.
Mandessa Moses (Most Improved Female) and Mark Austin (Most Improved Male) along with the GBBC’s list of sponsors including Ansa McAl, Digicel and Courts (Guyana) Inc. among others, culminated the awards presentation for the night before Abdool moved the Vote of Thanks.
Dr Anthony and the night’s chairperson Vic Insanally were each presented with a special token through the kind compliments of the GBBC.