McRae warns fans not to blink Friday night
“I AM feeling great and I am in top condition and looking forward to fighting Dalton, Friday night, but to those who would be coming to the Sports Hall, please, don’t blink less you miss the knockout punch that will be thrown by me.” Those were the words of Trinidad and Tobago-based Guyanese Joel McRae who will be facing Denny ‘Deadly’ Dalton in a six-round super middleweight encounter in the 15th edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) in collaboration with the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA)-organised ProAm Friday Night Fights (FNF) this Friday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Not to be outdone, Dalton whose ring record reads 16-10-1 with four consecutive losses, in comparison to McRae’s 7-1-1, said the God in him will ensure he is victorious against his opponent, while he refused to define his way of victory.
GBBC president Peter Abdool was ecstatic over the upcoming card, which follows hot on the heels of his organisation’s first professional card dubbed Rampage which was held at the same venue last month.
“As I have said time and time again, the FNF was a launching pad for Rampage which saw Lennox Allen and Elton Dharry being crowned World Boxing Council (WBC)/Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) champions in the super middleweight and bantamweight divisions respectively.
“With that in mind, the GBBC is looking to host another professional card later this year with the FNF being the nursery for same and what we are looking at is having a box-off in the super middleweight division over a four-week period, where the winner will be guaranteed both the national and WBC/CABOFE titles and close to $5M in cash,” said Abdool.
National amateur boxing coach Terrence Poole introduced the amateur fighters for Friday night, saying five of the boxers who are encamped under the GABA’s ‘Road to London’ drive will be in action.
Poole is asking the boxing public to come out in their numbers and support the amateur fighters, some of whom will be going to Panama City, Panama, for the Pan Am Games box-off next month saying, “Panama is known for its boxing and there will be throngs of support there so we need them to get accustomed to that as early as possible.”
On the professional side of things, Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers will be looking to extend his professional career when he faces Ray Sandiford in a catchweight encounter, with the latter vowing to  knockout and end Rogers’ career.
Simeon Hardy and Eversly Browne will meet in another catchweight encounter which promises to be a scorcher, while Barbados-based Revlon Lake and Mark Austin will do battle over 12 rounds for the national lightweight title.
On the amateur side of things, Richard Williamson and Imran Khan will punch off things in a flyweight encounter, Delon Allicock and Benjamin Henry will meet in a bantamweight fixture, Marvin Ageday and Delroy Nero (junior welterweight) and Stefan Gouveia and Andrew Lowenfield in a lightweight encounter.
Despite the card being televised live on NCN Channel 11, admission to the venue is $1 000 and both Abdool and Poole are calling on the boxing fraternity and fans to come out in their numbers and throw their support behind the card which gets under way at 20:00hrs.