-‘Coolie Bully’ too superior for Barbadian  Lett
“YOU should have never called me garbage. I worked too hard to get where I am today. I was going to let you last the distance, but for your mouth which you opened one too many times and called me garbage, I will knock you out, as that statement has aggravated me and I don’t like that at all.” Those were the words of Barbadian Shawn ‘The Sniper’ Cox to Guyana’s Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite, and true to his words, ‘The Sniper’ punctured then took out the wheels of the ‘Big Truck’ on his way to a devastating first round TKO last Saturday night.
The two were meeting for the first time in the feature bout of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) organised World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation (WBC/CABOFE) heavyweight title at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The hype surrounding the fight was so great, that Minister of Sports Dr. Frank Anthony and his colleague Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, along with Director of Sports Neil Kumar and Mayor of Georgetown Hamilton Green, graced the venue with their presence to witness the bout.
For the first time in many years, boxing fans including Reginald Ford, Lennox Blackmoore, Odinga Lumumba, president of the Guyana Olympic Association K. Juman-Yassin and Digicel (Guyana) Chief Executive Officer Gregory Deen, filled the venue to witness the action where an unprecedented five titles were up for grabs.
In typical fashion, USA based Guyanese and current WBC/CABOFE bantamweight champion Elton ‘Coolie Bully’ Dharry was too superior for his opponent Barbados based Selwyn Lett, who like the ‘Big Truck’, suffered a first round TKO.
Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques and another Barbadian in Miguel ‘Hands of Stone’ Antoine, chalked up unanimous decision victories over Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers and Revlon Lake, another Barbados based Guyanese, respectively, to take the flyweight and super lightweight titles.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Kevin Placide said he was coming to teach Guyana’s middleweight champion Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ De Clou a boxing lesson, but he found himself to be the student and not the tutor, after being forced to call it quits, 35 seconds into the ninth round.
All this took place before ‘The Sniper’ whose record moved to 16-1 with 15 knockouts in comparison to Braithwaite’s 24-5, backed his words to perfection, as he took out his opponent within two minutes of the first round.
The 37 year old Cox stood in his corner as his opponent entered the ring to a standing ovation and a round of applause, with the Golden Arrowhead draped across his body under his sweat shirt which displayed the colours of Guyana’s national flag as well, with the words of Machel Montano’s ‘Ride the truck’ blasting from the speakers of the stereo set.
Cox who said later he was not fazed by Braithwaite’s entrance, launched into his man within the first 30 seconds, sending him to the canvas with a round house left hook, much to the surprise of Braithwaite and the fans at the venue.
Braithwaite beat referee Eon Jardine’s eight count, but found himself on the canvas a few seconds after, courtesy of a wicked straight right from Cox, the same punch that took the wind out of national heavyweight champion Kurt Bess’ sail last December.
Again Braithwaite beat the count and even though he managed to land a few punches to Cox’s body, it had little or no effect on the Barbadian, who hunted his man like a vulture on the kill.
He backed Braithwaite into a corner where he delivered several unanswered combinations, which forced the former WBC cruiserweight champion to seek comfort on the canvas for the third and final time, as Jardine waved off the contest.
Fortunately for Cox, his unbeaten streak in Guyana continued with the win, while Braithwaite who last fought in his hometown in 1998, suffered his first loss as a professional pugilist at home.
According to the 26 year old Dharry whose record moved to 8-5-1, he had never seen Lett 2-3 in action before, but his trainer did, where they found out that Lett throws a slow jab and he should capitalize on it as soon as possible, which he did and scored his TKO win.
Both Marques and Rogers who were meeting for the fourth time, felt each other out within the first five rounds of their contest, before a straight right hand from Rogers caught Marques on the chin as he was back pedaling and sent him to the canvas.
Marques got up to beat referee Franklyn Brisport’s count and even though he showed signs of tiredness in the latter stages of the fight, he managed to come away with an unanimous decision, as the judges card read 116-111, 116-111 and 118-109 in his favour.
Antoine and Lake were meeting for the third time, with Lake who lost out on the first two occasions, promising to turn around the decision, especially with the fight being in his hometown.
Lake’s game plan was to carry his opponent the full distance, which he did but with Antoine leading on all three judges scorecard after eight rounds, he needed a knockout to win the contest but could not achieve same.
At the end of the contest, Antoine who like Cox remained unbeaten in Guyana, saw the judges scoring the bout 118-110, 117-111 and 118-110 in his favour.
If one was to judge Placide from his words at the pre-fight press conference, they would have displayed mercy for De Clou, as Placide who was knocked out by Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman who later lost to De Clou, said he was going to humiliate De Clou before beating him surgically and clinically.
It was De Clou who dished out the humiliation, knocking his man down in the latter stages of the first round and even though he pushed him back several times in the fight, he lacked the ability to finish off Placide as he refused to follow up.
On the other hand, Placide got in several combinations to the body of De Clou, especially in the early stages of the eighth round before De Clou unleashed his own combinations that left Placide panting for breath and forced him to retire, 35 seconds into the ninth round.
Apart from being crowned champions of their respective divisions, all the successful fighters earned themselves a spot on the CABOFE team, joining Salvador Sanchez Jnr and another Mexican to represent the Region in the WBC Cup Championships, which punches off in May.