… Lazano stuns Moses; Marques dominates Blackman on ProAm card
REIGNING World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation bantamweight champion Elton ‘Coolie Bully’ Dharry last Friday night dashed the hopes of Charlton ‘Fighting Raja’ Skeete with a devastating first-round knockout, when the two met on the 22nd edition of Friday Night Fights ProAm Boxing card at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Joining Dharry in winners’ row were: Venezuela’s Ana Lazano, who completely out-boxed Guyana’s Mandessa Moses in their super featherweight contest, Dexter Marques who earned a sensational second-round knockdown over Barbados’ Ricardo Blackman, Jermin King who notched up his maiden win over Troy Lewis and Anson Green who defeated fellow debutant David Thomas.
The 26-year-old, USA-based Dharry who won the WBC/CABOFE bantamweight title with a sensational knockout victory over Marques earlier this year, displayed aggression from the opening bell, punishing a frail-looking Skeete with several combinations that saw him seek refuge on the canvas.
When the referee signalled the restart of the contest, it was Dharry whose record improved to 9-5-1, who was first out of the corner as he looked to dictate the pace, which he did comfortably.
After sizing up his opponent for a few seconds, Dharry unleashed a vicious right hand that connected to Skeete’s mid-section, forcing him to seek refuge on the canvas once again, and even though he tried to regain his footing, it was a herculean task he was undertaking and failed to do so.
It took Dharry a mere 1:24 secs of the first round to complete the win, but he suffered a gaping wound to his forehead in the process, courtesy of an accidental head butt and while his hand was being raised to signal the victory, his foe was on bended knees receiving treatment for a dislocated right shoulder.
Having undergone a clinical lesson from Dharry when the two met, Marques showed that it was not in vain as he himself produced a clinical performance, knocking down a dreadlocked Blackman twice in the second round with a pair of solid right hand to the nose.
While the opening round did not produce much action, it was round two that had the fireworks as Blackman hit the canvas early in the round after a brutal right hand to the nose had him in trouble.
Stunned and dazed, he (Blackman) opted to continue, but was given the same treatment mere seconds after as Marques sensed his opponent was down and out, forcing the referee to stop the contest at 2:05 seconds of the round, handing Marques the win.
In the lone female encounter, Lazano made a terrific start to her professional career with an easy win over an ordinary-looking Moses, whose best round was the first in which she used her left jab as her main weapon, connecting at will to Lazano’s body.
The much stronger and bigger built Lazano dictated the pace of the remaining five rounds, even as Moses was often guilty of ‘holding’ to avoid a potential knockdown and at the end of the contest, Moses looked jaded and despondent, while Lazano seemed as though she was just beginning to warm up.
In the other two professional encounters, King earned a 40-36, 40-36, 39-37 win over Lewis, who was a late replacement for Trinidad and Tobago-based Iwan Azore who missed his flight, while Green had a 39-37 advantage on all the judges’ card against Thomas.
On the amateur side, Jamal Eastman had a majority decision win over Kurt Allicock, Travis Hubbard won on all the judges’ card against Dewani Lampkin, Richard Williamson earned a majority decision over Terrence Adams and the referee was forced to stop the contest two minutes 19 seconds into round two between Burt Brathwaite and Kishan Simon in favour of the former.