… says he has no regards for his opponent
NATIONAL light heavyweight champion Kwesi ‘Lightning Struck Assassin’ Jones will on June 1, defend his national light heavyweight title against Trinidad and Tobago-based Guyanese Shawn Corbin in the main bout of the 23rd edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) ProAm Friday Night Fights, which will take place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Three other fights will feature Rudolph Fraser facing Cassius Matthews (junior lightweight), Kelsey George confronting James Walcott and national welterweight champion Iwan Azore taking on the reigning World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation (WBC/CABOFE) lightweight champion Miguel Antoine of Barbados which will precede the Jones vs Corbin encounter.
At the signing ceremony held in the Avenue of the Republic-based boardroom of Abdool and Abdool Insurance, yesterday afternoon, Jones said he had no regards for Corbin’s ring experience and his record of 14-3 (10 k.o.).
“I have no regards for his experience gained in the ring even though I have never seen him fight. I know nothing about him other than he fights hard.
“What I do know is that I train hard myself for all my fights. Fans saw me take on Lennox ‘Too Sharp’ Allen who is also known as the knockout artist and I lasted all 12 rounds with him, even though I had to drop weight to take him on,” said Jones whose record reads 9-2 (5 k.o.).
He added, “After I fought Allen, I took on Cleveland Fraser who had said my national light heavyweight title that I knocked out Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes to win, belongs to him. I took him to the deep waters of that fight and knocked him out too.
In fact, I have not heard anything about him after that bout and what I wish to let Corbin know that he too will be taken into the deep waters, where I intend to leave him to drown. I hope he comes prepared for a battle as I have no intentions of giving up my belt easily.”
Corbin also holds a victory over Fraser, whom he knocked out in the fifth round to take the WBC/CABOFE light heavyweight title, which he no longer holds, while he suffered a fourth-round TKO at the hands of Dawid Kosteci in October of 2010, for the WBC/Baltic light heavyweight title.
He also fought and defeated twice, Gilkes and Julian Tannis and while GBBC/WBC/CABOFE president Peter Abdool is confident of a good showing between Jones and Corbin, picking a winner would be difficult at this stage, based on both boxers’ record to date.
A brimming Matthews, who can be considered a local punching bag in the boxing fraternity, expressed confidence going into his matchup against Rudolph Fraser, saying ‘Only Gary can make me not sign a contract right now.’
Who is the Gary Matthews he is referring to no one knows, as he refuses to divulge much information, but with his record reading 4-6-1 leading up to this bout against Fraser (6-2), one can only tag Fraser who recorded a stunning second-round TKO over Gardel Roberts in March, as the favourite to come away with the win.
George (0-2) gave an impressive display against reigning WBC/CABOFE middleweight champion Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ De Clou also in March, before a shoulder injury forced him to call it a day and judging from that, Walcott can say his work is cut out for him.
Walcott also fought De Clou, before the Lindener forced Trinidad and Tobago’s Kevin Placide to say ‘No Mas’ in their WBC/CABOFE middleweight bout in February and judging from the experience gained in the ring, George will need to improve his ring craft if he intends to get past Walcott.
Azore is Guyana’s national welterweight champion and even before he fought and endured severe punishment from reigning WBC/CABOFE welterweight champion Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy in February he had his eyes on Antoine.
If you resided in Barbados which is also called the Island of the Flying Fish, you would know that there is always an intense rivalry between that island and Trinidad and Tobago.
Whether Antoine sees Azore as a Trinidadian or Guyanese is left to be seen, but what is certain is Antoine like his countryman Shawn ‘The Sniper’ Cox, has never lost a bout in Guyana and how he fares against Azore who will be on a redemption path is also another unanswered question for the night’s action.
According to Abdool, the GBBC is looking at having overseas fighters grace these shores for the ProAm fights and with that in mind, they are hoping to have a few Brazilians on their June month-end card, providing all goes well with the negotiations.
“We will be having two cards in June. Originally, the card which is set for the 2nd was to take place in May but the authorities at the venue asked us to push it back, as they have another function on that date and we flexed with them, since they have been cooperative with us, over the years.
However, we will have the June month end Friday Night Fights, despite having this card on June 2, which means there will be two cards in June and while I am not at liberty to disclose the names of the personnel for the second card in June, I can say we are negotiating to have Brazilians on it,” said Abdool.
He said Jones and Corbin were to clash on the same card, but with both fighters calling each other out, he doesn’t see why the public should be forced to wait to witness the clash, hence they will be witnessing the two go at each other soon, with the second card taking on an international flavour, while Abdool promised to have Corbin, Antoine and Azore present at the press conference on May 29.
Admission to the venue remains $1 000 for adults and $500 for children and the GBBC ProAm card is being held in collaboration with the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) who will name their pugilists for that segment of the night’s action at a later date.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Telecommunications giant Digicel, Ansa McAl and Banks DIH are all sponsors of the ProAm card.