Harpy Eagles dominate first night
HARPY Eagles Boxing Gym dominated the first night of the Guyana Amateur Boxing (GABA)/Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) Andrew Lewis Under-16 Boxing Championship, which got underway  Saturday evening on the tarmac outside the Andrew `Six Head Lewis Gym, Independence Boulevard, Georgetown. The first night of the two-night card saw the Albouystown based gym winning five of the eight bouts they contested on the night’s nine bout card.
In winners row for the home team gym were: Kevin Mullings (50-54 lbs) Christopher Mansfield (65-69 lbs), Steffan Greene (90-94 lbs) Travis Hubbard (105-109 lbs), David Moore (125- 134 lbs) and Jose Chappell (165-175 lbs).
The tournament which is the first of three that DDL has pledged to sponsor this year got off to a blistering start with timymites (50-54 lbs) Mullings (HE)  and Malrick Walcott of Essequibo) (Esse) going at each other for all of the three two-minute rounds.
It was Walcott who was the aggressor for the first two rounds, but Mullings who came out on top by a 3-0 majority at the end of the bout, was equal to the task.
From the start of the third round, Mullings raced across to his opponents’ corner and started to unleash a barrage of 1-2 combinations, but failed to floor his opponent.
The second contest of the night saw Christopher Mansfield (HE) defeating his gym mate Kevin Allicock by a 2-1 split decision in the 65-69 lbs class.
This bout took the same pattern as the opening fight- as both boxers traded punches for all three of the two-minute rounds.
Essequibo opened their account through Odeny Moore who registered a 3-0 win against Elijah Insanally by quartering him throughout the three rounds and counter-punching to good effect.
Rose Hall Town’s (Berbice) Tyron Lashley then scored a 3-0 win against Cordell Walcott in a 85-89 lbs clash .
The two youngsters started off the bout by feeling out each other during the first minute of the bout after which they both switched to third gear and started to brawl, but in the end, it was Lashley who came out on top.
Ezekiel Accra of the Forgotten Youth Foundation gym earned a walk over victory  over Orin Bancroft (HE) in a 90-94 lbs match.
In the same weight class, Green scored a 3-0 win against Albert Thomas of Linden Boxing Gym.
Harpy Eagles’ Hubbard subsequently recorded a 3-0 majority win against Pocket Rocket’s (Berbice) Joel Williamson in the 105-109 lbs weight division, while David Moore (Rose Hall)  and Chappell defeated Javaad Richards (HE) and  Jamal Thomas (Young Achievers ) respectively.
Moore forced the referee to stop his contest against Richards at the 25th minute of the second round while Chappell recorded a 3-0 win against Thomas.
The tournament was scheduled to continue last evening at the same venue with 14 bouts.
Prior to the start of Saturday night’s card, GABA’s president Steve Ninvalle in his opening remarks said his association in collaboration with DDL will stage a second such tournament in August in the Ancient County of Berbice and a third one in the Cinderella County  (Essequibo) during the month of December.
Ninvalle told Chronicle Sport his association is mulling the idea of honouring former boxing stalwarts by way of staging similar tournaments during his reign as president of the association.
He reminded that GABA has already dedicated a tournament in honour of Michael Parris, Guyana’s lone medal winner at and Olympic Games.
Parris won a bronze medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.