-back to back wins for Daniels, Smith and Gordon
THERE is a proverb that is well used in Guyana that says, ‘The race is not for the swift, but who can endure it to the end.’Certainly, this was evident last Friday night at the East Ruimveldt Community Centre tarmac known as California Square, when the Guyana Boxing Association organised National Sports Commission sponsored Novices Championships punched off with 20 exciting bouts.
The proverb mentioned above was applicable to Kevin DeFreitas who faced Quee Brotherson in the 16th of 20 bouts for the night and suffered a 46 seconds first round knockout, after commencing the bout in an attacking mode.
Also in winner’s row were Klaus Daniels, Glen Roy Smith and Delon Gordon, who recorded double victories on the opening night, thus booking a place in the finals which punched off last night at the same venue, following the weigh-in early yesterday morning.
In the DeFreitas versus Brotherson encounter, DeFreitas who was fighting out of the Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF) gym, took the attack to his opponent representing the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) gym in the 81kg division, much to the delight of the vociferous band of spectators on hand.
However, a vicious right hand from Brotherson found its mark on the right side of DeFreitas’ head sending his man tumbling to the canvas, where he stayed until the count of 7, managed to get up on wobbly legs in a dazed state of mind, forcing the referee to call a halt to proceedings.
In the first bout of the evening, Daniels, fighting out of the Republican Gym, pummeled GDF’s Rupert Gillis from the opening bell to the final one, on his way to a unanimous points decision victory, as he forced the referee to administer standing eight counts during the second round of three rounds contest.
However, Gillis’ teammate Wayne Murray extracted revenge on his behalf, when he sent Daniels’ teammate Delon Anderson out of the contest with his second round TKO victory, the first of the night as the bout was stopped at 33 seconds in the second round.
Essequibo’s Smith emulated Murray with his first round TKO win over GDF’s Daniel Gibson, who was given three standing eight counts in the first round, before the contest was stopped at 2:55 of the first stanza, even as Gordon won via a third round TKO over Nduka Horatio of GDF.
The New Opportunity Corps (NOC) made a successful return to amateur boxing after a hiatus of several years, when Calvin Barry claimed a split decision win over the more experienced Kevin Mullin of Harpy Eagles in their 75-80lbs contest.
This was followed by two unanimous points victories for Deshon Elcock and Shane Skeete over Johnnick LaRose of FYF and Nicko Jodha of NOC respectively, before GDF’s Andel Douglas was too strong for FYF’s Dewayne Reid whom he stopped at 1:13 of the second round.
GDF’s Victor Low, Terrence Stewart and Lorex Pellew all suffered second round TKO losses to the Republican Gym trio of Ravindra Bissoondia, Stephan Andrews and Junior DaSilva respectively, even as Kemo Bernard of FYF took a unanimous points decision win from GDF’s Chris Charles.
Terrence Nero of GDF was a no-show for his bout with Republican Gym’s Clifton Graham, following which GDF’s Desmond Blair and Mervin Rawlins claimed victories over Republican’s Dexter Berry and Sean Wilson respectively.
Following Brotherson’s brutal victory over DeFreitas; Daniels, Smith and Gordon and chalked up their second win of the night by defeating Murray and Tyrone Hamid respectively, with Daniels’ semifinal opponent Mark Davis also of Republican, being a no show for the night.
By Calvin Roberts