TECHNICAL knockouts were the order of the night, when the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) punched off their Intermediate Championships with 15 bouts at the East Ruimveldt based California Square last Saturday night.

On a night wherein Republican Gym met and dominated the well-known Guyana Defence Force (GDF) gym in 8 of the 15 bouts, boxing fans who turned up at the venue, including two-time world champion Gairy ‘Superman’ St Clair, were truly entertained, leaving with broad smiles on their faces.
The action commenced with Jason Philips of Young Achievers, meeting and defeating Jamal Glasgow of GDF by unanimous decision, followed by Devon Thomas of Rose Hall Jammers, recording a split decision victory over Jamal Evans, also of GDF.
The Army Boys had something to smile about following their disastrous start in the tournament, when Kevon Farley won by walk over from Steven Chan of Forgotten Youth Foundation, after Chan failed to show for their 75kg contest.
Later in the night, Philips met and defeated Thomas in the penultimate bout of the night, winning by TKO at 2 minutes 5 seconds of round two, with Thomas refusing to even rise from a crouching position, after enduring several shots to the body from a determined Philips.
It was back to defeat for the GDF Gym, when a seasoned Kevin Allicock of Republican Gym, unleashed a barrage of unanswered combinations to the body of Arthur Scipio in the first round, at the end of which Scipio was flinching at every body blow he received from the gloves of Allicock.
To add insult to further injury for Scipio, he touched the canvas three times during the second round and showed no signs of continuing the contest with Allicock after the first knockdown, forcing the referee to count him out after knockdown number three occurred at 54 seconds inside the second stanza.
Dellon Naitram and Stephen Andrews continued Republican Gym dominance over their counterparts from the GDF, when they both recorded TKO victories over Jamal Mona and Quacy Semple, with Naitram stopping his man at 2 mins 13 seconds inside round two, while Andrews did so at 1min 32 seconds inside the first round.
Rupert Gillis brought back smiles to the GDF camp, with his TKO victory over Stephen Julien of Republican Gym, as he forced his man to quit the proceedings at 1 min 42 seconds in the second stanza of a contest which saw both pugilists exchange punches, much to the delight of the spectators.
But it was back to the losing end of things for GDF, whose management team that was headed by Technical Director of the GBA Terrence Poole, saw his next four fighters suffering TKO defeats from their opponents, three of whom were fighting out of the Republican Gym.
Ryan Junior, Enoch John and Terrence Nero will all have to go back to the drawing board and replan their strategies for the next GBA tournament they wish to enter, after they were all knocked out by Anandram Dharamraj, Klaus Daniels and Clifton Graham of Republican Gym, while Glenroy Smith of Essequibo joined the TKO feast, winning by such margin over Mervin Rawlins of GDF.
Following a break in the action, Colin Martin of Republican Gym survived an onslaught from Warren George of GDF early in the first round before recording a TKO victory at 1 min 36 seconds of the same round, followed by Delon Gordon winning by split decision over Sean Philips also of GDF.
After Jason Philips out boxed a determined looking Thomas, the night culminated with Farley being stopped by his gym mate Wayne Murray at 27 seconds in the second round.
Following yesterday morning weigh in session at the Andrew Lewis Gym in Albouystown, the finals of the Championships sponsored by COURTS and Banks DIH Limited, was contested at the same venue last night.
Written By Calvin Roberts