INTENSE ACTION is anticipated tomorrow night when the Guyana Boxing Board of Control’s (GBBC) Battle of the Contenders takes place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, with the 32-round, five-bout card featuring local and Jamaican fighters, beginning at 20:00hrs.

The feature bout will be a light middleweight contest between Guyana’s Derrick Richmond and Jamaica’s Sakima Mullings over eight rounds, while the main supporting fight will see Mark Austin take on his Guyanese compatriot Dexter Gonsalves in another eight-round light welterweight affair.
Tomorrow night’s feature bout promises to be a very exciting and bruising one as it pits together a boxer/fighter in Mullings against a brawler (Richmond) – a fighter who takes the fight to his opponents.
Mullings who hails from Stony Hill in Jamaica has knocked out 11 of the 16 fighters he has faced in his career to date and would be seeking to add the scalp of Richmond to his knock-out list.
Mullings recently won the Wray and Nephew Contender Series which was held in Jamaica and which attracted a number of fighters from around the Caribbean and Guyana, including former European champion and former world-rater Guyana’s Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman.
Richmond, who hails from Berbice, has knocked out three of his opponents so far, the last being CABOFE middleweight champion Edmond DeClou whose jaw was fractured with the knock-out punch.
Like Mullings, Richmond will be looking to add the Jamaican’s scalp to his list of knock-out victims and, with both boxers going after each other’s scalp, tomorrow night’s contest is highly anticipated and is surely a must-see.
The main supporting bout is also eagerly anticipated as it brings together two young and ambitious prospects who are both seeking to improve on their records and move to another level.
Austin, who is a last-minute replacement for Trinidad-based Guyanese Iwan Azore, is no pushover and will go into the square-jungle tomorrow night boasting a record of seven victories from nine with one via knock-out, while Gonsalves, on the other hand, has three knock-out victories to his name.
Azore pulled out of the fight at the last minute due to a hand injury he suffered while sparring and Austin’s camp is optimistic of a victory despite the short notice, since he possesses exceptional boxing skills and has been hard at training since being offered the fight.
According to Austin, he would not go into the ring tomorrow night looking to knock out his opponent, but if the opportunity presents itself, he would take full advantage of it.
The undercard will feature former super bantamweight world contender in the United States of America, Leon `Hurry Up’ Moore, and Mark Murray in a six-round rematch catch-weight fight.
The first time the two fighters squared off against each other was five years ago when Moore registered a third-round knock-out victory.
Winston Pompey will face Jamaica’s Kemahl Russell who has two fights under his belt, winning both via knock-out and this middleweight bout is scheduled for four rounds. The final bout will see CABOFE flyweight champion Dexter Marques and Richard Williamson in a bantamweight rematch over six rounds.
Admission tomorrow night is $2 000 for ringside and $1 000 for the stands.

(By Michael DaSilva)