Jamaican boxers Sakima Mullings and Kemahi Russell both registered victories over their Guyanese counterparts when the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) staged its `Battle of the Contenders five-fight card at the Cliff Anderson Sports hall on Saturday night.The card which attracted a handful of spectators, but was highly entertaining saw Mullings, the recently crowned Wray and Nephew `Contender Series’ champion battering Guyana’s Derrick Richmond, forcing the ringside doctor to call a halt to the night’s feature proceedings, while Mullings’ countryman Russell scored a close unanimous points decision against Guyana’s Winston Pompey.
In the feature light middleweight bout that was scheduled for eight rounds, Mullings who hails from Stony Hill, Jamaica scored a second round TKO win over Guyana’s ‘Lights Out’ Richmond in the headline bout of the ‘Battle of Contenders’ card.
Richmond apparently suffered a broken nose in the brief one-sided encounter, prompting the ringside doctor to put an end to the contest before the start of the third round.
In the first round, Mullings seemed resigned to just feel out Richmond, just throwing the occasional jab and the right hand, but in the second round, the Jamaican with 11 knock-out victories from 17 fights to his name prior to Saturday night’s contest, added Richmond’s scalp to his list of casualties by connecting to Richmond’s head with hard telling combinations, one of which connected to Richmond’s nose causing it to bleed, and ringside doctor rightfully ordered referee Eion Jardine to stop the contest.
Prior to the fight, Mullings had said he came down from the 167 pounds class to the 147 pounds division, but while breaking down in weight, his ratio of knock outs per division has improved 100 percent.
Richmond who also shed weight for the bout had said on Friday that breaking down in weight has not interfered with his punching power and he was very confident that he would have taken out the Jamaican, but the latter fighter had the last say.

In a fight that pleased the small but vocal crowd, Jamaica’s Russell and Guyana’s Pompey put on a good show in their middleweight four-round encounter.
Pompey fought very courageously throughout the four rounds, maybe it was his best showing in his career, but Russell who had two fights to his name before Saturday night’s bout, winning both by the knock-out route retaliated after a first-round onslaught by Pompey and in the end won unanimously 58-55,59-54,59-54 on the judges’ score cards.
In the main supporting bout, Dexter ‘The Cobra’ Gonsalves gave the unfit Mark ‘The People’s Choice’ Austin a lesson in boxing, connecting to his opponent with a series of double combinations, left jabs and a wicked double right hand to Austin’s rib cage that almost stopped him in his tracks during the fourth round, but it was not until the eight and final round, the punishment that Gonsalves administered on Austin who took the fight on short notice took its toll and referee Dexter Torrington rightfully called a halt to the proceedings.
The time was one minute and 14 seconds of the eight-round.
In what was a tough fight to score, late replacement Quincy Gomes won a close unanimous verdict over Richard Williamson in their Super Featherweight slug fest despite a deduction of a point in the final round of their six-round bout.
Gomes replaced CABOFE flyweight champion Dexter Marques who injured his hand while sparring last week in preparation for the fight.
The other fight on Saturday night’s card saw former world rater, Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore looking very rusty but his class and skill was enough to encourage journeyman, Mark Murray to quit on his stool at the end of the second round in the one-sided affair.

(By Michael DaSilva)