Local boxers bag five gold and three silver medals on penultimate night

By Michael DaSilva
LOCAL amateur boxers continued their dominance of the Caribbean Development Boxing Tournament, dubbed `Back to the Future’ which was slated to conclude last evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall with the finals in the Elite category.

At the end of Saturday night’s card which saw pugilists’ from the 13 participating countries vying for honours, the locals came out on top in the men’s junior category with three gold medals and a silver to win the junior crown.
The local women failed to impress in their category as they were far below the standard of their Caribbean counterparts which saw Barbados chalking up three gold medals, while Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and host Guyana won one each.
In the Elite category, Guyana secured one gold medal on Saturday evening and was looking to add to their tally last evening in the finals of the other weight divisions..
Of the 26 fights that were staged on Saturday, the most memorable one for those who were present would be the final bout on the night’s card that involved Guyana’s Akiel Mounter and Anguilla’s Japhat Olion in a middleweight contest in the men’s junior category.
Unfortunately, after putting up a good showing in the opening round of their three-round contest, Olion was caught with a perfect straight right hand to his jaw and fell to the ground
. At the count of six, the Anguillian got to his feet and indicated to the referee that he was able to continue and as the referee was about to say `Box’ Olion, he fell on his face and had to be tended to by the two ring-side doctors.
Even after leaving the ring before the presentation of medals, Olion was still dazed and was receiving treatment from the doctors and his handlers were advised to secure observation treatment for the boxer at a medical institution.
The other gold medal winners for Guyana on Saturday night were; Delroy Elcock who registered a technical knock-Out (TKO) win against Barbados’ Iwasika Austin at one minute 37 seconds of the second round in their flyweight contest and Kevin Allicock then forced the referee to stop his light flyweight contest against Mosses Dempster of Barbados at one minute 28 seconds of the first round.
Kevin Benn (Guyana) secured a silver medal in his welterweight fight against Anguilla’s Curlan Robinson.
Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Cayenne (French Guiana) and St. Marteen all won gold medals in the junior category also.
In the women’s category, Barbados won three gold medals to be crowned women’s champion, while Trinidad and Tobago and Cayenne won one each.
In the Elite category, Guyana secured a gold and a silver medal in the light flyweight division through Teusimar Peters and Tyron Lashley respectively. Peters registered a two-minute 40 seconds TKO win against his countryman Lashley.
In the Elite category, the locals won all four of their bouts to make it into the finals which was scheduled for last evening.
In the light welterweight division, Jason Phillips and Antigua and Barbuda’s Alston Ryan won by the TKO route at two minutes 31 seconds of the third round; Dennis Thomas registered a TKO win at two minutes 15 seconds of the second round in his middleweight contest against Hubert Feriander of the Bahamas; Desmond Amsterdam scored a unanimous points decision against Ian Darby of Jamaica in their light heavyweight contest and Jason Barker recorded a TKO win at two minutes 48 seconds of the first round against Barbados’ Akeem Isidore in their heavyweight contest.
The `Back to the Future’ boxing tournament was scheduled to conclude last evening.