ON the night of January 19, 1992 at the National Park on Thomas Lands a deafening noise erupted when Michael Benjamin TKOed Anthony `The Pearl’ Andrews in a welterweight contest. The 25-year-old Benjamin was rock-solid going into the fight but many had the slicker Andrews, two years older, to win.The quintessence of grit and determination, the professional boxer Benjamin was also ferocious, courageous and tenacious.
He was born in March 1966, and at one time was considered one of the feared boxers in Guyana. As a lightweight and welterweight, Benjamin possessed power, speed and an appetite for destruction.
Andrews, on the other hand, was a master boxer and consummate counter-puncher, believed well-equipped to handle any onslaught Benjamin could have offered. The result of their bout proved otherwise.
`The Pearl’ had snatched the Guyana bantamweight title following an 11th round TKO of Michael Parris. A three-year sojourn in the USA saw Andrews going on a losing spree. He won two of nine fights and upon his return in 1989 was defeated by Barrington Cambridge while contesting for the national welterweight title.
Benjamin won the national lightweight title in November 1997 and added the World Boxing Council (WBC) Continental of Americas lightweight crown to his collection in August 1988.