Super welterweight (junior middleweight) Tony `The Tiger’ Marshall won an eight round contest against American Edwin Curet on March 14, 1997. Marshall won by Technical Knock Out (TKO) at one minute and 50 seconds of the sixth round, for his first victory of that year.The Guyanese was 26 years at the time, 10 younger than his opponent and improved his record to 23 victories against seven defeats and six draws. The fight card was held at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York, and had another Guyanese appearing in one of the preliminaries.
However, featherweight Forbes David did not share the same luck of compatriot Marshall, as he was Knocked Out in the third round by Carlos Navarro. David, the elder brother of former Guyana welterweight champion Pascal David, had relocated to the USA in 1996 but never won a fight there.
Marshall turned pro in April 1991 and returned home in 1995 to provide glove work for Anthony `The Pearl’ Andrews who was preparing for a world title fight with Argentine Jorge Castro. Marshall would make two unsuccessful challenges for world titles.
The first occurred in November 1994 when `The Tiger’ tackled Argentine Julio Cesar Vasquez for the World Boxing Association (WBA) version of the crown.
After 12 rounds, Vasquez was adjudged the winner via unanimous decision. Marshall’s second attempt ended in similar manner. The Guyanese travelled to Madrid, Spain in July 2000 to do battle with World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Javier Castillejo.