THE night started on a dim note, but Forgotten Youth Foundation’s (FYF) Keevin Allicock and Sean Graham eventually lit up the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, on the opening night of the Guyana Boxing Association’s (GBA)/Terrence Ali National Open Championships on Tuesday night.

On a night that promised much excitement, the card which was originally scheduled to have 12 fights for the night turned out to be a six-fight card and no reason for the reduction of fights was offered.

However, after witnessing four fights that were contested by boxers who really should not have been part of a National Open Championship because of the quality of their fights, FYF’s Graham and Allicock lit up the night with some classy boxing that is worthy of being National Open standards.
While Graham cannot be categorised as a National Open athlete, he displayed the class of one such athlete.

Graham, who is barely 14 years of age displayed tremendous ability as a boxer and will be one to watch in the future.
The `piece of paper’ that was given to the media for four to share did not indicate the category that Graham was contesting, leaving one to wonder if the contest between Graham and Joshua Tamabarran of Rose Hall Jammers (RHJ) was indeed a National Open contest; as the latter, who seemed to be about four feet tall, also appeared to be a 14-year-old.

At the end of the fight, Graham was declared winner by a unanimous points-decision and this was after dominating the fight throughout the three rounds of action with some telling combinations, classy footworks and some stiff right jabs that kept his opponent at bay.
The sixth and final fight of the night was a bantamweight semi-final contest between Allicock and Jamal Eastman of the Rose Hall Jammers Gym.

Allicock being the more seasoned of the two fighters showed his class and experience and dominated the affair, even though at times during the three rounds, Eastman showed glimpses of being able to take the fight, but in the end, Allicock won by a unanimous points-decision.

Apart from the above two mentioned fights, the remainder of the card was very dull as the boxers involved appeared as though they can hardly `harm a fly’. Their soft punches had no effect. Apart from that, they seemed to have just got started in the sport.

In results from the first four fights, Joaquin Milo of FYF won a unanimous points victory over Young Achievers’ (YA) Jamal Mercier, Francis Sukhu (RHJ) secured a similar victory over his RHJ counterpart Raphael Sebastian, Julius Bobb of the Guyana Defence Force got a technical-error victory over his fellow soldier Mark Blake, after Blake, instead of occupying the blue corner for the contest, was in the red corner.

In the other fight on the card, Emmanuel Pompey of Young Achievers secured a unanimous points-win against his gym mate Malcolm Williams.
The championships continued last evening at the same venue and will conclude tonight.