AFTER a dim start on the opening night, the Guyana Boxing Association’s (GBA)/Terrence Ali National Open Championships heated up on the second night as seven of the 10 fights finished within the distance, with boxers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Gym accounting for three of those stoppages.

Two went the full three rounds while the other was a walkover victory.
Defending champion gym, GDF, won five of their nine bouts with two of those fights being all-GDF affairs.
The second-night action began with an all-GDF contest that saw Delon Garraway win by a unanimous points-decision over Clinton Clarke.

Then came competition in the Youth category where Christopher Moore of the Vergenoegen Boxing Gym (VBG) caused the referee to halt his lightweight contest against Pocket Rocket Boxing Gym’s (PRBG) at one minute 26 seconds of round three.
The contest, which was one to cherish, saw Moore use his left jabs to good effect, staving off the challenge of Pollard, who found his rhythm and landed a combination of punches causing the referee to issue an eight-count.

It looked like Pollard’s round, but in the second stanza, Moore stepped up the attack and landed several combinations to the body and head of Pollard. He kept up the onslaught for the remainder of the round, and into the third round.’ The referee then stopped the contest.

Then came the `bigger boys’ of the Elite Class. Julius Kesney of the Rose Hall Jammers (RHJ) Boxing Gym came up against GDF’s Aluko Venture in a flyweight contest but the latter was no match for Kesney and the referee stopped the contest at 14 seconds of the second round.

Kelvin Moore (VBG) then faced GDF’s Clairmont Gibson (GDF in a bantamweight contest and this was a real bruising affair and can be considered the fight of the night.
From round one, both fighters went after each other with Moore looking more purposeful of the duo in the first round and Moore, a south paw, landed several times with combinations to the head and body of Gibson, but the National Open defending bantamweight champion stormed the weather and retaliated. He picked his punches and landed several heavy combinations that forced the referee to stop the contest at two minutes 28 seconds of the third round.

In the lightweight division, Joel Williamson of RHJ forced the referee to stop his lightweight contest against GDF’s Jamal Brisport at two minutes 40 seconds of the second round.
The junior welterweight contest between GDF’s Colin Lewis and Forgotten Youth Foundation’s (FYF) Aquincy Harvey resulted in Lewis securing a two-minute 33-second stoppage win in the first round.

In the welterweight division, GDF’s Dwayne July secured a walkover win from his gym mate Romano Clarke.

In the other welterweight contest on Wednesday evening, FYF’s Marlon Darrell secured a unanimous points-decision win over Tony Gillis of the GDF. In the middleweight division, GDF’s Caribbean middleweight champion Desmond Amsterdam secured a two-minute 34-second stoppage victory against Pocket Rocket’s Akeem Crandon and in the final fight on the night’s card.

Dennis Thomas of Guyana Police Force who won the middleweight title last year is competing as a light heavyweight this year. He proved too much for GDF’s Aluko Bess and the referee stopped the contest at one minute 39 seconds of the second round.