Bess, Fraser to battle for cruiserweight title as boxers invade Linden
THIS year’s Linden Town Week celebrations will be one with a difference thanks to Denton Osborne, head of Osborne and Associates, the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) and the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA), who joined forces to take the monthly ProAm Friday Night Fights (FNF) to the mining town.
Most importantly, the 14th edition of the monthly programme that has been used to revive the sport of boxing locally will see Kurt Bess take on Barbados-based Cleveland Fraser for the inaugural GBBC cruiserweight title, when the card punches off on Monday, April 25, at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.
Other professional bouts on the card will see Edmond De Clou take on Winston Pompey for the second time in a super middleweight contest, after their first meeting, held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in January, was declared a draw.
Having quit his last bout against Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy because of weight problems, Cassius Matthews will try to get it right when he faces Shawn Pile in a junior welterweight contest. He vows to snatch a victory over his opponent.
“When I fought ‘Candyman’, I had some weight problems, since he promised to enter the contest at 147 but did not, which forced me to withdraw after two rounds, but that would not be the scenario when I face Pile, since we both have the same weight and I am determined to come out on top,” said Matthews.
Sharon ‘Stone’ Warde and Pauline London met on two previous occasions, with Warde being victorious both times.
However, the GBBC’s match-maker Eion Jardine thought it best to bring the two together for a third time, with Warde being forced to defend her undefeated run against London in her home town, since London who is known to send numerous verbal threats at signing ceremonies, did not do differently yesterday.
“She (Warde) is always a serious opponent and having lost to her twice, I intend to set the record straight for myself, since I felt I won both fights and how I will do so is by making sure she doesn’t answer the bell for the fourth round,” said London.
Not to be outdone, Warde said her opponent is known to do lots of talking outside of the ring and not inside, and having heard such words from various opponents before, she is accustomed to it and will make sure London eats her words up, every letter.
“She always talks a lot. That’s her style, as she thinks she can intimidate her opponents with her words, but this is one fighter’s skin she won’t get under and on the April 25, I will make sure she eats back every word in the presence of my hometown fans,” stated Warde.
The exchange of words continued between the two female pugilists, with London promising to burst Warde’s mouth with the first punch of the night, drawing reference to her first bout with Debbie Tyson, over whom she scored a unanimous-decision victory, before suffering a lopsided defeat in the rematch.
“I will bust up your mouth in front of your home fans and leave you in a state of shock when this fight ends. I will hunt and bomb you down to an extent, you will not wish to come out and face me in the fourth round, cause the blows will be too much for you to take. Just look at what I did to Tyson,” stated London.
Warde refused to let London’s words rest. “You did not put Debbie down, in fact she washed your tail so badly in the rematch that she left you panting for breath after the fight and all through the announcement of the decision, and all I will do is repeat what Debbie did to you, on Easter Monday.”
The final professional bout on the card will see Bess and Fraser battle for the cruiserweight title and while Bess was present for the signing ceremony, Fraser was represented by his manager Raphael Jonas who gave all assurance that his fighter will keep his ring date this time around.
“First of all, we had flight problems to get Cleveland out of Barbados for last month’s light heavyweight matchup against Kwesi Jones and honestly it is a good thing, since we heard Howard Eastman was chosen to face Jones.
“Make no bones about it, Cleveland will be here to keep his ring date with Bess for the cruiserweight title, since we will be working out travel arrangements for him tonight (last night), so we can have him in Guyana by weekend or early next week” stated Jonas.
According to Osborne, this card will be an exciting one as his organisation, which will be making its promotional debut, will be looking to give the mining town community a treat for their money, with three boxers from Linden competing in the professional category.