THREE (3) debutants, three grudge matches and 32 rounds of fistic action is what boxing fans and enthusiast can expect, when they throng the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall tonight to witness the action in the 25th edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) in collaboration with the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) ProAm Friday Night Fights (FNF). Richard Williamson, Dillon Allicock and Kishan Simon, who all held impressive records as an amateur boxer, will be making their professional debut, while Albert Thomas, Tefon Green, Shaka Moore, Royan Sumner, Ron Smith and Romeo Norville will be engaged in the three grudge matches.
Added to that, national lightweight champion in Barbados based Revlon Lake, has promised to put away his opponent for tonight’s main fight on the professional side of things in national featherweight champion Clive Atwell, a feat Atwell deemed as highly impossible, in comparison to the movie ‘Mission Impossible’.
According to Technical Director of the GABA Terrence Poole, the Association is looking to not only decentralize the sport, but also take it to the rural areas and at the same time bring the Simon Purées from those areas to Georgetown to showcase their learned art on the FNF.
Christopher Tinerman, who fights out of the Essequibo Boxing Gym, will go head to heads with Kevon Mulling in the first amateur bout, while the three grudge matches will follow, setting the tone for the professionals to take the stage, after the 30 minutes break.
Thomas hails from Linden and prior to his matchup against Tefon Green tonight, they had met on two occasion, with both boxers walking away with a win, hence tonight’s clash which takes place in the 90 to 94lbs weight class, can certainly decide who is the better of the two.
Moore also from Essequibo, fought and defeated Sumner who fights out of Five Star gym and asked for the rematch, as he felt he had won the first contest between the two, which took place in the 95 to 99lbs category.
Smith, who fights out of the Guyana Defence Force’s gym, fought and defeated Norville once before and tonight he will be looking to go 2-0 when the two face each other in a middleweight contest, at the end of which the curtains will be drawn on the amateur segment of the night’s action.
GBBC president Peter Abdool felt pleased when he highlighted the professional card to those gathered in the studios of the National Communications Network yesterday afternoon, as he pointed out the transition and record of the three debutants for tonight’s professional segment.
Abdool said the purpose of the ProAm FNF is bearing fruit, as three of the boxers who will be in action tonight, were only a few months ago being introduced by Poole for the amateur segment of the cards.
Both Anson Greene and Gladwin Dorway have one thing in common; they fought and defeated David Thomas in their first professional bout, with Dorway recording a stunning second round TKO win, while Greene won his by a unanimous decision and will be looking to prove tonight, who is the better boxer.
Williamson is a former two time silver medalist at the Ronald Williams Memorial Boxing Tournament which is held in Barbados and boasts of an amateur record which saw him compete in 64 fights, from which he emerged victorious in 44, while he missed out on representing Guyana at the Olympic Box Off earlier this year.
Tonight he faces Allicock, another debutant who began his boxing career at the age of 13 and has a much more impressive amateur record that reads 110 fights with 96 victories, while he was also named Best Cadet Boxer by the GABA in 2007, making tonight’s action a tremendous one.
Simon had 13 fights as an amateur and won seven of them, even displaying his class by taking a break last year to write 11 subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Council examinations and was successful in all of them.
Tonight, he faces a different examination in the experienced Patrick Boston, whom he will be meeting in a catchweight contest over fours rounds and while he readily admitted that boxing can at times be seen as a gladiator sport, he is prepared and ready to take on the more experienced Boston.
Lake arrived from Barbados Wednesday morning and despite the short time he’s had to prepare for tonight’s matchup against Atwell, he was confident of victory, to the extent that he promised to knock Atwell out before they reach the fifth round of the schedule eight rounds battle.
“I don’t see this tough fight for me. I think it will be easy and also an early night for me, as I am not looking to go past four rounds” said Lake whose record reads 6-6-2, following his last fight against Miguel Antoine last February.
As he did when he fought Rudolph Fraser on last month’s FNF, Atwell warned Lake not to get too anxious, as putting him away in four rounds is not an easy task, even though they are meeting at the cross roads between their respective decisions.
“To put me away in four rounds is not going to be easy. I have said it before and was proven right and I will do so again, coz I know tomorrow night (tonight), I will be proven right again, I will rally past four rounds and beat you” said Lake.
Admission for tonight is $1,000 for adults and half of that for children, while some of the sponsors include Courts (Guyana) Incorporated, GUYOIL< Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Agriculture and Digicel.