Controversy enters as GABA C/ships ends By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
June 17, 2002
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The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) made a successful defence of their national open boxing title while newcomers Harpy Eagles captured the under-16 version when the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association's (GABA) 2002 National Open and Under-16 Championships culminated at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday night.

The 'Best Boxer' award in the open and under-16 categories went to GDF's Rayon O'Neil and Forgotten Youth Foundation's (FYF) Simeon Hardy respectively.

Commonwealth Games selectee Rudolph Fraser (GDF) narrowly scraped a 2-1 split decision against gymmate Paul Lewis in a featherweight contest but the decision did not go down too well with the small but vociferous crowd since Lewis was first declared winner by a 2-1 margin.

The reversal of the decision which occurred in a matter of seconds, caused Lewis' supporters to storm the ringside seeking clarification and GABA's president Juman Yassin acted quickly to defuse the situation.

Yassin pointed out that one ringside judge, Desmond Rodrigues, while calculating the scores correctly, mistakenly circled Lewis' name as the winner, while of the two other judges, one had Lewis as the winner and the other went in favour of Fraser. This, Yassin explained, caused the referee, Linden Torrington, to indicate to the person collecting the score cards that Lewis was the winner by a 2-1 decision.

However, Stabroek Sport understands that when the judges submit their scores to the referee it is the referee's duty to calculate the scores individually and not bother with whichever name is circled.

In their featherweight contest both boxers used most of the first round to feel out each other with Lewis being the aggressor and Fraser counter punching.

Former chief magistrate Yuman Yassin (in front of microphone), is caught by photographer Lawrence Fanfair, pointing out where one of the judge's erred in circling Lewis' name as the winner of the lightweight title fight against his GDF gym mate and Commonwealth Games selectee, Rudolph Fraser.

In round two, the tempo picked up a bit and both fighters exchanged a number of combinations to each other's head. Lewis, the shorter of the two, concentrated on Fraser's head. Fraser then connected with a left uppercut and an overhand right but referee Linden Torrington stopped the bout momentarily and took away a point from Fraser. This made Fraser furious and he stormed Lewis with combinations forcing Torrington to issue Lewis with an eight count.

During the third round, Lewis was issued with another eight count, even though no clean hard punch was landed on him.

In the entire fourth round, Fraser went on the retreat as Lewis kept advancing landing solid blows to his opponent's body and head looking to finish off his opponent, but the bell sounded before he could accomplish his mission.

O'Neil who was adjudged `Best Boxer' in the open category defeated his GDF clubmate Dwayne Schroeder by a 2-1 decision. It was O'Neil's only fight for the two-night championship and many thought he did not win impressively enough to be adjudged 'Best Boxer'.

Some fans thought that lightweight Revlon Lake (GDF) who defeated Leonard Henry by a 3-0 decision on the opening night and Seaburn Duncan by a similar margin on Saturday night had done enough to be adjudged `Best Boxer'.

In the O'Neil versus Schroeder light middleweight contest, after a quiet first round, Schroeder attacked O'Neil with 'bombs' in the second, causing the latter to cover but the referee issued him O'Neil with an eight count.

Both boxers went at each other with one-two combinations in the third round and Schroeder had one point taken away for holding O'Neil.

In the fourth round, O'Neil used his left jab to good effect and followed up with combinations but Schroeder was equal to the task, countering well and nearing the end, the two engaged each other in a slug feast and O'Neil was given the verdict.

ON THE RECEIVING END: Commonwealth Games selectee Rudolph Fraser (left) grimaces from this Paul Lewis Jr. straight right in their controversial all GDF lightweight title fight at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday night (Lawrence Fanfair photo).

In the super heavyweight division, FYF's Mitchell Rogers out-punched GDF's Eusi Watkins forcing the referee to stop the contest at one minute 53 seconds of the fourth round.

Both Rogers and the more experienced Watkins started to brawl from the first round, resulting in Watkins being tagged on a number of occasions, but the referee failed to issue the eight count. However, during the fourth round, Watkins tagged Rogers with a one-two combination and the referee, a former GDF soldier, issued the eight count to Rogers.

In other Open results: Sithole George (GDF) secured a split decision victory over his gym mate Steve Reman. James Walcott (Harpy Eagles) forced the referee to stop his contest in his favour, against Marlon Rodney (GDF) in one minute 33 seconds of the third round.

In the under-16 category, Kevin Allicock (FYF) defeated Harpy Eagles' Mario Gouveia by a 3-0 margin, Leon Martin (Harpy Eagles) beat his club mate Joshua Soodoo by a 2-1 split decision, Dexter Jordon (FYF) beat Devon Glasgow (Harpy Eagles) by a 3-0 margin, Michael Jordon (FYF) beat Janathan Soodoo (Harpy Eagles) by a 2-1 split decision, Andrew Murray Jr (Harpy Eagles outclassed Jamal Cozier (Harpy Eagles) forcing him (Cozier) to retired at 34 seconds of the second round, Edward Skeete (Harpy Eagles) secured a TKO decision over his gym mate Mark Wright who retired at 38 seconds of the first round, Delon Allicock (FYF) beat his brother Daimee Allicock also of FYF by a 3-0 margin, Dennis Thomas (Harpy Eagles) had the referee stopping his contest against Rodwin Marshall (GDF) at 47 seconds of round two in his (Thomas) favour, Simeon Hardy (FYF) beat Dexter Gonsalves by a 3-0 margin and Joel McRay (FYF) beat Kevin Peters (Harpy Eagles) by a 3-0 majority.