Overseas Guyanese boxer takes up `Deadly’ Dalton challenge
Guyana Chronicle
January 28, 2004
A GUYANESE-born fighter now representing the United States of America (USA) is the first to respond to the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) advertisement for a challenger for ‘Deadly’ Denny Dalton next month.
Edward Meertens has put his name at the top of the list to challenge Junior Middleweight champion Dalton for the vacant Caribbean Boxing Federation Title (CABOFE) on February 21 in the mining town of Linden.
If approved, the two will meet in the feature bout of the ‘Mash Bash’ card in memory of the late Andrew Murray that is being promoted by Holland’s Entertainment Promotions (HEP).
Meertens has fought the likes of top raters, Michael Covington and Luis Rosado, and has even offered to stand his own airfare. The junior middleweight boxer adopted the USA as his homeland and represented that country after migrating at a very young age.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s world-rated Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil will have to settle for an exhibition match against Linden boxer/trainer Dirk Alexander after the undefeated Scroller Carrington of Trinidad and Tobago pulled out of the fight.
According to a release, Carrington said that if Laila Ali is not ready for O’Neil, then she is definitely not ready for her (O’Neil).
The release further stated that the promoters searched for another opponent but to no avail as the heavyweights in Guyana and around the Caribbean prefer not to be O’Neil’s warm-up before her May 1 world title shot.
The card also features Mark ‘Pit Bull’ Dummett and Leon Moore in the long awaited battle in the bantamweight division, which is now the main supporting bout.
The two have never met on the professional level, but are one-one in the amateur level.
In female action Shondell ‘Dynamite’ Parks and Pamela ‘Grenade’ London meet in a heavyweight clash for the vacant title, while in an amateur bout Andrew Murray Jr. will meet a Linden challenger who is yet to be named.
An exhibition bout is also in the making for Linden’s Sean ‘Fat Head’ Quallis and entertainer ‘Monkey Man’.
Meantime, Ryan Wissow, executive director of the WIBA, is expected to observe the card.
Wissow recently named HEP as the official promoter of the O’Neil/Mariana Garcia world title fight and has also offered to give Dalton a chance to fight for the Universal Boxing Council Iberian world title if the promoter can come up with a sanctioning fee.
He said he has been following Dalton’s progress and feels that he deserves a shot at the title.