Over the years local boxing in Guyana has taken a beating. A severe beating would be putting it better. The sport has taken not one, but several standing eight counts.

Since the mid 1990s boxing has been rocked by mismatches, wobbled by controversial decisions and floored by the ever decreasing number of fans who grew fed up with the way things were being run.

Under prepared fighters walked into the rings. Mismatches were the order of the day resulting in early knock outs and sluggish contests being as bountiful as sand on the sea shore.

Fans were left with open mouths and empty pockets. This could not be our Dear Land of Guyana which in the 1970s and 80s and even early 90s was the mecca of the professional boxing in the English speaking Caribbean.

It took little more than a year for the sucker-punched public to catch on. Fight cards drew meagre crowds then. Exasperated mumblings drowned the bell which signalled the end of rounds.

The word was out that boxing now was not the sport of the past. It had become boring but still expensive for fight fans. The excitement had gone and it was almost child's play to predict the outcome of the mismatches.

There were no more bruising contests such as the epic Robin Lall versus Lalta Narine slug feast for the featherweight championship of Guyana. Neither were there matches that came close to mirroring the Vernon Lewis / Luis Resto thrillers or the Reggie Ford versus Mark Harris encounter.

In an ironic way, boxing was being knocked out by the very people who had pledged to keep the sport alive. There is a saying that one swallow does not make a summer. In some instances it may prove right.

However, the Guyana Boxing Board of Control has made a bold attempt to prove it wrong.

In what some may describe as a master stroke in the bid to win back the fans, the GBBC has matched two junior lightweight fighters in a 12-round contest, which from the inception promises fire works reminiscent of the ushering in of the new millennium.

Not only does the Boxing Day main bout between Vincent Howard and Hugo Lewis conjures up images of a ding-dong tussle, but any boxing buff worth his salt would not hesitate in theorising that the obvious talents of the fighters leave little doubt that a threat is in store.

A check at the National Gymnasium and the Forgotten Youth Foundation gyms where Lewis and Howard respectively train, bore testament to the fact that both parties are hard at work.

Local boxing technician Maurice `Bizzy' Boyce, Howard's trainer has been in a very serious mood. He has screamed, glared and at times almost hit his charge in a effort to take him the extra mile.

Not to be outdone, Lewis' trainer Lennox Daniels has left no stone unturned and has promised that it will be a fight to remember. Even if both Lewis and Howard produce an exhibition of half their potential, the boxing fans who fork out their hard earned cash to be at ring side will be in for a treat.