O’Neil wins fight of her life, Moore an impressive prospect
…Fightnews Robert Coster
Guyana Chronicle
June 1, 2004
FIGHTNEWS.COM Robert Coster reported that Guyana’s new world champion Gwendolyn “Stealth Bomber” O’Neil “fought the fight of her life” to wrest a unanimous decision over the highly touted American Kathy Rivers to win the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) light heavyweight champion.
O’Neil went into the world championship clash, the first to be staged on local soil, at the National Park, Saturday night, with ten fights against 17 for Rivers.
One distinction, however, was that of the seven wins for O’Neil, only one went the distance for a scorecard decision. Rivers had one less knockout in her 13 wins. Both boxers had three losses, while Rivers had one draw.
Many boxing buffs were pleasantly surprised at the performance, real world class, that O’Neil put up to win the title.
World Boxing Association (WBA) Junior Welterweight champion “Vicious” Vivian Harris had declared before the fight: “She has no choice but to be the world champion.”
Harris and fellow world champion, World Boxing Council (WBC) Cruiserweight champion Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite sprang from their ringside seats to bawl instructions to O’Neil during the fight, which at one point, seemed to be slipping from her.
The man in her corner was longstanding National coach of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association Lennox Daniels, under whom, boxers gave the country many medals in regional championships.
In the professional ring, Daniels was trainer of Andrew Murray who became a Commonwealth champion.
It was evident that O’Neil improved by leaps and bounds, not relying only on her strength as in the past. She dominated the fight with accurate shots to head and body, after skillfully creating openings in Rivers’ guard.
Now the dedicated boxing coach and trainer has produced a world champion and created history by doing so on local soil.
However, Guyana got a double Saturday night, when Leon “Hurry Up” Moore characteristically stopped Elvis Martinez of the Dominican Republic to claim the Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) bantamweight title.
Coster said Moore was “impressive prospect” as the Guyanese set his sights on a Commonwealth title, challenging Steve Moliter.
"With his height (5'10") southpaw stance and power, Moore has the tools to be major player very soon in the 118lb division,” Coster declared.
WBA champion Harris told Chronicle Sport: “He is a very good fighter. Let’s just hope he stays focused. I see a lot of good things coming out of him. His strength is his determination. He has everything it takes to become a world champion.”