Caribbean boxing championships
Local lads win two, lose two controversially
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
June 11, 2004
Local boxers suffered mixed fortunes on the third night of the Caribbean Amateur Boxing Championships currently underway at the Jean Pierre Complex in Trinidad and Tobago.
According to team coach Carl Franklin, who is also a qualified referee/judge, of the five senior-category fighters on show on Wednesday evening, the locals won two and lost two controversially.
Franklin, one of three coaches who accompanied the team, said Kofi Noble and Gordon Ross suffered controversial losses to Arubians Rayen Brete (lightweight) and Evan Nedd (light-heavyweight) respectively.
He said Guyana's heavyweight Mitchell Rogers was knocked out in the second round by Trinidad and Tobago's Kurt Mansell.
Winning their fights were middleweight Markember Pierre, who knocked out Gilbert Vas of Jamaica and bantamweight Esan Rose who scored a unanimous decision over Barbados' Ricardo Blackman.
According to Franklin, Pierre took control of his bout from the opening bell and connected with several one-two combinations and right uppercuts that had Vas backing away.
In the second round, Pierre applied more pressure and caught Vas with a left uppercut to his chin, sending him to the canvas for the full count.
In the Rose versus Blackman bout, Rose went out using the right hand jab to good effect while stepping forward. Blackman started to hold but received three cautions from the referee. As Rose stepped up the pressure, Blackman began to duck and hold in the second round.
In round three, Rose dominated by boxing and a visibly tired Blackman held on, forcing the referee to caution him once again. In the final round, Rose connected with some telling one-two combinations to Blackman's head, followed up with some right hooks and got the judges' decision.
In the light-heavyweight bout, Ross carried the fight to Nedd from the start, but Nedd was content on biding his time for the big punch. Ross then started to move around the ring, displaying some fine boxing skills.
In the third round, Ross started to use double jabs and right uppercuts to Nedd's chin but got caught with a combination near the end of the round and received the mandatory eight-count.
In round four, Ross took control with double jabs to Nedd's head and right digs and uppercuts to body but in the end, Nedd was declared the winner.
"As far as I am concerned, Nedd violated all the rules of amateur boxing and it looks as though they [the organizers] don't want Guyana to win," Franklin stated.
Franklin said Rogers was drawn into brawling with Mansell from the first round but the Trinidadian out-punched him all the time.
In the second round, Mansell bullied Rogers, caught him with a shot to his chin sending him to the canvas for the full ten-count.
However, Franklin is of the opinion that Guyana can regain championship honours despite the poor decisions.
Franklin said two boxers - Dexter Marques (light-flyweight) in the senior category and Gavin Alphonso (flyweight) in the junior category reached the final without throwing a punch. But there are no other contenders in these two divisions, and he is unsure if their points will be awarded to Guyana.
He said in previous championships the boxer/s would have received their gold medals, but he is not sure what will happen this time around.
He said minus points from Marques and Alphonso, the minimum points Guyana can get is 16 and the maximum 27.
The final will get underway tonight and conclude tomorrow.
In tonight's final, Guyana's Alexis Gordon will face Trinidad's Patrice Kaloo in a featherweight bout. Melissa Daniels is down to tackle Aruba's Annely Trump in a light-welterweight contest.
Tonight also, Clive Atwell will meet US Virgin Islands' Forrell Fredricks in a light-flyweight contest. Quacy Craig is down to tackle Trinidad's Craig Ramadhard in a featherweight bout and Dennis Thomas faces Trinidad's David Olivier in a lightweight contest. All three bouts are in the cadet category. In the novice's category, Guyana's Eversley Brown is down to meet Trinidad's Anderson Edwards in a middleweight duel, while in the junior category, Guyana's Edward Skeete will match punches with Aaron Cumberbatch of Trinidad in a light-flyweight contest. Bigony Miggins will meet Barbados's Uradley Rodman and Dexter Gonslalves will tackle Trinidad's Richard Boodhram in a featherweight contest.
Franklin said a number of senior boxers will also be on show this evening but their names would only be made available this morning.