– As fighters ink contracts for New Year’s Beatings
Fighters for the Holland’s Entertainment Promotions January 29 card entitled ‘New Year’s Beatings’ have all signed their contracts for the bout which will take place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Headlining the card will be Guyana’s heavyweight champion Mitchell Rogers who will be coming up against Anthony Augustine over six rounds.
The main supporting bout will be between Guyana’s first female world champion Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil and Sharon ‘The Spoiler’ Warde.
The night will also see former amateur standout Clive Atwell making his professional debut when he faces off with Charlton Skeete over four rounds.
Laurex Benn returns to the fight game and will face Iwan Azore while Orlan ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers will square off against Elton ‘Real Coolie Bully’ Dharry in what should be a crowd pleaser.
According to promoter, Carwyn Holland, the fight which was initially set for the end of December was postponed since he was unable to get some of the overseas-based fighters here on time.
“The fight, since it was set for last month end during the holiday season, was given the name ‘Season’s Beatings’ but since the holidays are over and we are now into the new year, it will now be called ‘New Year’s Beatings’ and trust me, it will be a very exciting card since all of these fighters featuring have scores to settle,” Holland said.
Holland, who teamed up with Stanford ‘King’ Solomon to stage the last card – ‘Caribbean Fury’, where Shondel Alfred lifted the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) bantamweight title, said this card will be featured around the region via the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) Carib Vision.
Already on board are Auto Fashion’s and according to the company’s Managing Director, Rupee Shewjattan, they are more than pleased to be associated with the bout.
“We here at Auto Fashion’s are always supporting sports and I think our support will go a far way in making this fight successful.
He added:”I wish all the fighters well and we are always committed to help out in any way possible.”
Meanwhile, at yesterday’s contract signing, some heated words were thrown by O’Neil and Warde with both fighters making it clear that they looked forward to the opportunity of settling the personal vendetta.
“I’m a warrior and I’m not afraid of Gwendolyn. I don’t know who she thinks she is really, but I’m not afraid of her,” Warde declared.
“God knows, you know how long I want to put my hands on Warde and I’m thankful to Carwyn for giving me this opportunity to beat her,” was O’ Neil’s retort.
O’Neil, a former WIBA and WIBC light heavyweight champion, said that she was preparing for a title fight next month and will be using the fight with Warde as more of an exhibition to show the Guyanese public that she still has it.
“Well right now I’m fighting out of the USA as you know and I’m training for world title fight next month so, I just want to show people what I’m made of against Warde and beat this girl, no way she can beat me so it will be a war,” said O’Neil.
“I want to done it in three,” the former world champion said.
“Three rounds, that’s all I want to done her off, she can’t past that at all, I know that it will finish early,” O’Neil said.
Meanwhile, Rogers was all smiles yesterday as he relished the though of finally getting a chance to put his powers to test against an opponent who is just as big or even bigger than him in size.
“Well you know my entire fights end early and I’m glad I got a chance to fight because people always scared of me,” Rogers said.
Agustine seemed calm but upbeat about his clash with the current heavyweight champion which will be only his second professional outing.
“First of all I want to say how grateful I am for this fight. But I don’t make predictions, me and Rogers used to train together so I know what I have to do and so on, so it’s going to be a good fight, you know, and I’m ready for it” the well-built Agustine noted.
