Just when one thought that the roller-coaster ride that is the Shondel Alfred/Corrine De Groot rematch had stopped it has gained momentum which has resulted in a bit of history set to be created.
President of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Peter Abdool yesterday informed Stabroek Sport that the rematch for the WIBA bantamweight title which ‘The Mystery Lady’ Alfred won last September, could be staged by a promoter either local or overseas who has the best offer.
This is the first time that the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) will see one of its title rematches taking this course since the establishment of the association in 2000.
According to Abdool, all interested promoters may bid on the amount of the purse but it would be the WIBA who will set a minimum figure for the purse.
Contacted yesterday Ryan Wissow, president and co-founder of WIBA, informed this newspaper that the starting purse would be US$7000 with 60 per cent of the final agreed figure going to the champion and 40 per cent to the challenger.
But the GBBC boss noted that if upon conclusion of the bidding process neither party was satisfied, it could lead to a bitter-sweet situation.
“Either of the contestants can refuse the purse bid. However, the champion can lose her title and the challenger can lose her mandatory rematch (challenge) so there’s a stipulation both ways.
“See, this is also all new to us, but this is the kind of thing we need to move to. We need to move to a system where if more than one promoter is interested in a world title fight, we go to purse bid, that’s the only way to be fair,” said Abdool.
In recent times, three Guyanese promoters have been in the forefront of professional boxing – Odinga Lumumba, Carwyn Holland and Stanford ‘King’ Solomon.
But the GBBC still cannot be counted out of the process since they have also teamed up with all of the said promoters to help stage cards.
Holland (Holland’s Entertainment Promotions) and Solomon (S&S Promotions) had teamed up last September to promote the card, ‘Caribbean Fury.’
The card was held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and saw ‘The Mystery Lady’ Alfred stopping ‘The Sexy Panther’ De Groot by a unanimous decision to lift the vacant WIBA bantamweight title.
Lumumba’s last taste of the promotional field was on October 27 2008 with a card labelled the ‘Perfect Storm’ at the Guyana National Stadium.
He then attempted to stage the highly- anticipated clash between Guyana’s first World Champion Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis and US-based Guyanese Raul Frank over the past few months but unforeseen circumstances caused several postponements.
Contacted yesterday Lumumba said:“Well, if they want to do a purse bid for the card fine. But I want them to do it with a bank guarantee so at the end, if they say that they will be fighting for ‘X’ amount, you have pre-drafted contracts and every body walks out happy. So yea, I would do a purse.”
Holland on the other hand, who was named WIBA World Boxing Promoter of the year in 2004, said that “I’m not really interested in no purse bid but if that’s what they well then, that’s it.” ‘King’ Solomon could not be contacted yesterday for a comment.
Initially March 27 was the tentative date for the rematch but Stabroek Sports understands that the bidding will be done within a week and the winning promoter will have to promote the fight by April 15.
