By Emmerson Campbell
The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) will come alive tonight when the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) presents the 20th edition of the Guyana Fight Night Pro Am card.
The card which will comprise four amateur and four professional bouts will be headlined by Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy and Iwan ‘Pure Gold’ Azore for the vacant WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) welterweight title.
The main event will be the culmination of months of verbal and physical jousting by Hardy and Azore which was underlined by the bare-knuckle punch-out earlier this month at their contract signing.
This bout which is arguably one of the most anticipated and publicized fights in recent memory should give those in attendance their money’s worth.
Boxing buffs are reminded that the card will no longer be televised live; however a delayed broadcast will be shown on the National Communications Network (NCN) next Friday night.
During a press briefing which was held at the NCN studios yesterday both fighters signalled their victory plans.
The ‘Candy Man’, who is never short of words, reiterated his intent to knock out Azore and capture the title in order to move into the WBC 50th anniversary tournament.
First bell
Said Hardy “Everyone knows what I’m about, from the first bell I’m going to test his chin and go for the knockout, if he stands up I will go to plan B I am going for the win as soon as possible but I have trained for 12 rounds. I am ready and I am confident Azore is just a stepping stone for my career”.
Hardy also requested that all his supporters be outfitted in red or black to show their support for him. He noted that black for him signifies power, while red represents war. At the weigh–in last night a chiselled Hardy weighed in at 147 pounds, right on the welterweight limit.
Hardy, 24, who has a patented punch dubbed ‘the chin checker’, is undefeated in his six-fight professional career with only one of those bouts going the distance. All five of his knockout victims failed the ‘chin check test’ before round four. Most notably was Patrick Boston, who failed his test just 20 seconds into round one in Hardy’s debut bout in October 2010.
However, Azore, 29, who is Guyana’s welterweight champion, is a proven, battle-tested southpaw with a record of 14 wins, four losses and three draws. During the weigh in last night, Azore tipped the scale at 144 pounds, three pounds below the welterweight limit.
The Trinidad and Tobago-based Azore who was also at the press conference, noted that he has fought much tougher opponents than Hardy and he is not intimidated by words and when they enter the ring he will let his fists do the talking
Will Azore fail the ‘chin check’ test or will the ‘Candy Man’ suffer his first bitter defeat? That question will be answered tonight.
The winner of tonight’s bout will enter the WBC Cup, the 40-week, 50th anniversary tournament that will allow boxers to earn in excess of 50 million Guyana dollars.
Undercard
Meanwhile, in excess of 400 pounds of muscle combined will collide on the undercard when former local heavyweight champion Mitchell ‘Strong Man’ Rogers and Anthony Augustin match gloves in a four-round rematch. Rogers, who won the first bout by a unanimous decision in January 2010, has stated this time around he has no plans of taking the fight to the distance.
Augustin who stopped short of predicting a KO said that he will do whatever it takes to win the fight, however if the knockout presents itself he will surely be going for it.
The undercard will also feature welterweights; Jermaine King will be coming up against Mark Austin in a four-round trilogy. Austin has won both of their previous encounters on points. Also Guyana’s middleweight champion, Edmond DeClou, will match gloves with James Walcott in a four-round catch-weight contest. De Clou will be using this bout as a warm up for his tougher assignment next month at the CASH against Trinidadian Kevin Placide for the vacant WBC CABOFE middleweight title.
The amateur segment of the card was to be headlined by two Road-to-London Olympic Games pugilists, bantamweights Imran ‘Magic’ Khan and Richard Williamson. Khan is now out after he was stabbed in the arm last Thursday.
Khan will be replaced by the inaugural Ronald Wilson Memorial Boxing Tournament silver medallist, Dellon Charles from the FYF Gym. Charles and Williamson will be matching gloves for the second time.
Williamson, who also copped a silver medal at the same Memorial tournament in Barbados last year, defeated Charles on points at the 19th staging of the Pro Am card last month.
Williamson’s younger brother Joel Williamson will also be on the amateur segment of the card. The younger Williamson will be matching gloves with Travis Hubbard who trains at the Harpy Eagles Gym in Albouystown in the 95-99 pounds category.
Other pugilists who will be making up the amateur segment will be another Harpy Eagles’ product Randolph Singh who will take on Young Achievers product Quincy Gomes in a lightweight contest.
Matthew Hollingsworth from the Five Star Boxing Gym will come up against Diwani Lampkin from the Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym in a 100-106 pound matchup.
The monthly card is an initiative of the GBBC in collaboration with the Sports Ministry and the National Communications Network (NCN). Sponsors of the event include Digicel, Giftland Office Max, Courts, Banks DIH Limited and ANSA McAl.
Admission is $1,000 while children will be asked to pay half price. Bell time is 20:00 hrs.
