Richard Williamson boxed his way to the vacant national super bantamweight title with a unanimous decision victory over a game Dillon Allicock on Saturday in the main event of the Rose Hall Showdown.
Williamson, who scored a flash knockdown in the final round, won by scores of 117-111, 116-111 and 117-112, which was not indicative of the competitive nature of the fight.
The Berbician (5(2)-5(2)-0) landed the harder and more accurate punches during the many exchanges between the 122-pound southpaw standouts.
The 24-year-old boxer-puncher from New Amsterdam alternately employed stick-and-move and stand-and-trade tactics during the hotly contested fight, often fighting off the ropes and picking his spots to land hard shots.
However, Allicock, a 25-year-old pressure fighter from Albouystown was the aggressor throughout the fight. Stalking forward all night behind a low guard, Allicock, who had an outstanding amateur career, arguably outworked his opponent in the majority of rounds and appeared the fresher of the two down the stretch, causing many observers to score the 12-round bout in his favour.
Williamson however got the judges’ nod and highlighted in a post-fight interview that his immediate plan is to go after the CABOFE title in the division while Allicock 1(1)-2-0 insisted on a rematch outside of the Ancient County.
Former national lightweight champion, Revlon Lake and Berbice native and national super middleweight champion, Derrick ‘Lights Out’ Richmond was also victorious on the card which was held under floodlights at the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports and Club (RHTY&SC).
Lake, a former national lightweight champion, scored a shut out over hometown kid Kishawn Simon in their eight-round light welterweight affair which featured more hugging than punches.
Nonetheless, the Barbados-based Lake dominated the co-feature landing jabs and occasional right hands to the head and chiseled body of Simon who had predicted a knockout victory.
It was a real sleeper at the breezy, open air event which started two hours later than 7 pm as advertised due to issues with the lone floodlight.
Two judges scored the bout 80-72 while the other saw it 79-73 for Lake who improved to 6(1)-12(8)-2. Simon who sported a bleached blonde Mohawk, dropped to 2(1)-3-0.
In the first bout of the evening, Richmond won a one-sided unanimous decision over late replacement, James Walcott 3-8(4)-1 in their six-round contest.
The southpaw Richmond 4(3)-2(1)-1 was the aggressor throughout the fight against Walcott who seemed content on just going the distance after his opponent stopped him last Boxing Day in Linden after a thunderous left hand to the temple.
The scorecards read 58-56, 58-56 and 60-54 all in favour of the New Amsterdam pugilist.
Before the three professional bouts, there were two amateur exhibition fights.
From the poor turnout, to the two-hour late start, the Mark Thom Promotions event failed to reignite interest in the fistic sport in the Ancient County.