Shondell `Mystery Lady’ Alfred was born with the boxing gene in her Deoxyribonucleic acid or what is commonly referred to as DNA.
Not much is known of her mother Ingrid, but her father, Cecil Alfred, represented Guyana at the 1976 Central and American Caribbean boxing championships held in Jamaica.
Cecil Alfred was a well-known pugilist in his heyday known as much for his nickname as for his prowess with his fists.
His nickname was `Koker Dog.
I am not able to ascertain how he got the name but it obviously has something to do with his fighting ability as he won his first two bouts at the CAC championships before losing the third to Mike Mc Callum.
Losing to a fighter of the caliber of Mc Callum was not a disgrace some might even call it an achievement as Mc Callum, later known as the `Body Snatcher’ went on to become World Champion.
Upon returning home Cecil Alfred joined the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and continued his amateur career.
He was successful in avenging two of his earlier defats to Winfield Braithwaite and Michael Reid respectively.
He then turned professional in 1980, a year before Shondell was born.
Shondell Alfred was born on September 6th 1981 in Albouystown, Callender Street, to be precise. Growing up she attended St Stephen’s Primary and later St Joseph’s High School and although she did not participate in boxing, growing up, she did take part in athletics and karate.
Boxing in Guyana has always been a male dominated sport and in an effort to attract more females into the ring (ring girls were to come later) rather than being mere onlookers, the then Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) went talent hunting for female boxers.
Myself and Trevor Arno were told by Orin Moore to go to Tiger Bay and ask for `Nini.’
When we did find her we found out that her name was Stephanie `Razor’ George. Mike Parris, the 1980 Olympic Games bronze medallist took George under his wing and a win over Ann Howard for the national bantamweight title was the result.
Howard was from Albouystown and George from Tiger Bay, two areas well known for producing individuals who could be labelled as `bad’.
The search for someone who could exact revenge took us to Cecil Alfred, who said he had a daughter who was involved in karate. He told me to come back the next day and the rest was history.
At the time Wencel Thomas was the coach for the Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym and he took her under his wing.
The bout pitting Alfred against George took on a Tiger Bay community versus Albouystown matchup (to put it mildly) and generated intense interest.
When the dust finally settled Albouystown and Alfred were victorious.
It was Alfred’s first pro fight and it was held on February 19, 1999.
She was just 18 years old and back then she had no inkling that boxing would lead her to heights previously unknown or that someday she would be a world champion but that is exactly what happened.
Wins over Sharon Johnson and Shondell Thomas, who were both in the first professional fights followed and, under agent Boxu Potts, Alfred journeyed to Canada where she took on Doris Hackl on June 9th 2000 at the Casino Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
She lost that fight by a TKO in round four of the six-round contest but was not undaunted.
In fact, she took another fight in Canada a mere three months later against a Canadian boxer by the name of Lisa Brown.
The inexperienced Alfred was simply no match for Brown and she suffered a similar result, losing in round two of the super bantamweight contest at the Casino Rama, Rama, Ontario, Canada.
Alfred got her career back on track with a points win on August 5, 2001 over Joenette Toby, (also known as Giselle Salandy).
Salandy, of Trinidad and Tobago, was to go on to a storied career before she died in a car crash.
Alfred, meanwhile, continued to rack up the wins including a second defeat of Stephanie George.
On August 29, 2003 she journeyed to Barbados where she knocked out Vicki Boodram in the first round of their four round flyweight contest at the Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Complex.
In December of that year, she defeated George, this time over eight rounds for the vacant bantamweight title of Guyana.
But two consecutive losses to Alexandria Matheus and Jamaican Alicia Ashley respectively put a damper on her aspirations. The bout against Matheus took place on February 29 in Europhallen, Aalborg, Denmark and Matheus won the four round featherweight contest by a unanimous decision.
Ashley, a former world champion, was ranked amongst the best female fighters ever.
That bout took place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and Alfred lost the eight round super bantamweight contest by a unanimous decision. Alfred suffered a knockdown in the fight against Ashley but recovered well the rest of the way.
On October 22, 2004 she defeated Boodram again by a TKO in round three of their eight round bantamweight contest in Princess Town, Trinidad and Tobago.
She then defeated Marisol Miranda on points but lost to yet another Canadian Danielle Bouchard, by a unanimous decision.
That fight took place at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada on May 16, 2006.
Then on September 26, 2009 came her crowning achievement.
Alfred took on Corinne De Groot for the vacant Women’s International Boxing Association bantamweight title.
De Groot was popular for participating in the Gladiator Series and there were a lot of questions about Alfred’s ability to win the big one.
The fight took place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and Alfred won by a unanimous decision.
She also made a successful title defence when she stopped De Groot by a TKO in round four in the rematch held at the Princess Ramada Hotel on June 5, 2010.
Alfred had her last bout on November 6th 2010 defeating Olga Lula over six rounds.
A former Sportswoman-of-the-Year (2010), she was the recipient of a house lot in 2011 by then president Bharrat Jagdeo and was the WBC Women’s Inspirational Boxer of the Year in 2011. She also received an award from the GBBC in 2011.
The Mystery Lady’s career reads 18 fights, 13 wins (four kayoes) and five losses.
In 2012, Alfred was scheduled to fight Mexico’s Zulina Munoz for the vacant WBA super flyweight title but that fight never came off and Alfred subsequently retired.
