Elton Dharry came off the canvas in the final round to unanimously defeat a game Orlando Penalba Saturday night in-front of thousands of entertained fans at the National Stadium.
For his grit and determination, the spoils, the vacant WBC super flyweight International title went to the victor, Dharry who stretched his record to 26-6-1.
His opponent, Penalba, 28, of Panama suffered his first loss in 13 fights.
In the headline bout of the well-organized, floodlit ‘Road to Redemption’ card, the score cards read 97-92, 94-93 and 99-92, all in favour of the orthodox standout who put on an epic display of counterpunching in front of the largest boxing crowd in recent memory.
Fighting to chants of Dharry! Dharry, the attendees, which included His Excellency, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, Minister of Sport, Charles Ramson Jr., Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, the Indian High Commissioner, Dr KJ Srinivasa and other dignitaries, Dharry and Penalba did not disappoint.
The pair stood toe-to-toe and went hell for leather for much of the 10-round affair. Both fighters, who were bloodied and bruised, had their moments but Dharry, the aggressor, used his superior reach, stature and power punching to go ahead on the scorecards.
He punished Penalba in the sixth and in the eighth round especially with brutal head and body shots as the raucous fans sensed a knockout.
However, Penalba weathered a tiring Dharry onslaught and made it to the final round. Sensing he needed a knockout to win, Penalba pounced and stunned Dharry and the partisan crowd, decking the USA-based prized fighter with a series of hard right hands to the head.
In perhaps a career saving moment, Dharry, 36, rose from his feet and survived the terrifying knockdown as the rain came to walk away with the win.
After the fight, Dharry said “I made things a little harder on myself (by being a promoter)”
“I heard everything my trainers said, everything they said was correct, I just couldn’t pull the trigger. My mind was not fully focused on what needed to be done. I think I learnt a valuable lesson tonight to step back from promotion while fighting.
“I usually perform 10 times better than what I did tonight. Everyone who knows me or has seen me in training, they know what type of performance I bring and you have to really be at an elite level to really give me any type of trouble.”
The event, which was made possible by Dharry Promotions, Jack Bharat and Nexgen Global Marketing, in association with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, saw Penalba’s countryman, Gilberto Pedroza defeating Dexter ‘De Kid’ Marques in the co-feature via split decision.
The score cards read 100-94, 94-96 and 96-94 as the pair fought in a ‘phone booth’ style for much of the 10-round flyweight slugfest. Pedroza, whose record improved to 19-9-2 earned the vacant WBC Silver belt.
For ‘De Kid’ who could not shake off the two-plus year ring rust, his record dropped to 17 wins and three losses.
