(Sydney, Australia)- Guyana has a new boxing world champion.
Georgetown’s Stephan Da Silva defeated Fiji’s William Mel at the Gairy St Clair Superhero Pro Fight Night in Sydney, Australia to become the new WBL Junior Lightweight World Title holder.
The battle between Da Silva and Mel took place on Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd at Sydney Coliseum Theatre, and Guyana’s former IBO/IBF world champion Gairy St Clair presented him with the WBL belt.
The fight lasted for two rounds before Mel retired hurt, and Da Silva was named the winner.
“It is a proud day for Guyana boxing!” says Guyana’s last world champion Gairy St Clair.
“To be able to see Stephan Da Silva become my home country’s new world champion on my own fight night is something incredibly special for me.
I am happy that I have been able to give this talented fighter the opportunity of a lifetime.”
The Gairy St Clair Superhero Pro Fight Night also featured three other fights, including two title fights.
Syed Muhammad Asif of Pakistan defeated Fiji’s Ram Anuj to become the WBL Asia-Pacific Flyweight title holder, and Australia’s Connie Chan prevailed over Kaitlyn Lodge (also from Australia) to become the WBL Super-Welterweight World Champion. Australia’s Tim Hannan also beat Fiji’s Nepote Dawadawa in the Cruiserweight division on the night.
The event was Gairy St Clair’s first professional fight night, with many more being planned for the future including an event in Georgetown, Guyana.
Born in Georgetown Guyana in 1975, Gairy began boxing at the age of 9, representing his native country of Guyana at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada.
He went on to compete in 21 professional boxing contests in Guyana, America and Canada before moving to Australia in 2001 to continue his boxing career.
Under the guidance of legendary Australian trainer Johnny Lewis, Gairy went on to capture the IBF and IBO Junior Lightweight world titles from then five-time world champion Cassius Baloyi. Gairy retired with a professional boxing record of 60 bouts (46 wins, 2 draws, 12 losses).
Gairy is regarded by many boxing experts as one of the most technically skilful and defensive boxers of his generation.
Gairy wanted to share his skills and knowledge in boxing training and fitness and opened up the Gairy St Clair Boxing Fitness Gym in 2017.
Gairy St Clair was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in August 2022 in Melbourne.
