There was fever pitched excitement, an overflow of fight fans and fistic fury not witnessed locally in years when the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) hosted the Patrick Ford Memorial Boxing Tournament on Sunday at the National Gymnasium.
The top quality international card ushered in the return of the annual fixture and exceeded in satiating the boxing starved fans that filled the tastefully decorated venue.
Served were mouthwatering and entertaining punch-filled bouts by the cream of Guyana’s amateur boxing stars.
Amidst the rhythmic drumming of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) band corps, the party-like atmosphere was graced with the presence of several esteemed guests and provided the perfect setting for the world class punchers to put on a show under the bright lights of the renowned gymnasium.
Sportsman-of-the-Year, Desmond ‘Dynamite’ Amsterdam provided a reminder of his pugilistic pedigree when he detonated against his middleweight rival, Nickelle Joseph of Trinidad and Tobago.
Amsterdam, who won a bronze medal at the American Boxing Confederation (AMBC) Championship in Ecuador last year, forced Guyana’s youngest IBA One Star referee, Lawrence Assanah to put a halt to proceedings in the card’s headliner just before the bell at the end of round two.
After being floored and counted on three occasions in round two, Assanah sent Joseph back to his corner as the fans erupted in euphoria following the end to the one-sided affair.
The highest rated boxer in the country, fittingly ended the stacked card with an exclamation mark, earning another gold medal and ‘The Patrick Ford trophy’ for his heroics.
While Amsterdam stopped Joseph, Best Boxer of the tournament, Keevin Allicock was made to toil against Anthony Joseph also of Trinidad in their highly entertaining featherweight punch fest.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympian, won via unanimous decision against a game Joseph who he fought in a ‘phone booth’ for much of the night. The two featherweights traded punches from the start to the very end but Allicock nicknamed ‘Lightning’ struck the cleaner blows and out-landed Joseph to add another ‘W’ to his stellar record.
Earlier in the evening, Alesha Jackman made light work of her ‘Trini’ opponent, Shawnelle Hamid. In the fastest fight of the night, (53 seconds), Jackman cornered Hamid and unleashed a flurry of punches prompting a count. Hamid had no interest in continuing and the referee stopped the contest. For her performance, she also earned the ‘The McDonald Trophy’.
Alesha’s sister, Abiola was also in winner’s row, stopping Barbados’s Kamara Stuart in the two-minute mark of the second round.
Joel Williamson was the other Guyanese who racked up a win on the international segment of the card. He defeated Jeremiah Toussaint of Barbados via unanimous decision.
In other results, Trinidad’s Jaden Castillano stopped Guyana’s Brian Harris at the end of round two while Barbados’s Ju Sean Shepherd got the better of local, Julius Kesney via split decision.
Leeann Boodram was also in the winner’s row, defeating St Lucia’s Mikaela Khodra also via split decision.
Meanwhile, at the end of the tournament President of the GBA, Steve Ninvalle was asked to describe the event in one-word, he said it was “exhilarating”.
“Every single fight on this card was something to be applauded.”
Ninvalle then underscored the importance for such tournaments for exposing local talent. He then reiterated that the success of the event was a collective effort involving the several stakeholders inclusive of his hard working executive, the coaches, the boxers, co-promoter, Alford McDonald and the media.
Up next on the GBA’s calendar is the National Novices Championship. The championship is slated for sometime in April at the same venue.
