GBA’s Andrew Lewis Nat Novices C/Ships…GDF retain crown after ‘Blackout’ stops fights

Jul 01, 2017 Sports

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By Sean Devers
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) came with heavy artillery and quick marched to back-to-back titles as they dominated the five other gyms when the extended Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis National Novices Championship concluded yesterday at the ‘Sixhead’ Gym in Albouystown.

Originally scheduled for three nights at National Gymnasium, a power outage just before 22:00hrs on Thursday night halted the card with three bouts remaining, forcing the GBA to move the action to the ‘Sixheads’ Gym yesterday afternoon where the curtains came down with the remaining fights and the presentation of the Championship Trophy to the soldiers.
GDF’s 22-man team won eight of the 10 titles to take the title for their third consecutive year, while Vergenoegen Boxing Gym (VBG) had one with Republican, who had 20 boxers participating, taking the other.
Watched by the largest turn-out of the tournament which included Guyana’s only Olympic medalist, Boxer Mike Parris, his wife and daughter, Thursday night’s proceeding got off to the third late start in three nights and Forgotten Youth Foundation’s Keevin Allicock made light work of Republican’s Elton Castro, who was given three standing eight counts before the 56kg Youth final was stopped in 2:29 seconds of the opening round.
In an all VBG affair for the 60kg title Christopher Moore won by split decision over Deshon Elcock in a lacklustre encounter before GDF’s Akiemo Watts launched a murderous onslaught on Republican’s Darmandar Shoepersaud in the Elite 49kg Final as the referee stopped the contest in 1:26 seconds of the first round.
When solider Delroy Murphy came out with all guns blazing in the 52kg final and walloped Republican’s Ewart Corbis from all angles, the GDF drummers and fans were dancing with delight in the stands.
Corbis barely threw a punch and after surviving three standing eight counts, the bout was stopped in 58 seconds in the first round in the shortest fight of the Championships. The next contest was even shorter since Republican’s Trevor Williams gifted the 56kg title to Kelvin Moore of VBG by way of a walkover.

Delroy Fordyce never allowed his GDF club mate Delroy Leacock to find his rhythm by landing some clinical shots, causing standing eight counts to be administered on Leacock in every round as Fordyce easily took the 60kg Elite title on points. In another all GDF battle, Kevin McKenzie dominated Delon Garraway to win the 64kg title on points.
For the first time in the night’s action, the two base drums and the fewer Republican supporters had the opportunity to outdo their GDF counterparts with raucous encouragement which built to a crescendo by the time the final bell sounded in the Elite 69kg final between Republican’s Jamal Leitch and GDF’s Toney Gillis.
What started as slug-feast evolved into an all out brawl with neither fighter finding the will or skill to finish the job with a knockout in what was easily the most entertaining fight of the night.
The first round was fast paced with the boxers showing little interest in sizing up their man. They went at each other from the word go and traded combinations to the head and upper cuts to the body with Leitch looking the more orthodox of the two.
Leitch began to find his flow and confidence and a wicked right cross rocked Gillis’ head and the soldier was in trouble as a standing eight count was administered early in the second round. But Gillis up the tempo and counter punched, with at times, wild combinations and the Gymnasium was on its feet.
A hard right to the body sent Gillis reeling against the ropes but he refused to go down and another flurry of wild swings got him out of the corner.
Leitch was landing the cleaner punches and was ahead going into the final round but Gillis was not going down without a fight and a few big right hooks were just short of the mark as a pumped up Leitch kept moving forward, looking for the kill.
With little thoughts on defence, Leitch was staggered by brutal left, right combination and was given a standing eight count as Gillis looked desperately for a knock-out in the dying stages with Leitch way ahead on points.
The last few seconds saw both fighters going toe-to-toe slugging it out, but the bell rang without either of them going to the canvas with Leitch prevailing in the end by a ‘points decision’ to salvage some pride for the RBG.
GDF’s Akimey Barker then knocked out fellow Gym mate Torin Adams in 2:01 second of the first round before ‘Blackout’ ended the night’s action which resumed yesterday afternoon with GDF’s Joel Peters beating fellow soldier Jamal Williams and Emerson Farley defeating Antonio Williams in another all GDF contest, while the Army notched up their third win yesterday when Aubrey Headley got a walkover from Republican Germaine Williams.
Captain Keith Watts, Officer Commanding the Sports Department told Kaieteur Sports that he was proud of the professionalism displayed by the coaching staff and Boxers and congratulated them on behalf of the Chief-of-Staff and ranks of the GDF.
“I wish to thank the Boxing Association for successfully hosting the tournament and assure them that GDF will continue to support the promotion of the sport,” Watts said.

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