Courageous effort by Mark Austin but Simeon Hardy prevails

Apr 01, 2012 Sports

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By Michael Benjamin
Every boxer, despite his aura of invincibility, encounters that one opponent who tests him to the hilt and may even cause him to question his prowess. For Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy who has knocked out all but one of his 8 opponents in a relatively short professional career, that boxer was Mark Austin, who despite surrendering an 8th round knockout verdict, turned in a commendable effort that threatened Hardy’s invincibility, while the fight lasted, when the curtains were drawn on the 21st edition of the Friday Night Fights at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) Friday evening last.
On a night when all but one fighter fulfilled their pre-fight predictions, Rudolph Fraser made light work of Barbadian based Guyanese, Gardel Roberts disposing of him in 2:05secs of the second stanza, while Edmond DeClou dished out a systematic beating on Kelsie George and forced him to quit on the stool in the fourth round.  Pauline London was the erring boxer who, despite her outlandish pre-fight predictions, surrendered a lopsided unanimous verdict to Mandessa Moses in their catchweight bout.
Austin had warned Hardy that if he lapsed he would have collapsed and from all indications Hardy took the threat seriously judging from the way he approached the bout. The unbeaten southpaw pugilist commenced the bout with a few probing chin checkers but a game Austin took them like a man and retaliated with a several crunchers of his own. The fight started at a fast clip with each boxer giving as much as he took.
Hardy distinguished himself in the second round with several vicious one two combinations but Austin steeled himself and refused to back off. The result was that most of Hardy’s punches breeched his high guard and landed on his nose or forehead even though he held a high guard.
The first half of the third round was a replica of the preceding rounds with Hardy firing away and Austin unable to stem the tide. It was late in the round, with about forty five seconds to the bell that Austin awoke from his lethargy and landed some telling blows that sent his opponent on the retreat.
Hardy aggressively pursued his goal in the fourth round and punished his man with several salvoes to body and head but the shorter Austin refused to say die and enjoyed his best round after connecting with several wicked hooks and straight rights to Hardy’s body and head.
As the bell for the fifth round sounded Hardy rushed out but seemed resigned to the fact that his infamous chin checkers were incapable of doing the trick in isolation and he blended his attack with varied punches. Austin matched his aggression and both pugilists stood toe to toe exchanging leathers that only ended at the sound of the bell.
Austin began to show the effects of Hardy’s punches in the sixth round as blood oozed from a medium sized cut over his right eye. He courageously finished the round but was obviously the worst for wear while a well conditioned Hardy appeared unscathed.
Hardy targeted Austin’s injured eye from the start of the seventh round and connected with several salvoes that worsened the wound and force the referee to solicit the doctor’s opinion. The medical practitioner decided that there was no danger in continuing and Austin returned to the fray.
He must be commended for a demonstration of courage and he even scored with a few savage blows of his own after the doctor’s cursory check.
Realizing that Austin was really hurt, Hardy upped the ante in the eighth round and a vicious one two combination sent Austin reeling. The man of the chin checker fame showed no mercy and relentlessly pursued his foe landing several crunching blows that eventually sent Austin crashing to the canvass. Though hurt, Austin attempted to rise but only managed to get to his knees before referee Franklyn Brisport decided that he had seen enough and waved off the contest. The time was 25 seconds into the 8th round.
Despite giving away more than 50 pounds to London, Moses was the aggressor and her punches certainly had more zip that those of her opponent. London had earlier promised to launch her bombs but from all appearances her firing mechanisms seemed stuck and she was unable to land her salvoes.  In fact, the fight was a one sided affair with Moses connecting with every punch in the book. The latter fighter was never threatened even though London did enjoy sporadic moments of glory after momentarily backing up the lighter fighter to the ropes and firing several salvoes. Moses managed to dance out of range and kept a safe distance, picking her opponent apart with jabs and right crosses. The decision was never in doubt and all three judges concurred. Trevor Arno, L. B. Sullivan and Francis Abraham all scored the bout 60-54 to hand Moses the unanimous verdict.
The programme got underway with the usual accompaniment of four amateur bouts and the Williamson brothers of the Pocket Rocket Boxing Gym, Joel and Richard, registered victories over their Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF) foes, Shawn Michael and Delon Charles, respectively.   Joel competed in the 100-114lbs division while Richard battled in the bantamweight division.
In the other two amateur bouts, jnr flyweight female, Ansilla Norville of the Harpy Eagles Boxing Gym (HEBG) proved too good for Keisha Arokium of the Rose Hall Jammers (RHJ), while Ron Smith (GDF) outlasted Romeo Norville (HEBG).
The Friday Night Fights would be staged once again on Friday April 27 next and the boxers to comprise that card would be released shortly.

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