GBBC Firestorm boxing card…Dorway plans to make amends for February debacle against Austin tonight

Apr 20, 2013 Sports

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By Michael Benjamin

The vicious exchange of vile epithets that characterized the press conference last January when Mark Austin and Gladwin Dorway were scheduled to match gloves in a card promoted by the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) had dwindled to naught after the latter boxer was diagnosed with a heart infection and debarred from entering the ring.

Austin had said then that he was extremely disappointed because he had felt slighted by Dorway’s pre-fight comments and had wanted to crush him physically and psychologically. Dorway had responded saying that his opponent, despite feigning sorrow, was happy by the turn of events and abused the situation by magnifying

himself as the better boxer.

The hype and fantasy changed when cardiologists at the Caribbean Heart Institute later pronounced that Dorway was as fit as a fiddle and advised officials of the GBBC that he was given the green light to resume his career. Not one to let the opportunity for a golden fight to slip through his fingers, President of the GBBC, Peter Abdool immediately recommenced negotiations to match the two fighters and the fruits of his efforts will fructify tonight when the two gladiators square off over twelve rounds for the local welterweight belt at the Princess Hotel, Providence EBD tonight.

The fight will precede two other title fights; Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman against Jamaican, Sakima Mullings and Clive Atwell up against Venezuelan, Hernandez Raphael. Fans will also be entertained when Syrian boxer, Mahmood ‘The Extractor’ Loul attempts to replicate his 1^st round knockout in his debut fight against Patrick Boston when he faces off with Berbician, Derick Richmond in super/middleweight 4 rounds middleweight shindig.

At a first glance the pundits might want to give the edge to Austin whose resume consists of several grueling bouts against Barbadian, Miguel Antoine and Barbados based Guyanese, Revlon Lake. Yes, he had lost those bouts but he had defended himself furiously up to the time of Lake’s stoppage and Antoine’s decision win. Austin had a dream start to his career, chalking up 5 impressive wins while conceding a drawn decision against Clive Atwell. When one examines the latter boxer’s record, the Austin feat becomes even more meritorious.

Something then went wrong and Austin fell away, surrendering fights to Antoine, Simeon Hardy and Iwan Azore. He also fought Lake in a return match and suffered the ignominy of an 11^th round knockout before dropping a 12 rounder to Iwan Azore for the very belt he aspires to win tonight.

Austin enters the ring with an 8-5-1 record and the fact that he was only able to knockout Errol Trotman in the very early stages of his professional career demonstrate a poor propensity for knockouts and his ratio in this department after boxing for 88 rounds is merely 7.14. He has been engaged in many wars and had stood his ground against Simeon ‘Chin Checker’ Hardy even as other boxers fell after similar engagements.

Austin then retreated from the sport in order to conduct introspection and when he returned in December last year, Troy Lewis had been his first victim and Austin had announced that he was ready to return to his winning ways.

In the meantime, Dorway was making a name for himself and his opponents to date, Shawn Pile, Cassius Matthews, Anson Greene and David Thomas have all failed to hang around for the final bell thus earning Dorway a 100% knockout ratio. The Austin bout is Dorway’s first legitimate test and though he has earned the unenviable reputation as a knockout artiste, he will find that not all of his foes will fall. The big question therefore is, can Dorway withstand twelve fiery rounds against a boxer of Austin’s caliber?

While the argument may rest on his knockout ability and while Dorway’s fans will argue that he will close up shop way before the fight has progressed that far, one is tempted to believe that he will have to dig real deep to remove Austin within the stipulated period of the bout. Should he fail to take out Austin, is Dorway experienced enough to rally through the latter rounds while dominating his opponent? Would Dorway be able to withstand the grueling pace that Austin is known to whip up in the latter rounds? It is certainly one thing to spew rhetoric in pre-fight press conferences but the real test of a boxer’s ability lies within the ‘square jungle.’

Tonight’s confrontation will determine whether Dorway is made of the stern stuff he so grandiloquently professes to possess. Dorway had inadvertently sustained an injury in his initial attempt at Austin. Tonight he enters the ring free of all heart ailments but whether or not his heart is really in the fight will only be known when he enters the ring for the toughest bout of his fledgling career.

Otherwise, fans could look forward to the exciting exchanges that are bound to set the tone for a night of fistic fury when Eastman takes on Jamaican, Mullings and Atwell squares off with Hernandez. More action will follow in the super/middleweight bout between Syrian boxer, Mahmood ‘The Extractor’ Loul and Berbician, Derick Richmond while Elton ‘The Bully’ Dharry will clash with Orlan ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers in defense of his bantamweight belt over 12 rounds. This replacement occurred after Dharry’s original opponent, Hewley Robinson, sustained a shoulder injury and had to seek medical attention. He was later deemed unfit for the bout.

Ticket prices vary with the VIP section being $10,000 while ringside and outer ringside cost $5000 and $2500 respectively.

 

 

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