Guyana Fight Night – Road to Redemption… Dharry lifts title despite distractions – Marques losses by split decision

Apr 25, 2022 Sports

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Kaieteur News
By Sean Devers

The much anticipated Road to Redemption Card at the Providence Stadium on Saturday night was among the biggest in the history of Boxing in Guyana with two WBC international bouts carded for the night.
When the dust had settled Guyana’s Elton Dharry had beaten Panamanian Orlando Penalba for WBC International Super Flyweight title by Unanimous Decision.
In the bout that preceded Dexter Marques lost on a slit decision to Panama’s Gilberto Pedroza, who claimed the WBC Silver belt.
The card, promoted by Dharry Promotions, Jack Bharat and NexGen Global Promotions in association with The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport was affected by a few glitches including the projected the size of the crowd, which competed with a few other ‘big’ Events.
Technical issues by the Power-Set Sound System which resulted in the Cultural Show that included performances by Guyana’s Junior Soca Monarch being cancelled. Added to that, the poor quality of bouts on the undercard failed to overshadow the pair of WCB bouts.
The large gathering, mainly located on the ground, included Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali, Sports Minister, Honourable Charles Ramson Jr and Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, among other known Boxing personalities, were treated to a night of sizzling hot fistic fury that included rain, which commenced during the last bout and intensified in heavy downpour moment after final bell.
Earlier in the night, Stephen DaSilva suffered a TKO, 37 seconds in the first round by Richard James, James Walcott was knocked out in 54 seconds in the first round by James Moore, Imran Khan floored Anthony Narine in 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the second round and Laured Stewart, who entered the ring with his entourage Granny ‘Ivelaw’ and a couple of fake Policemen, cut Romeo Norville down in the first round.
Stewart and Norville had matched gloves in the amateur ranks with Norville winning but Saturday night was payback.

In what was nowhere near his best performance, Dharry, who last fought in Guyana on January 20, 2018 when he beat Venezuelan Jesus Vargas at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, was floored thrice in the final round but survived to win a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecard 97-92, 94-93, 99-92.
In the opening round both fighters used a wide stand and looked to establish the early advantage where Dharry succeeded and how has a Pro record of 26 wins (14 KOs), 6 losses and 1 draw from 33 bouts.
The second round saw the previously undefeated Penalba, whose record in 14 fights is now 12 wins one defeat and a draw, getting the better of the USA-based Dharry with some good body shots.
The boxers upped to tempo and traded combinations as Dharry used his jab to keep out the more aggressive opponent, but although he was not as quick as he usually is, he was caught with shots that could have been evaded. Dharry had done enough to be ahead in the contest after four rounds.
By the seventh round the intensity of the fight had increased with Dharry executing some nice crosses to the head of his man who counter-punched in an action packed round.
In the next round both pugilists began to tire and the pace of the fight slowed with more holding being done.
The penultimate round saw a few low blows and warnings for clashes of the head but Dharry won the round.
The Panamanian came out with all guns blazing in the final round looking for a knockout but only succeeded in flooring Dharry three times as adjudicated by referee Eion Jardine. The gutsy Penalba threw all he had at Dharry who managed to survive the onslaught.
But in the end, the scores were not an indication of competitiveness of the furious battle between the gladiators.
After the fight, Dharry told former World title contender Clive Atwell (one of commentators) in the ring that he was affected by distractions outside of the Ring.
“I heard everything my trainer said…everything they said was correct, I just couldn’t pull the trigger. My mind was not fully focused on what needed to be done. I think I learnt a valuable lesson tonight to step back from promotion while fighting.”

“I (usually) perform 10 times better than what I did tonight. Everyone who knows me or has seen me in training, they know what type of performance I bring and you have to really be at an elite level to really give me any type of trouble,” said the 36-year-old Dharry.
Dharry who migrated to the US when he was 13, said he made things a little harder on himself by being a promoter and will never do it again. He, however, added that he will continue to promote fights for other boxers.
Dharry, a WBC Caribbean Bantamweight Champion, Guyana National Bantamweight Champion, IBF Intercontinental Champion and WBU Americas Bantamweight Champion, and World Boxing Council FECARBOX Super Flyweight champion added another title to his list of accolades.
In the closely fought supporting bout, Marques who has not fought in close to four years found the going tough against flyweight, Pedroza.
The 36 year-old Marques in his 20th pro fight suffered his third loss after dominating the first round with some good shots to the body of Pedroza.
However, the Panamanian hit Marques with body digs and lefts to the head as Guyanese failed to consistently failed to jab and get out of range as Pedroza won the critical moments.
Marques manage to land some good combinations in the round with the hopeful crowd chanting his name but it was too little too late for the Guyanese.

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