Surinamese, Allicock, Jones’ brothers among the winners on opening night

Dec 18, 2022 Sports

Keevin Allicock scores with a crunching right against GDF’s Clinton Clarke on the opening night on Friday. (Sean Devers photo)

Terrence Ali National Open Boxing Championships

Kaieteur News – Fans were treated with a night of fine boxing on Friday at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue. The Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Terrance Ali National Open Boxing Championship got off to a marvelous start. With a bit of rain fall on the outside of the venue and a few onlookers in the stands, the National Open Boxing Championship started a little later than scheduled.

With only 12 fights carded for the night, the school boys led the way in the 26-28Kgs. Match #1 saw the young Rondel Croft out of the Vergenoegen Boxing Gym (VBG) went up against Roopesh Balgobin out of the Rose Hall Boxing Gym (RHG), the young Balgobin kept off Croft with a few solid jabs. Balgobin eventually won the contest by way of a spit decision.

In match #2 – 30-32Kgs category, Jhonny Olejondro went up against his gym mate Lolem Jones. The young Jones came out on top of the contest, defeating his opponent by way of unanimous decision and also making way for his older brother Simeon in match #3. Simeon Jones also out of VBG, collided with the young Cleon Collison out of Rose Hall Boxing Gym in the 35-37Kgs category, defeating Collison after the referee stop the contest one minute and forty-two seconds into the 2^nd round. The fans started to get restless in their seats, cat-talking out of this stands.

In match #4 38-40Kgs category, the RHG- Curtis McDonald proved to be too good for his opponent Jaden Lewis out of VBG, demolishing the young Lewis, the referee later stopped the fight in the final round, giving McDonald the win.

Simeon Jones

Match #5 – 41-43 Kgs weight class, Shaquon Marshall represented his gym putting on a fiery show, defeating his opponent, Shamario Issacs out of the Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF). Marshall from VBG won the contest by way of unanimous decision bringing an end to the schoolboys’ preliminaries.

The ante was raised at the start of the Elite fights, in the Bantamweight 51-54Kgs division. Match #6 got on the way with what seemed to be a good contest between the two fighters, Daniel Garnett from the Guyana Defence Force Boxing Gym (GDF) appeared to be hiding behind his gloves in the 1^st and 2^nd round but Seon Griffith (FYF) however landed a few heavy jabs through his defence, defeating Garnett in the final round.

Troy Glasgow (left) vs Prince Warner

In the other Bantamweight match-up, match #7 Lincoln Murray had the fight stopped early, in the 2^nd round after the experienced Jullius Kesney proved his fighting style was too good for his opponent. Kesney won the match by way of the judge’s decision.

The Featherweight division – 54-57 Kgs class, had two fights carded for the evening, match #8 was deemed the biggest match of the evening, as Keevin Allicock proved his dominance in the ring, a match-up that only lasted a mere one round. Allicock proved that even after slipping on a slightly wet canvas, he got back on his feet, defeating his opponent, Clinton Clarke from GDF due to stoppage.

Match #9 proved to be an equal contest, where both fighters show good of resilience and technique in the ring but the 27 years old Surinamese Samuel Greene got the better of his opponent Andrey Bess from RHG landing more punches by the end of the 3^rd round. Greene went on to win the contest by way of the judge’s decision.

In the Welterweight division 57-60Kgs class only had one fight for the night, seeing GDF Andrew Griffith abandoning the match, two minutes and thirty-two seconds into the contest handing over the win to Mark Crawford out of FYF.

Closing the evening with two fights in the Superheavyweight category +92Kgs class, match #11 got off to an exciting start, seeing the ‘hard hitting’ Aubrey Headly from GDF being the last man standing in this heavy hitting ordeal between him and Tulsie ‘Babboo’ Persaud emanating out of the Guyana Police Force (POL) Boxing Gym. Headly won the fight, by way of the judge’s scorecard.

And in match #12, the burly Troy Glasgow (GDF) went up against Prince Warner from the Police Boxing Gym (POL). The ‘mighty’ Glasgow held Warner to a 1^st round defeat, winning the contest by way of Knockout (KO) decision. Warner suffered a hard blow from Glasgow, the small Gymnasium crowd watched Warner fell to the canvas in the 1^st round, as he sat in disbelief; Glasgow was given the win after Warner failed to recover before the count, a night ending with great jubilation in the stands.

Fans can catch more action at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue tonight the final night of the event.