The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Saturday evening was rocked by boisterous cheers and the delightful sounds of knockout after knockout when the Super Fight Night engulfed the Homestretch Avenue venue.
The nine-bout card was taken in by scores of Guyanese professional boxing fans who were treated to victories from all the Guyanese pugilists on show.
Guyana’s winning streak began in the amateur under-card where Terron Wintz got the better of St Lucia’s Justice Joseph, followed by a win for Abiola Jackman against Trinidad and Tobago’s Merlicia Durham in the only women’s bout of the night.
Elton Dharry (red gloves) and Roger Saldana go at it (Jemima Holmes photo)
Over in the professional segment, Desmond Amsterdam made a grand statement on his professional debut, knocking out Romeo Norville just one minute and 10 seconds into the first round of their four- round encounter. All it took was a series of body shots from Amsterdam to get Norville to hit the mat in record time.
Then, Dexter Marques kept the ‘KO’ trend going, though he was made to toil for the exciting result. After trading punches for four rounds, Marques made his breakthrough in the fifth round of his six-round bout against Colombia’s Sammy Ramos. Forty-four seconds into the round, Marques destabilised his Colombian opponent for the eventual victory.
Romeo Norville (green trunks) on his way down against Desmond Amsterdam (Jemima Holmes photo)
What was touted to be an exciting clash for the National Super Middleweight title ended in disappointment for both Charwin Estwick and Edward DeClou after their bout was stopped. An accidental head butt caused a nagging cut to Estwick above the eye, leading the referee to declare a no- contest.
Keevin Allicock then reinjected the exhilaration into the fans at CASH, keeping his professional record clean. Just when it looked like Colombia’s Omar Cuello would go the distance against Allicock, the body shots from the Guyanese became relentless, causing Cuello’s coach to throw in the towel.
Elton Dharry then brought the curtains down on the night’s proceedings with a unanimous decision victory over Roger Saldana of Panama, after both pugilists went the distance of eight rounds.
“Blood in a fight like that, it’s all in the party. It’s all good, it’s just how we train for our fights,” Dharry said about some lingering blood on his person following the gruelling clash.
Dexter Marques celebrates his KO win (Jemima Holmes photo)
He added, “It was a tough fight, I showed I was prepared to go the distance if it comes down to it.”
“In the past few years I’ve been knocking people out and I haven’t gone past the third round, so the eight rounds, it had me shake some ring rust off and sharpen up a little bit more and show that I can go the distance if it comes down to it on fight night.”
Saturday’s fight night was a collaborative effort between Elton Dharry Promotions, the Guyana Boxing Board of Control and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
