Christiana comes alive with amateur boxing

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

New boxing promoter Paul Patmore gave Christiana boxing fans a treat last Saturday night, with an exciting six-bout amateur card at the Holmwood Technical High School auditorium, featuring boxers from several gyms throughout Jamaica.

Patmore, who was recently granted a promoter's license by the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, decided to start with an amateur promotion, so as to whet the appetites of boxing fans in the Manchester area, but said that his plans are to have both professional and amateur cards not only in that parish but also in Trelawny.

Boxers drawn from Bruising Gym which is based in Stony Hill, the Heavy Metal gym in St. Ann, Hard Knocks gym in Savanna-la-Mar, White Dove in Trelawny and G.C. Foster gym in St. Catherine, exchanged punches in contests that had spectators cheering wildly throughout the night.

The best bout of the night was the return battle between light-welterweight champion Anthony Clarke from Bruising gym who repeated his victory in the recent National Championships over Oshane Cleary from Heavy Metal. The contest then was close, and Cleary requested a return bout, as he believed that he could turn the tables.

Superior boxing skills

This was not to be, however, as Clarke, although having to work much harder than he did at the championships, used his superior boxing skills to take the decision after three action-packed rounds. He lost a point in the third round. This came after his trainer Carl Grant was warned by referee Barrington Graham. Graham gave Clarke a warning and an automatic point deduction, because Grant consistently kept coaching him during the contest, in breach of amateur rules. Grant persisted nevertheless, and the referee, instead of penalising the boxer once more, which could have cost him the decision, removed Grant from the corner in keeping with the discretion allowed him by the amateur rules.

In other contests, Ramon Thompson from Bruising gym outpointed Andre McKenzie from Heavy Metal in a competitive junior bout. Ricardo Carter from G.C. Foster defeated Krishna Gibbs from Heavy Metal in another keenly contested encounter. Asanda Mullings from Heavy Metal was declared the winner in his light-heavyweight bout against Bryan Griffiths from White Dove gym because Griffiths, who was leading on the scorecards, could not continue in the third round because of a nose bleed and in a middleweight novice contest, Jermain Brown was declared the victor against Mayan Shorter, when the referee stopped the contest in round two.

Two promising new female boxers from Christiana, Jenique Henry and Beverly Reece, made their debuts in a two-round exhibition bout, and a special four-round bout between two popular former boxers, Michael Douglas and Miguel Johnson for bragging rights, ended prematurely in the first round when, after taking an eight- count in the first round, Douglas decided not to continue, to the disappointment of the large crowd.