Disqualification at Contender series

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

Fifty-one years ago, on July 15, 1959, Jamaica's welterweight boxing champion, Gerald Gray, lost his title by disqualification, after he got angry and slammed his challenger, Basil Campbell, to the canvas in wrestling style, in the third round of their 15-round contest at the Palace Theatre.

On Wednesday night, history repeated itself, when Ian Smith, representing the Green Team, gave away the opportunity to earn a million dollars, when he slammed his opponent Kevin Hylton from the Yellow Team to the canvas in the third round, to also lose by disqualification, in the Wray and Nephew Contender series at the Chinese Benevolent Association auditorium.

The 15-week series, which is sanctioned by the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, promoted by MJK Productions and sponsored by J. Wray and Nephew, Claro and TVJ, therefore ended the eight-week long preliminaries, with the Green and Yellow teams locked at four victories each, and on another controversial note. There was, however, the usual excitement that has followed the series, as Smith allowed his emotions to get the better of him.

Amateur move

With an 18-8 record, as opposed to his opponent's 0-1 record, having recently entered the professional ranks, Smith was favoured to win, but despite an early show of bravado, he fought and behaved like an inexperienced amateur, and now joins the ranks of those who have been eliminated.

He entered the ring with a menacing look on his face, and gave the impression that he would fulfil his pre-fight boast that he would "take out Hylton early". He went on the attack as soon as they got the signal to box from the referee, but Hylton, who decided that he would keep as far away from Smith as possible, back-pedalled his way out of trouble. He would, however, stop long enough to land the occasional jab and hook and, with Smith throwing his punches wildly and missing, Hylton won the first round.

Hylton kept his evasive approach going in the second round, and when Smith got close, he would grab and hold him. He held on to his opponent so consistently in this round that the referee gave him a warning and an automatic one-point deduction. His corner shouted to him to stop holding his opponent, and though the frequency fell, he still indulged himself occasionally. Smith, on the other hand, slowed down the pace appreciably, and landed some good shots to the body and head that won him that round.

Third-round foul-up

In the third round, Hylton started to hold once more, while a now more methodical Smith tried to engage him in close-range fighting. Smith landed some good shots to the body and seemed ready to take control of the fight when, after Hylton held on to him one more time, he lifted him up and slammed him to the canvas like a wrestler plying his trade.

After spending some moments on the canvas, Hylton was assisted to his feet, holding his left shoulder and the doctor was called to take a look at him. In the meantime, referee Barrington Graham signalled to the judges that Smith would lose a point for the deliberate foul.

When it was ascertained that Hylton could not continue to fight, and in keeping with the rules governing the contest, Smith was disqualified at 1:27 of the third round. The deliberate foul was such a serious offence, however, that as in the Gray-Campbell fight, the referee could have disqualified Smith, even if Hylton had not been injured.

Hylton now moves on, and the early prognosis is that he will be fit enough to continue fighting in the competition. Smith was a very disappointed man on Wednesday, as he took his leave from the contest which he had been saying that he believed that he would win. The competition moves into the quarter-final stages next week.