Mullings punishes Smith in 'great fight night'

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

Bruising Gym's Carl Grant is hailing Saturday night's 17-fight card in Stony Hill as a success. An estimated 600 people turned up to watch an entertaining night of boxing that was capped by Commonwealth zonal champion Sakima Mullings stopping Lloyd Smith for his sixth career win in seven fights.

Mullings' only loss came against Ricardo Smith in the finals of the Contender series earlier this year.

In the only professional fight of the night Mullings, who had been instructed to finish Smith as quickly as possible, ignored those instructions to batter Smith into submission.

Smith, unable to cope with the punishment, was unable to answer the bell for the fourth of the scheduled six-round fight. His performance prompted Grant to urge people to start referring to Mullings as 'The Punisher'.

Mullings is expected to face the hard-hitting Contender finalist Devon Moncrieffe, in a fight tentatively set for November. Moncrieffe had not fought since losing to Ricardo Smith in the finals of the Contender series in April.

Late start

The fight card got under way late - more than an hour past the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start - at the Stony Hill Primary and Junior High, but the hundreds who were on hand enjoyed themselves immensely, even though the final fight ended shortly after 2 a.m.

"It was a great night," Grant said. "Stony Hill is the mecca of boxing because it is home to Bruising Gym."

The night of fights was put together in celebration of the gym's third anniversary and on the night, Member of Parliament Andrew Gallimore promised to donate $100,000 worth of boxing equipment to the gym in recognition for the invaluable contribution to the community.

According to Grant, they sold 420 tickets to the event, but he estimates that there were just shy of 600 people in attendance including immediate past president of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control, William Tavares Finson, and current president Stephen Jones, who had nothing but praise for Grant.

"Jamaica's boxing future is bright. What Bruising Gym has done is testament to that. What Carl has done by getting so many fighters from so many gyms under one roof for 17 fights in one night is excellent," he said.

Grant's fighters won eight of the 12 bouts they were involved in on the night and he was particularly impressed with performances of the talented Michael Gardener, Michael Holmes and Shevaughn Lindo.

Outstanding

None of them, however, were as outstanding as lightweight Kestna Davis' demolition of Fanna Walker from the Stanley Couch Gym.

In what Grant dubbed the fight of the night, Davis threw punches at blinding speed, reducing Walker to a little more than a punching bag. The 16-year-old fighter, Grant says, is very excited about boxing and it is what helps keep the youngster out of trouble. He says he is trying to get the teenager into some kind of school programme to help with his overall development.

Another outstanding fighter on the night was 31-year-old Robert Thunder, who hails from the United Kingdom. He met Grant during the Contender series that was being held at the Chinese Benevolent Centre and asked him to teach him how to box. Grant says Thunder takes the bus from Irish Town every day to box at Bruising Gym.