Foreigners invade ‘Gloves over Guns’

BOXERS FROM the Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom (UK) were involved in five of the seven bouts on the Gloves Over Guns Futures fight card on Saturday night at the Stanley Couch Gym in Parade Gardens, Kingston. One bout had all foreign-based boxers, while only two had an all-Jamaican cast. The foreigners won three of the bouts, while the local boxers won four.

The vociferous audience, including Elise Seignolle, president of the Pan Am Boxing Confederation; Chris Samuda, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, Kevin Russell, president of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, and Thelma Johill, chairman of Fern Court High School, were delighted by the boxing display.

Perhaps the most memorable fight for the audience was the fifth bout between light heavyweights Riley Galvin of the United Kingdom and Sadeki Harris of G.C. Foster College.

Both boxers were very busy in the first round although Harris looked better prepared. Galvin came out of the red corner ready for business at the start of round two, but a fall gave Harris an opening.

Harris quickly got to work and landed a series of punishing shots that Galvin could not respond to. He was rescued by referee Duane Wilson, who stopped the fight at two minutes and 52 seconds into the second round.

“The fight was unique for me. I have had only two fights. It’s been two years since my last fight, so I wanted to challenge myself coming to Jamaica. I am still struggling because it’s so hot in this country; but it’s unreal, it’s really amazing. I have enjoyed every second of it. I don’t care about the result, what I care [about] is, I am here in Jamaica having a good time; and congratulations to my opponent. It was a great fight. I had fun,” said Galvin.

GOOD PUNCHES

The all-foreign match-up between Isaiah Hurslton of the Cayman Islands and UK’s Shahram Kalid went the distance. Hurslton used his longer reach to land some good punches, while Kalid tried to get inside and work the body.

Hurslton grew tired near the end of round two, but was able to hang on for the win by unanimous decision.

Jolan Hobson of the Cayman Islands and his welterweight opponent Kashieve Nelson of Suga Olympic Gym looked evenly matched, but the latter proved to be faster and stronger, leaving the former bloodied and beaten by the end of round two. Nelson continued to punish Hobson in round three before his corner threw in the towel with 10 seconds to go in the bout.

In the first fight on the card, Cayman Islands boxer, middleweight Demar Robinson, got by Fight For Peace’s Kevin Campbell by way of unanimous decision.

The last of the foreign-based bouts between lightweights Anthony Chaney of the UK and Joe-var Hunt of G.C. Foster gave the judges a challenge to determine the winner, with the former eventually grabbing the judges’ nod.

The first all-Jamaica match-up went to Taffarel Cayman of Suga Olympic Gym, who got the better of Howard Robinson out of Montego Bay Gym in a middleweight bout.

Referee Anthony McNeish stopped the fight one minute and 43 seconds into the second round.

The final bout of the night, an all-Jamaica match-up, saw a disciplined Christopher Pinnock of the JDF tracking Tevoy Barrett of Suga Olympic.

Barrett would dance around the ring in a bid to avoid the power shots that were aimed his way, but referee Kevin Stuart was forced to stop the fight at one minute and 48 seconds into the round.

“I put in a lot of hard work into this, not to mention my coach. My dedicated coach gave me a lot of bag drills, sprints, hard work (and) sparring. It was very hectic; so I worked really hard for this fight,” said Pinnock.