Professional boxing taking the mandatory 8 count on the ropes

May 28, 2017 Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....-count-on-the-ropes/

By Michael Benjamin
When Andrew ‘Sixhead’ Lewis pounded American James Page into submission and relieved him of the World Boxing Association (WBA) title he succeeded where a multitude of Guyanese pugilists had previously failed. Since then several other Guyanese pugilists, female boxers, Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil, Shondell Alfred and Pamela London and their male counterparts, Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite, Vivian Harris and Gary ‘Superman’ St Clair, have emulated the feat.
Before Lewis broke the jinx, many other Guyanese punchers had valiantly attempted to win world titles but failed at the last hurdle. Patrick Ford had suffered losses to Salvadore ‘Baby Face Assassin’ Sanchez and Eusebio Pedroza, while Lennox Blackmore lost to Aaron Pryor. Several other Guyanese had also been unsuccessful in world title bids; Wayne Harris against Reggie Johnson, Anthony ‘Pearl’ Andrews against Jorge Castro, Terrence Ali against Harry Arroyo, Juan Luis Ramirez and Julio Caesar Chavez, Andrew Murray against Ike Quartey and Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman against Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins and then William Joppy.
Many projected the view that legendary promoter, Don King, was extremely instrumental in Lewis’ success and later, ironically, played a pivotal role in Lewis’ downfall. This might have been so, which can endorse the belief that a boxer’s auxiliary staff is of vital importance to his successes. Today, all of the male pugilists have lost those titles while it is uncertain whether O’Neil and Alfred still holds the prestigious accolade after prolonged absences from the ‘square jungle.’ In the case of Alfred, she had defeated Corrine Degroot for the WIBA title but later, had to abort a world title fight in Mexico against home girl, Zulina Muñoz, for the World Boxing Council (WIBC) female Super/flyweight championship belt after she was detected pregnant just days prior to her ring engagement. The late President of the WBC, Jose Sulaiman, had assured her that she would have been retained in the top rankings pending her pregnancy. Life is unpredictable and Jose Sulaiman has since passed on, with his son Maurice, taking over the reins. That assurance given to Alfred by the senior Sulaiman certainly cannot be valid after Alfred’s long absence from the ring.
If one remembers clearly, Lewis’ inaugural defence had been against Larry Marks and there was much talk about a possible matchup with Shane Moseley to unify their titles. A win against Moseley, at that time considered a hot commodity, would have propelled Lewis to the top of the rankings not to mention the enormous income to be garnered from future engagements.
Lewis’ dreams came crashing down after he irked the mighty Don King, who was tabbed for instrumentally crafting Lewis’ demise through Nicaraguan, Ricardo Mayorga; the first fight ended in a technical draw before Lewis surrendered the second encounter by knockout. Lewis went on to lose another title bid against Mexican, Antonio Margarito for the World Boxing Organization welterweight title before returning to Guyana where he engaged ‘Dangerous’ Denny Dalton and Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman before losing some and winning some.
‘Vicious’ Vivian Harris also wrangled against the ‘administration’ and ended up losing his title. The ‘administration’ had ‘Vicious’ lined up for a clash against British fighter, Ricky Hatton but Harris had other plans and signed up against Columbian, Carlos Maussa; he suffered an embarrassing knockout which was decisive in his advancement in the sport. Harris’ attempt to return to the limelight failed just a few days ago when he dropped a controversial decision to DeMarcus ‘Chop Chop’ Corley.
Back home in Guyana, the situation is not as glamorous as it used to be. Our brightest world title hope, Clive Atwell, incurred a head injury against Dexter Gonsalves that put paid to his aspirations. Now Gonsalves seems to have taken a Sabbatical after losing to Corley. Dexter Marques, another prospect has only just notched up a win against Venezuelan, Luis Alberto Requena but there has been no definitive forward movement for his career. Then there is Kwesi Jones, the local light/heavyweight champion who started out full of aspirations but is now wondering when he will engage in his next fight after some two years of inactivity.
The Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) is the sole entity that administrates over professional boxing. A few years ago, in an unprecedented move, those administrators started promotional activities after the crop of local promoters encountered difficulties acquiring the requisite funds and funding for their cards. The GBBC has tried everything in its power to create the environment for corporate and audience support to the cards. There was the Guyana Fight Night promotion that eventually dwindled for the want of adequate corporate support, hindered by lackluster performances by the boxers, to some degree.
Recently, GBBC administrators attempted to blend boxing cards with MMA fighters in an effort to improve on audience and corporate support. There has been no indication that this initiative has borne fruit.
Boxing is often touted as an individual sport where the two combatants are battling mid-ring for honours. However, despite popular heresy, boxing is a team sport with viable inputs from manager, promoter, coach and the administrative body, the GBBC. The promoters have all reclined into the corner, licking their wounds after suffering huge losses in their investments. The few coaches that are persisting, despite the vicissitudes, seem unable to inject that special ingredient into their boxers to foster thrilling action packed encounters.
Only the (GBBC) organizers can say how well the MMA initiative has supported their objectives. Obviously, there is a need to come up with real strategies to deal with a troubling situation. At the moment, boxing has taken a knee with the referee tolling away the mandatory count. There must be collective thinking and action to curb the decline before the referee waves the proceedings off.

Guyanese Lawrence Heywood was pounded into submission by T&Ts Keron Bourne in their MMA Bantamweight clash at Giftland Mall. (Sean Devers photo)

Watched by Referee Torrington, Dexter Marques scores with a crunching right to the body of Zarraga who fought bravely all night before losing a majority verdict to the Guyanese.(Sean Devers Photo)