Jamaicans dominate The Bahamas

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

A freak injury suffered by Bahamian light heavyweight boxer, Shamaalya Lightbourne, put a damper on an otherwise excellent night of boxing at the G.C. Foster auditorium last Saturday night.

Special guest at the show was former Jamaican boxing star and world champion, Michael McCallum, who is on a short visit to Jamaica from his Las Vegas, Nevada, base.

It was in the final bout of nine on a card promoted by the Jamaica Boxing Board and sponsored by Burger King and Wisynco, which featured four boxers from The Bahamas.

Emergency attention

Lightbourne and his opponent, Kirmani Campbell from the Job Walters Gym, were engaged in spirited second-round action when he suddenly stopped fighting and held on to his left arm, obviously in pain.

He was prostrated by the ring physician, Dr Orrett Pencle, who gave him emergency attention, assisted by ambulance staff present and he was taken first to the Spanish Town and then the University of the West Indies Hospital for treatment. He was diagnosed as having a fractured humerus.

The card produced a lot of excitement and a fair-size crowd braved the inclement weather to see and cheer their favourites. Jamaica and The Bahamas won two bouts each in a very competitive duel. The attractive trophies for the Jamaica versus the Bahamas contests were provided by Fred Sturrup from The Bahamas.

The first inter-island contest was in the super heavyweight division and saw Livingston Saunders from The Bahamas defeating Jerome Brandford from Bruisin' Gym. This was closely fought and although the inexperience of these boxers showed, they kept throwing punches to the delight of spectators. Saunders had the edge with his punching power and won a clear decision.

Young light welterweight Oraine Walters from Job's gym in Anchovy had to go against the clever Valentino Knowles and went on the offensive from the outset. This eventually paid dividends as he nullified the attacks of his opponent and counter-punched brilliantly to take a close decision that received a mixed reception from patrons.

Serious fighter

Light welterweight Carl Hield came in next for The Bahamas and immediately showed the crowd that he was serious. He outmanoeuvred and outscored his opponent Catoney Robinson from the Stanley Couch gym and walked away with an easy decision, much to the delight of the Bahamian camp. After this, came the Campbell bout, which ended with the injury.

G.C. Foster gym, which is now back in full force, had two boxers on the card. First featherweight Kadrick Smith beat Peter Roberts from Bruisin' Gym, but Sanjay Burnside from Bruisin' turned the tables on Ricardo Carter from G.C. Foster in the next contest.

In other bouts, light welterweight Kenardo Brown (Heavy Metal) stopped Christopher Houghton in the third round and Assanda Mullings beat Rashaw Campbell by way of a disqualification.

Super heavyweight Jamaro Nooks from Bruisin' had too much firepower for Aaron Gabriel from Heavy Metal in an action-packed bout that had their fans cheering throughout.