Manswell, Sinnette beat ‘Panyols’

OLYMPIC boxing medal hopefuls Kerston Manswell and Kirt Sinnette each stepped out of the ring victorious against their Venezuelan opponents at the Woodbrook Youth Facility on Thursday.

The duo was involved in the feature bouts of a six-fight card organised by Tansley Thompson and Gordon Hoyte. Sinnette, coming from a win in a recent encounter in Chaguanas, proved too much for Venezuelan amateur middleweight champ 20-year-old Cruz Gill; while Manswell inflicted a third-round knockout on 22-year-old Wilmer Vasquez, the Venezuelan amateur heavyweight king.

Manswell, silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games, Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and Pan American Games, struggled to find his footing against a faster and more mobile Vasquez, whose evasive style and movement dazzled those in attendance.
But the Tobago-born pugilist settled down in the second of four two-minute rounds and started to land his shots at the body of the swift Venezuelan. Vasquez’s twists and turns in the ring will later return to haunt him though as, with six seconds to go in the third round, Manswell landed a low right to his opponent’s stomach. Vasquez, already in a slouching position at the time, slid on the ropes and went down for the count.

Manswell, on reflection, said Vasquez was “a strong opponent, not one I’m accustomed to.” “His movements were awkward but, with perseverance and patience, I knew that it would take just one blow to know him out,” admitted Manswell, who will leave next week for Miami for a three-week training stint ahead of the Olympic qualifiers in Tijuana, Mexico, scheduled for March. The Sinnette-Gill fight did not have the same appeal as the other matchup, with both boxers taking the first two rounds to observe each other’s strengths and weaknesses. But Sinnette took advantage of Gill’s fatigue and, in the end, was the recipient of an unanimous verdict by the three judges ringside.

Thompson, who joined the boxing arena as a promoter, saw a reasonable amount of fans, numbering 150, at the venue. But, as usual, the fights were extremely long, as the bell for the Manswell-Vasquez bout sounded at 11.20 pm. And it was counter-productive for the fans to hear an array of Latin music from the deejay while there were no tape or CD of the Venezuelan anthem, which was sung acappella by Gill. There were four other bouts on the card, all resulting in unanimous verdicts. Richard Boodram of Phoenix defeated David Ollivierre of St Michael’s; another St Michael’s pugilist Kirt Blackwell took care of Andrew Fermin of Sand City; Aaron Hassette, also of St Michael’s, blanked Elvis Thompson of YTC while Denzil Salazar of Tigers disposed of Mandigo’s Nigel Edwards.