Controversy at CABA boxing

Following Tuesday morning’s weigh-in of 198 boxers, 49 of the 50 scheduled fighters showed up for action.

The only no-show was Kenneth Williams of Bermuda who failed to answer the bell giving his opponent Verneil Dalrymple of hosts Trinidad and Tobago a walkover victory in the Novices Category.

But throughout the night’s programme managers and coaches complained that the computerised judging system was not reflecting what was going on in the ring.

There were charges that points deducted by the referee were not being adjusted by the computers.

When the heavyweight contest between Omar Ottley of St Maarten and Jean Danile Marivat of Guadeloupe ended the computer had the fight won by Ottley 7-5.

But that decision was over-ruled in favour of Marivat by a jury who picked up an error in the scoring.

At 1.11 am Jamaica’s Shawn Terry Cox came up against Denzil Salazar of the host country in a light heavyweight contest— four rounds of two minutes duration.

Cox was dominating the fight while Salazar appeared reluctant to throw more than two punches at a time and sometimes none at all.

Referee Ainsworth Irish of Dominica gave Salazar four eight- counts, two each in the second and third rounds.

In the third round it was the same case, but only this time Cox’s aggression cost him points which was deducted by the referee and signalled to all the judges with the scores 6-5 in Cox’s favour.

However no change was made to the fighters’ scores.

The referee then proceeded to stop the contest which in every one’s mind Cox was dominating and in total control.

The referee then re-started the fight again to the amazement of the crowd and the event officials.

In protest of the referee’s decisions Gordon Hoyte, the technical Director of the TT Team coaching staff climbed into the ring and threatened that no more fights would take place on the night.

However, with one fight remaining — Evan Nedd of Aruba and Everton Eccleston of Jamaica in a light heavyweight division — Hoyte called off his protest and vacated the ring.

The last bout took place with Nedd stopping Eccleston in 1:02 of the first round by a knockout.

Nedd was leading 7-6 when the referee stopped the fight.

There were also convincing wins for Hugo Moolenar of US Virgin Islands over Olston Bobb of St Maarten. The USVI boxer forced his opponent to take three standing eight-counts before the referee stopped the contest 1:37 in the first round.

He was leading 8-4 on points.

Another 22 fights were listed for last night at the same venue.

Tuesday’s Results —

NOVICES

(Three Two-minute Rounds)

Welterweight: Titus Durant (Dom) bt Al-Fassi Ali (TT) 18-16

Middleweight: Modou Daigne (B’dos) bt Rowayane Christopher (Dom) — RSC 1:16 in 3rd round on doctor’s advice); Raphael Ramirez bt Keirin Valci (USVI) — RSC 1:46 in first round.

Quarter-Finals

(Juniors — Four rounds — Two minutes each)

Welterweight: Keithland King (B’dos) bt Chris Nurse (Guyana)

— RSC 1:42 in fourth on doctor’s advice)

Novices

(Three rounds — Two minutes each)

Welterweight: Hasani Newsam (B’dos) bt Richard Coombs (St Maarten) 27-7; Ricardo Brown (J’ca) bt Kelly Humphrey (Grenada) 19-6; Stanley Browne (Aruba) bt Henry Lawrence (USVI) (29-23)

Middleweight: Kijon Trott (Bermuda) bt Andrew Telesford (SVG) — RSC 1st minute of second round; Eric McField (Cayman Is) bt Kenrith Carter (Grenada) (15-11); Fabrice Raymond (Guadeloupe) bt Michael Pierre (TT) — RSC 1:50 of first round

Light Heavyweight: Floyd Fraser (B’dos) bt Thaddeus Francis 9St Lucia) 34-5; Jesse Bodden (Cayman Is) bt Edsel Peterson (St Maarten) — RSC 1:17 in third round; Verneil Dalrymple (TT) bt Keneth Williams (Bermuda) — Walkover

Heavyweight: Jean Danile Marivat (Guad) bt Omar Ottley (St Maarten) 7-5; Jason Auguste (St Lucia) bt Simon Shane (Dominica) — KO 18-seconds of first round

Seniors

(Four Two Minute Rounds)

Featherweight: Omar Wade (B’dos) bt Christopher DeFreitas) TT) 18-7

Lightweight: Otoneal Ortiz (USVI) bt Dexter Gonzalez (Guyana) 42-22; Rayen Brete (Aruba) bt Matthew Robinson (B’dos) 22-19

Light Welterweight: Hendricks Pilswijk (Guyana) bt Kennis Joseph (Grenada) 33-25; Aaron Hassett (TT) by Ricardo Smith (J’ca) 18-13; Hugo Moolenar (USVI) bt Olston Bobb (St Maarten)— RSC 1:37 of the first

Welterweight: Steve Bernaud (Martinique) bt Shawn Worrell (B’dos) — RSC 1:22 of second round after three eight-counts; Carl Heild (Bahamas) bt Randy Tello (Guyana) 8-6

Light Heavyweight: Shawn Terry Cox (B’dos) bt Denzil Salazar (TT) — RSC 57 seconds of fourth Round after four eight-counts); Evan Nedd (Aruba) bt Everton Eccleston (J’ca) — RSC 1:02 of first round