Floyd blows his trumpet

 FLOYD TRUMPET, the “Fighting Postman” admitted to being frustrated by the style of Kelvin Placide, the “Fighting Policeman” on Sunday night. But Trumpet, a former world rated kick-boxer did just enough to ward off a spirited challenge by Placide to retain his Trinidad and Tobago welterweight boxing championship at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. The 12-round contest was the main bout of a Surefire Promotions card but it failed to live up to the hype generated by the two combatants.

Instead both Trumpet and Placide appeared to hold each other in great respect in the ring measuring each other, exchanging punches for most of the fight which rarely had their intended telling effect. So it was no surprise that the judges ruled a draw which reflected the general opinion of the knowledgeable crowd who not also select a winner after the bruising but unexciting encounter. Judge Tommy Thomas gave Placide the fight 116-113; George St Aude had Trumpet winning 117-112 while Stanley Chimmings ruled a tie — 115-115. Third man in the ring was was Glen Noel. “I thought I won. I landed more punches and was the aggressor,” said Trumpet after the fight. “But Placide was only hugging me and frustrating me,” he said.

“When you are a challenger you must come out fighting and try to score points cleanly. You can’t win in the fashion he did,” the Cunupia, central Trinidad native said. Trumpet has now upped his record to 13 victories in 18 fights with four defeats and one draw with six knock-outs. Placide is now three wins and three losses in six fights. Both fighters weighed in at 167 lbs and were fighting for the third time, with the two previous encounters at the amateur level which Placide both won. However on Sunday night, Trumpet who is now trained by former Guyana and world rated boxer Lennox Beckles, looked more confident showing the wealth of his international experience. His last fight was against Mihaly Kotai earlier this year in Germany when he lost a controversial decision for the World Boxing Federation super welterweight championship.

Placide, trained by Gordon Hoyte and Winston Gordon at the Tigers Gym in Port-of-Spain attempted to match Trumpet toe-to-toe but invariably got entangled and had to be separated by the referee with a frequency that was soon predictable and boring. Trumpet said although he was pleased with the result he had no qualms about giving Placide a rematch. “I am the better boxer and I will fight him again anytime,” he said. In the undercard middleweight Kirt Sinnette punched out an unanimous points decision against rugged Tobagonian Garfield Quashie in a six-round bout to notch up his third victory in as many  professional fights. It was another impressive performance by Sinnette who is being groomed by Promoter Tansley Thompson, along with heavyweight Kertson Manswell for regional and world championship challenges in the near future.

Quashie tested Sinnette earlier this year in Tobago before losing on points and again proved a handful. But the former Pan American Games gold medallist appeared to have learnt from the last experience and came out to dominate the Tobagonian with beautifully executed left and right combinations which rocked his opponent on numerous occasions. George St Aude scored it 60-54; Stanley Chimmings saw the fight 59-55 and Tommy Thomas ruled 60-54. In another contest, former world ranked middleweight David Noel looked a shadow of his former self after falling to a surprising unanimous points decision to a game Ricardo Inniss in a four- round scrap.

Noel, trained by his nephew Claude, a Trinidad and Tobago’s first world boxing champion could not make any impression on Inniss, who bob and weaved; jabbed and exhibited superb ringcraft to score a memorable victory. However the judges saw the result much closer than it actually was giving Noel more credit that he actually commanded in the ring. The scores were 39-37 (George St Aude); Stanley Chimmings (39-38) and Glen Noel (40-36). In the opening contest of the night featuring two amateur boxers, Sheldon Lawrence of the Sand City Gym outpointed Hank Hamilton for a 5-0 victory in their three-rounder.