The principals of the new Giftland Mall and the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) teamed up yesterday to roll out a new initiative dubbed ‘Next Generation Boxing: The Giftland Showcase’.
The collaboration, which was launched yesterday at the Liliendaal edifice amidst verbal jabs thrown by the boxers who signed their contracts, is a spinoff of the Guyana Fight Night (GFN) programme which started in 2010.
Giftland’s Showcase will similarly provide a launching pad for up and coming professional talent and amateurs starting on September 26 when the first card is staged on the mall’s premises.
“We had 30 episodes of GFN which produced the results but now Giftland has picked up the torch”, said President of the GBBC, Peter Abdool yesterday. “With this new initiative and this facility, we will have boxing on a regular basis again.”
The card features four professional and four amateur bouts.
In the professional segment, boxing fans will be served a scheduled 24 rounds of fistic fury.
The main course of the event will feature national welterweight champion, Iwan ‘Pure Gold’ Azore defending his title against Dexter ‘The Cobra’ Gonsalves.
The Azore/Gonzales bout is planned for 12 rounds and will keep fight fans on the edge of their seats throughout the affair if it manages to go to the distance.
Azore (16-5-3) who resides in Trinidad and Tobago is the more polished and skillful fighter but the ‘Cobra’ (7-1-2) is a knockout artist with bone breaking power.
Just ask Mohamed Dawes, Revlon Lake and Mark Austin, the last three fighters the venomous puncher defeated within the distance.
To whet the appetites of the boxing hungry fans, the organizers have put together a sumptuous undercard which includes debutants, Imran Khan and Terrence Adams.
Khan, a former amateur standout will face David Thomas in a four-round lightweight scrap while Adams takes on Keeve Allicock in a featherweight fight also scheduled for four rounds.
Anson Green and Quincy Gomes will match gloves in the co-feature. Their light welterweight matchup is scheduled for six rounds.
President of the Giftland Mall, Roy Beepat noted that he was “delighted to be involved with the boxing fraternity” in the same breath adding that the initiative will be a regular fixture.
Beepat also stated that the entity has “long term plans to be associated with sport in general.”
Tickets for the first Giftland Showcase costs $1000. Children under 12 years will pay half that amount. See you there.
