Ever wondered who was the best boxer Guyana has ever produced. Was it one of the older generation of boxers in Kid Moti Singh or Cliff Anderson?
Or how about this new generation?
Would Terrence Ali, Patrick Forde, or Andrew `Six Head’ Lewis be considered the best ever?
International Boxing Federation referee Eion Jardine has officiated in 224 professional fights including four world title fights.
He has officiated in all the major title fights that has ever taken place in this country.
He is also a keen follower of the sport locally and internationally and has developed a reputation as one of the best loccal statisticians in the fight game.
Below, Jardine compiles his 10 best Guyanese boxers’ list.
You’re a fight guy, you watch them whenever you can. You read all you can get your fingers on and know your stuff inside out.
When a boxing question pops up on who is the best boxer of all time, the guy sitting next to you, debating about the best, doesn’t know what you know.
He thinks he does, but he doesn’t. How could he say Blackmoore was better than Harris? Is he nuts? How could he pick Lewis over Harris? But don’t act as if you don’t like the debate, I know you do.
I like it as much as much as you do. So I couldn’t resist putting together my selection of the top 10 Guyanese fighters.
Some important notes.
The rankings are not based on whom would have beaten whom. Rather, the placements are grounded on what the fighters achieved at his level; the quality of their opposition; how they fared against their contemporaries; if they were champions the number of title defence they made; and how well they performed in their biggest fights.
Even with all these factors, this isn’t scientific stuff. It’s difficult to compare fighters from different eras and records aren’t perfect. Neither is perception and heaven knows I’m not.
I think I have gotten it right anyway, but then, you won’t know until you start reading.
No. 1 – Terrence Alli – Born June 26, 1960: Head over heels Alli is my number one pick. He has fought some of the best fighters in the world and got his first title shot against Harry Arroyo on January 12, 1985. Scores were level going into the 11th round when Alli made one mistake and was stopped in the round.
Alli fought the best, Cornelius Boza Edwards, Jose Luis Ramirez, Roger Mayweather and even the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez.
After coming off a loss to Rodolfo Aguilar, Alli got a chance to fight an up-and-coming young fighter from France named David Thio on March 4, 1989.
There was no way Alli could have won that fight, the experts said. But he proved the experts wrong knocking out Thio in the ninth round. Thio died March 14 of injuries sustained in the bout.
Alli was rated second to “Marvellous” Marvin Hagler as the best switch-hitter by The Ring magazine in 1984. Also holds a points win over 1984 Olympic gold medalist Jerry Page over 10 rounds.
Alli’s record reads:70 fights 52 wins, 15 losses, 21 kayoes and two draws.
No. 2 – Lennox Beckes – Coming in at number two is the legendary Lennox Beckles. His records will show you he didn’t have a knock-out punch, but he had more skills than any other Guyanese boxer. Beckles fought the best and became the first Guyanese boxer to be rated number one in the world. He defeated fighters such as Sandro Lopopolo, Johnny Cooke, Eddie Perkins and Johnny De Peiza and also gave away 13 pounds to defeat Lionel Ifill in a middleweight contest on February 21, 1966. In 1974, Beckles was rated the best boxer of Guyana in the Ring all-time greats of each country, But I still have Alli as my number one.
His record reads: 62 fights, 43 wins, 16 losses, nine kayoes with two draws.
No. 3 – Patrick Ford – Born December 15, 1955. No argument here in my book. Forde was no doubt the best featherweight boxer Guyana has ever produced.
He became the second Guyanese boxer to win a Commonwealth title.
Forde made local boxing pundits sit up and take notice when he came in as the underdog against Diego Alcala in his seventh fight, and won in nine rounds.
Forde also won the Guyana and WBC FECARBOX featherweight titles in a distinguished career.
He put up one of the greatest attempts to win a world title, losing to the great Salvador Sanchez of Mexico and was once ranked 2 in the world.
Forde had never lost a fight in Guyana and Trinidad.
His record reads:21 fights, 17 wins, four losses.
No. 4 – Lennox Blackmoore – Born July 10, 1950. One thing can be said of Blackmoore. he was undoubdtedly one of the greatest counter punchers Guyanese has ever seen, just ask Dale Hernandez. In his first appearance in the USA against Hernandez, whose record was 36 fights, 34 wins, 2 losses (with 21 of his victories coming by way of knockouts), Blackmore battered Hernandez breaking his nose en route to a unanimous decision. He became the first Guyanese to win a Commonwealth title but could not make it against Aaron `The Hawk’ Pryor in a subsequent bout for the world lightweight title.
However, Blackmoore showed he was the best against Claude Noel twice and Barry Michael. Both Noel and Michael went on win world titles. Blackmoore was once ranked No# 1 by the WBA in 1980.
His record reads: 29 fights 24 wins 5 losses with 14Kos
No. 5 – Cliff Anderson – Born 22 October 1921. No doubt one of the boxers with a big heart, Cliff has fought them all. He defeated names like Theo Medina and Gus Foran. Losing to Al Phillips twice in what became one of his greatest fights ever. He also won his first fight in the US defeating Red Tap Davis on points and became the first Guyanese boxer to defeat a world champion knocking down Jackie Patterson three times in a non title bout before going on to win a lop-sided decision over eight rounds.
Patterson was at the time, world, British Empire and British Champion. Patterson has never walked the same road with Cliff again.
Cliff’s record reads:102 fights, 51 wins, 24 losses, 18 kayoes, seven draws with two no-results.
