Republican Nankumar Singh scored his biggest victory to date in his fledgling amateur career when he defeated national featherweight champion Ray Sandiford Friday night in the fourth edition of the ProAm Boxing cards.
Sandiford, who previously represented the Guyana Defence Force but has since switched to the Guyana Police Force, was considered the favourite entering the bout.
Republican Singh started off with his usual attacking style which lacked coordination but landed the occasional power shots on Sandiford who resorted to counter punching throughout round one.
Round two saw Sandiford slipping and counterpunching the advancing Singh which made him look like a novice.
The round also saw Sandiford being pressured but saved by a faulty headgear which caused the referee to call a halt to the action several times.
However it takes more energy to withhold constant pressure and Sandiford was soon up against the ropes.
He then decided to trade punches with the powerful slugger at the start of round three.
The head gear continued to be a bother but the Policeman resorted to dancing on the outside without throwing a punch.
This was welcomed by Singh who became more vicious in his punching for the remainder of the fight and pummelled his opponent whenever they were at close range.
Sandiford tried trading punches again and this time ate a right hand to his chin which left him on wobbly legs. To add insult to the injury he received a warning from the referee for holding.
As the fighters engaged each other closer to the end of the last round, Sandiford took a knee which the referee ruled a slip.
Both fighters celebrated afterwards but the crowd was backing the underdog Singh who gained the verdict by a 2-1 score. Singh immediately called out Commonwealth Youth Games silver medalist Clevon Rock of the GDF saying he was looking forward to meeting him. The two are expected to meet next weekend on the undercard of the historic world title fights at the Princess Hotel. In other amateur action Laurel Stewart was disappointing against novice George Anthony.
The awkward Anthony kept trying to start a slug fest with no proper guard but Stewart failed to capitalize on it and made the fight look closer as one would not expect of a national selectee.
Stewart, however, managed to pull off the victory with cleaner scoring shots against the energetic and determined Anthony who never allowed Stewart to find his range.
The much anticipated match-up between Dennis Thomas of the Forgotten Youth Foundation and Devon Boatswain of the GDF didn’t materialize as Thomas failed to show up for his fight. Boatswain ended up facing another army boxer and the two played chess inside the ring for the first two rounds.
However in round three, Boatswain resorted to his usual attacking self and was a bit too much for his opponent who was kept on the back foot. The shorter and muscular national champion kept up the pressure throughout the round as his opponent tried to fight back with very little reward at the end of the fight. Boatswain won the contest 3-0.
In earlier action, a tired looking Lindener named Troy Billy was outclassed by Dexter Wray of the Ricola Boxing Gym. Billy is set to be part of a box-off next week against Herlondo Allicock but with his lacklustre performance against Wray, a decision is expected soon deciding his fate.
