A thunderous right hand by Dexter ‘The Cobra’ Gonsalves brought the crowd at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall to its feet on Friday last at the staging of the 28th edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Guyana Fight Night Pro Am card.
At two minutes, 40 seconds of the seventh round, the vicious right-hand connected to the face of Revlon Lake, sending the former national lightweight champion crumbling to the canvas.
The Barbados-based Lake showed tremendous heart, but at the end of the day it was Gonsalves who was able to overcome a second round knockdown to earn the vacant national junior lightweight title.
“The plan was to work the jab and his body and I realised he could not handle the jab. When the jab would hit him he would protect his head and leave his body open,” Gonsalves told Stabroek Sport in a post-fight interview.
“From round one I realised he could not take the jabs and body shots,” the lanky Gonsalves added. “I started to double up on the power shots to the head and you saw what happened. He could not take them and he ended up on the canvas.”
Gonsalves who earned his sixth win of his professional career will undoubtedly be looking to make fights with the biggest names in the division locally and internationally.
From the sound of the first bell, Gonsalves established his jab, using his superior reach to control the championship headliner. In the second round, Lake shortened the distance and landed a crisp right hand to the jaw of Gonsalves who suffered a flash knockdown.
‘The Cobra’, who was not hurt, went back to the jab and occasional left-right combination for the rest of the round and the next to keep the shorter Lake at bay.
Round four was an all-out brawl as both fighters stood toe to toe exchanging several telling blows to the head and body, much to the delight of the vocal patrons.
The same could be said for rounds five and six as both boxers came out searching for the knockout. In round seven, however, it was the tireless Gonsalves who landed the most important punch of the fight to end the night’s proceedings and perhaps Lake’s career.
When asked to describe the punch that floored Lake, ‘the Cobra’ said, “It was a straight right on the button.”
Gonsalves improved to 6 wins, 1 loss, 2 draws, 3 KOs (6-1-2, 3Kos) while Lake’s record dropped (6-9-2, 1 KO). It was Lake’s third successive knockout loss.
In the main supporting bout of the five-fight professional card, former world rater, Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore annihilated Errol Trotman, stopping him in the second round of their six-round scheduled featherweight bout.
Debutants Laured ‘Nightmare’ Stewart and Romeo Norville started their professional careers on positive notes by unanimously defeating their respective opponents Anson Green and Eversley Brown.
The 19-year-old Stewart decked his welterweight opponent twice in their four-round bout to earn his first professional victory. Norville pounded out a one-sided win decision over the journeyman Brown in their middleweight affair.
In the catchweight four rounder between Berbician Kelsie George and Troy ‘De Spoiler’ Lewis, the bombers fought to a draw after the three judges scored the fight 40-38, 38-38 and 38-38.
On the amateur segment of the card, Desmond Amsterdam, Kellon King, Trevon King and Stephon Gouveia all recorded victories over their respective opponents.
Amsterdam (light heavyweight) stopped Colin Martin in the third and final round, King (junior welterweight) defeated Anandram Dhanraj, two to one, Kevon Rodney was a no-show against Trevon King and Gouveia upset 2011 Sportsman of the Year, Imran ‘ Magic’ Khan three-nil in their lightweight match-up.
The monthly card is an initiative of the GBBC in collaboration with the Sports Ministry and the National Communications Network (NCN). Sponsors of the event include Digicel, Giftland Office Max, Courts, Banks DIH Limited, Assuria Insurance, GuyOil and Ansa McAl.
