Exciting bout envisaged as ‘The Lion’ goes after The Battersea Bomber

Feb 26, 2009 Sports

Ready For Action: The boxers that will be on show on Saturday night flex their muscles soon after the press conference. From left are: Augustin, Smith, Gilkes, King, Williams, Boston and Blackman.

By Michael Benjamin
The highly touted middleweight bout between Lennox ‘Pretty Boy’ Allen and Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes scheduled for this weekend, has suffered a setback after Allen reportedly injured his hand during sparring sessions in Miami Florida, over the past week. ‘The Lion’ will now face ‘The Battersea Bomber’ in a fight that has already caught the imagination of the pundits.

This disclosure was made by Ron Mohammed, representative of the S&S Promotions, at a press conference convened yesterday morning at the King’s Plaza, Main Street, to update media practitioners of developments pertaining to the card.
Clyde Williams initially scheduled to battle Eastman will now face debutant Anthony Augustin over 4 rounds. The card will also comprise 3 other 4 round contests that include Lightweights, Cecil Smith and Jermaine King, Middleweights, Patrick Boston and Quacy Jones and Winston Pompey up against Eversley Brown in a catchweight encounter. The lone female match-up will feature Sharon Warde, up against Veronica Blackman in a 6 rounds catchweight affair.

Gilkes expressed disappointment at the turn of events that forced a cancellation of the Allen bout but promised that he is good and ready to take on Eastman. Hinting that Allen’s injury might have been a ploy to avoid him the hard hitting Gilkes said, “This is the fifth time that Allen has ducked out of a fight with ‘The Lion.’ If it isn’t one excuse, it’s the other.”
He said that Allen is probably gun shy after he would have tasted what he (Gilkes) had to offer. “We’ve sparred on several occasions and I’ve always whipped him so now he is making all kinds of lame excuses to avoid entering the ring against me,” Gilkes pronounced.

Quizzed on whether the change has affected his fight plans Gilkes said, “Oh no, it will not.” He said that he respects Eastman for his achievement, but remains adamant that he is not afraid of him. “Eastman will simply bring out the best in me,” Gilkes declared. He also promised to give boxing fans their money’s worth. “The fans know that I do not touch the canvass easily. I will fight my heart out to win this one,” Gilkes promised while shying away from a prediction.

Meanwhile, Lindener, Sharon Warde was unable to travel from her base for the press conference. However, the promoters confirmed that she is in training and has promised to prepare herself to the hilt for her engagement with Blackman. This is the second time that the two will square off. In the first encounter Warde had responded to a late notice to fill the void after Blackman’s opponent opted out at the last moment. She still managed to secure a points decision over Blackman. This time around she has had an extended training period and has promised to whip Blackman once again.

However, Blackman has different ideas and has promised to reverse the decision this time around. “In the last fight I was a bit over-confident because I thought that Warde was not in training,” Blackman revealed. “This time around the situation will be different and I plan to come out victorious,” she continued.
In another fight of interest, Cecil Smith has promised to teach Jermaine King a lesson in the finer art of the sport. He said that he is the more experienced of the two and come fight night that fact will stand out. King, for his part simply responded, “At the end of the fight my hands will be the ones in the air.”

The bout between veterans Clifton ‘Piggy’ Griffith and Cecil ‘Koker Dawg’ Alfred was called off after the doctors refused to give the bout the green light. Both fighters were already in training and ‘Piggy’ had promised to teach ‘Koker Dawg’ a lesson. In response, ‘Koker Dawg had threatened to ‘mash Piggy’s bones.’ In the end, the doctors ruled that the fighters’ participation was more of a risk to their own health rather than to each other.

The card marks the first for the year after a prolonged drought. Mr. Ron Mohammed revealed that the S&S Promotions had done a thorough feasibility study of the situation and determined that they have the capacity to revive the sport. He said that his company has already projected for the future and several interesting cards are in the making.
The weigh in and medical examinations are scheduled for the King’s Plaza Hotel, Main Street, from 19:00hrs on Saturday evening.