Latest update November 8th, 2024 1:00 AM
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Guyanese women boxers oozing confidence on verge of international outings
Three of Guyana’s prolific female pugilists are scheduled to engage in fistic duties in two countries and they are oozing confidence of clinching victories.
Guyana’s inaugural women’s world champion Gwendolyn O’Neil will put her World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title on the line when she opposes Carlotta Ewell of St Maarten on March 31 next. Another Guyanese pugilist, Stephney ‘Stepping Razor’ George will also comprise a part of that card when she matches gloves with Claudette Alexandria in a return clash.
Alfred mixes it up with Murray during sparring sessions last week.
Shondell ‘Mystery Lady’ Alfred is also scheduled to resume her career when she leaves for Mexico to engage Yazmin Rivas also of that country. The ‘Mystery Lady’ has recently inked her contract and is confident of winning the bout. Fightnews.com has Rivas as fighting 30 times with 7 losses. She has stopped 9 of her opponents and to her credit, has never been knocked out. She demonstrated grit when she fought Marcela Eliana Acuna for the WBA super/bantamweight title and was decked in the first round. She rose to battle to the end and eventually lost on points. She last fought in October last year and outpointed Susie Ramadan in a 10 round encounter.
Alfred’s biggest outings to date are her two title fights against Guyanese/Canadian Corrine van Ryke DeGroot. The first ended somewhat controversially after DeGroot felt that she was ‘done in.’ Alfred removed all doubts in the second encounter with a devastating left hook in the 5th round that left her nemesis prostrate. She has not fought since.
Meanwhile, Alfred and George have intensified training sessions at the Forgotten Youth Foundation (FYF) and the Andrew Lewis Boxing Gym respectively. Alfred has already started sparring sessions and last Thursday afternoon turned in several tough rounds with former Fecarbox featherweight champion Joseph Murray who also doubles as her coach along with Sebert Blake. She is coming around nicely and her coaches are optimistic that she would be in the best shape for the bout.
George and O’Neil will both be engaged in return encounters and each will attempt to reverse loses; in the case of O’Neil in 2008, even after notching up a victory in 2006. George had surrendered a lopsided verdict to Alexandra in 2006 and would be keen to reverse her fortunes. This time around the fight is scheduled for 8 rounds as we were told that a title would be on the line. Kaieteur Sport is awaiting the final word of that title.
Lennox ‘Cappel’ Daniels will accompany O’Neil and George and he said that he is pleased at George’s advancement. He was in her corner for the first fight and is adamant that his fighter had been shortchanged. “Stephney was better than Alexandria in every department and I was shocked when she lost the fight,” exhorted Daniels. He said that this time around the local pugilist would go for the knockout to remove all doubts.
The ‘Stealth Bomber’ is preparing for the bout at the Gleason’s Gym, Brooklyn NY under the watchful eye of Dillon Carew. The former Guyanese boxer is confident that his charge will come out victorious this time around. There is no paucity of sparring partners since O’Neil has opted to spar among her male counterparts. “They are better able to take the pressure,” she said.
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