ON THE ATTACK: Barbados' Anderson Emmanuel (right) attempts to land some body shots at Puerto Rico's Carlos Colon.

by MIKE KING

BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFIER CARLOS COLON won an exciting heavyweight showdown with Anderson "Tootsie" Emmanuel as Puerto Rico beat host country Barbados 4-2 in Saturday night's box-off at the Springer Memorial School.

Emmanuel, 23, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, gave a spirited performance but it was the experience of the 6 ft, 6 in Colon, over the last two rounds that did the trick in the final bout of the night.

Early assault

Colon, 21, winner of the gold medal at the recent Olympic trials in Trinidad and Tobago, and the only member of the Puerto Rico "A" team on this trip, withstood Emmanuel's early assault and then used his long reach to gradually pick him apart.

"I gave it my best shot. His experience made the difference in the end. I lost to a good fighter but I am pleased with my performance," Emmanuel said.

The only winners for Barbados were lightweight Omar Ward and welterweight Matthew Robinson. Ward, 26, won the most intense and action-packed bout of the match against Angel Valezquez, while Robinson had the most commanding conquest, outclassing 17-year-old John G. Perez in all four rounds.

Masterly performance

Ward, voted the Best Boxer when the Royal Navy team visited last year, gave another masterly performance, unleashing several combinations and keeping his 17-year-old opponent at bay in the fast-paced fight.

Valezquez appeared to have the edge in the last round when Ward seemed to tire a bit but the judges thought the Barbadian had done enough in the first three rounds.

"I am ready for Guatemala, there is no doubt about it. I trained hard for the fight, to make it easier. I am happy with my performance and it is always good to win for my country. When I walked in here, I knew I would have won," said a buoyant Ward.

Went distance

All six of the senior bouts went the distance with Puerto Rico also tasting success from 18-year-old welterweight Ricardo Reyes, featherweight Camilo Perez and middleweight Christian Peguero. Reyes outclassed Shawn Worrell, Perez nosed out Bradley Redman, while Peguero beat an off-form Keithland King in a lacklustre fight.

Earlier in the night, Barbados juniors beat their Grenadian counterparts 2-1 with wins from The Lodge student Ricardo Blackman, Jr and 19-year-old heavyweight Adrian Biscette of the Defence Force Sports Programme. Blackman had a first round TKO of Kandel Dowden and Biscette had a convincing points victory over Chris De Allie.

Grenada's lone triumph came when Akim Small outpointed Alexandra schoolboy Rasheem Brathwaite.