RICARDO BLACKMAN Jr showed once again why he is considered one of Barbados’ brightest boxing prospects.
Before a small but appreciative crowd at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed on Saturday night, Blackman showcased speed, agility and power on his way to defeating Guyana’s Joel Williamson in their open flyweight bout at the Lionel Hall/Carlton Hope Memorial Boxing Tournament.
After suffering a close 27-30 defeat at the hands of Cuban Jorge Cordero at the Continental Championships in Chile recently, the Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme (BDFSP) boxer would have been eyeing Williamson as the perfect opponent on whom to exact his revenge.
The slimly built boxer wasted no time in getting down to business, connecting on a flurry of jabs just seconds into the opening round.
He followed those up with a powerful right jab which sent Williamson on the ropes, much to the delight of the spectators.
Williamson would respond in the second round though, landing a left jab flush to the side of Blackman’s head, before connecting on a series of punches to his opponent’s midsection.
But behind the support of the home crowd, Blackman took control of the match midway through the second round.
He used his quickness to good effect, regularly hitting Williamson with quick jabs, while manoeuvring out of the way before his stocky opponent could counter.
And even when Williamson charged forward, throwing punch after punch, Blackman was up to the task, skillfully evading the muscular Guyanese.
The fight was all but over midway through the third and final round, with Blackman pinning his opponent on the ropes, while delivering a combination of left and right jabs to the head and body of Williamson.
And with his opponent evidently tiring, Blackman connected with a left jab just seconds before the sound of the bell to cap off an impressive performance.
The judges were clearly impressed as well, as they not only awarded him the fight, but he was also named the Most Outstanding Boxer of the evening.
In one of the most brutal fights of the night, Cabral Foster completely outclassed Shaquille Goring in their middleweight bout, winning by a TKO.
Foster was savage, regularly landing powerful punches to the body of Goring, who seemed unable to stop the onslaught.
A fierce right sent him stuttering onto the ropes, forcing the referee to give him a standing seven count.
In fact, Goring was lucky to make it past the first round, as he was saved by the sound of the bell after Foster had once again trapped him on the ropes.
But the fight didn’t last much longer after the resumption. After receiving a second standing seven count, the referee stopped the fight as Foster continued to savagely pepper Goring with powerful punches to the head and midriff.
Jabali Breedy was also a comfortable winner over Guyana’s Junior Henry in their light flyweight fight, while Orin Bancroft, another Guyanese, denied a Bajan clean sweep, when he was surprisingly declared the winner in his flyweight bout against Briar Hall’s Ajayi Jones.
In other results, the diminutive crowd favourite, Iwesika Austin, won an entertaining pinweight bout against Ahkel Harewood, Ision Fraser overcame Shamar Goodridge in their featherweight contest, lightwelterwieght Ch’vanni Forde had a hard fought win over Stevenson Lythcott and middleweight Jamal Piggot just managed to hold off Antonio Rollins.
