By Melton Williams, Staff ReporterST. GEORGES, Grenada:
A BIG showdown is looming at the Youth Centre in St. Georges between Jamaica and reigning champions Guyana on today's final day of the three-day Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) championship.
Jamaica's national senior champion Sheldon Rudolph and fast-rising star Tsetsi Davis set the foundation with good semi-final victories in the senior category after their country had a disappointing first session.
Rudolph, who has looked the most talented boxer on show at the championship, had the better of Barbadian John Kellman in their four-round semi-final light welterweight bout, thus setting up a clash with Guyana's Dwayne Crandon.
The Guyanese, advanced via the walkover route, his opponent Vaughan Potter from Antigua & Barbuda was disqualified.
Rudolph, who narrowly missed qualifying for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, said that his victory was a sneak preview ahead of tonight's gold medal showdown.
The CABA 2000 junior welterweight champion said he is in good physical condition and thinks that his semi-final victory speaks volume.
"It was a good fight, my opponent is a good fighter with a lot of experience but my game plan worked," Rudolph concluded.
Davis, who mined gold in the novice category last year when fighting as a junior welterweight, outclassed Antonio Lawrencin of St. Lucia to set up a gold medal welterweight clash with Barbados' Junior Greenidge, the 2000
CABA boxer of the championship.
The morning session truly belonged to Guyana and Baha-mas, who are fighting to defend their senior and junior title respectively. Only points earned in the senior and junior classes are used to determine the overall winners.
Jamaica's poor showing in the early session where junior boxers - Lloyd Smith (welterweight), Damion White (light middleweight); and senior boxers - Ryan Stone (bantamweight), Romain Myers (featherweight) failed to advance to the gold medal round came as no surprise to team manager Ducille Irons.
According to Irons "they are inexperienced people ... this was Ryan Stone's first real big test, we have to stick with him for another four years."
Apart from Rudolph and Davis who advanced to gold medal rounds, Jamaica also received further glory from novice fighter Hosea Stewart and senior boxers Patrick Taylor and Courtney Harvey, who stopped Ian Mofford of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the second round of their four-round lightweight clash.
Harvey, who is attempting a comeback after a six-year absence, was full of confidence going into tonight's final with Jewel Lewis of the host country.
Asked whether, Lewis who got past Guyana's Olston Bobb, has any chance he had this to say: "The gold is mine ... with my experience and that of my coaching staff he stand no chance."
Jamaica's biggest disappointment came in the senior light middleweight contest where the highly-fancied Patrick Miller suffered an unfortunate loss to Troy Headley of Barbados and three-time CABA gold medallist Kerron Speid was defeated by Guyana's Theophilus Blue in their heavyweight showdown.
Speid, who was highly fancied to win his fourth gold medal, was stopped in the third round; while Miller was hit with a vicious right at the start of the first round. He hit the canvas heavily and as a result the fight was called off.
The Jamaican camp confirmed that Miller has recovered.
Three junior finals were scheduled for late last night with Jamaica being represented in two, through Tarique Francis (light flyweight) and Nicholas Chatoo (super heavyweight). Main rivals Guyana will contest the other.
