
TSETSI Davis of GC Foster College (right) lands a punch during the welterweight Open feature bout against New Market Oval's Sheldon Rudolph at the Boxing showcase held at the Utech Auditorium on Sunday. Rudolph won the contest. SHELDON Rudolph used his jab to good effect to defeat Tsetsi Davis in the feature bout of a eight-fight card at UTech's Alfred Sangster Auditorium on Sunday.
The Rudolph/Davis welterweight Open match-up was an exciting contest between the two Caribbean champions, who were meeting in the ring for the first time. Rudolph is the reigning Caribbean welterweight champion, Davis the top Caribbean Novice at the regional boxing championships held in Jamaica earlier this year.
Rudolph who represents the New Market Oval (NMO) boxing club started slowly and lost the first round 5-3 as Davis pinned him to the ropes and scored with good left-right combinations.
Rudolph came in the second round like a house on fire as he unleashed a barrage of combinations to take the round 7-1 on the electronic scorer. Rudolph kept up the pressure in the third and fourth rounds to easily take the fight 22-11 winning round three 8-2 and round four 5-3.
"The strategy for this fight was just to see what the opponent had in mind early and then take it from there," said the 21-year-old, 146-pound Rudolph. "Everything came from the jabs. He came back strong in the later rounds but I stuck to my game plan.
Davis, representing GC Foster College club, said he came into the fight with a lot of confidence.
"I was looking to attack him with more jabs but he has a right hand which was hard to predict," said the 23-year-old, 143.5-pound Davis.
In the another Open fight between former national reps Owen Brown defeated Glenroy Beckford 18-12.
The short, stocky 25-year-old Brown cruised to victory after taking the first two rounds 6-3, 4-3. He went on to take the third round on a 5-3 scoreline while the fourth and final round ended 3-3.
Other results: JUNIOR - Ricky Ricardo of GC Foster defeated Ronne Lewis of NMO 31-29; Wallen Rowe of Dreamscape defeated Ronald Richards of NMO 9-7 and Benjamin Horwell of Stanley Coach defeated Romeo Lee of Dreamscape by a Knockout in the second round.
NOVICE: Anthony Williams of NMO defeated Orlando Davis of Dreamscape; Len McNaughton of Ras Gym defeated Nicholas Brown of Dreamscape and Ralston Jenkins of Dreamscape defeated Otis Anderson of Stanley Coach.
All eight fights were scored under the new Electronic Scoring System in which three out of the five judges must press their respective buttons at the same time - when the boxer unleashes a good punch - for a score/point to be registered.
The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) presented the Electronic Scoring equipment to the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control's (JBBC) President Dr. Glenton Smith at the recent Sydney Olympic Games.