http://www.guardian.co.tt/sports1.htmlBY EVERARD GORDON
Jizelle Salandy,T&T’s women’s champion, stopped Liz Mooney of the United States, who failed to come out for the eighth round of a scheduled ten-round WBC/WBA world championship unification bout for the junior middleweight titles, at Skinner Park in San Fernando, on Friday night.
Salandy, 19, outboxed and outpunched an aggressive Mooney, a 37-year-old mother, over seven rounds, often countering with solid jabs and good right hand punches.
The card, put on by the Unified Promoters Association before one of the best boxing crowd for some time, an estimated 1,500.
The southerners came out to support their girl, and among the spectators were Prime Minister Patrick Manning, His Worship the Mayor of San Fernando Ken Ferguson, former Olympic gold medallist Hasely Crawford, the hierarchy of the TTBBC—Mel Taylor (chairman), Molly Boxhill (secretary), George Hadeed (treasurer)—members of the WBC (Renato van Putten) and WBA (Shivanna Inansingh) who supervised the bout, and several sportsmen in different disciplines.
Mooney, two pounds heavier, started very aggressively, but Salandy was up to it and countered well, slipping and countering with left jabs, that would have cumulative effect later on and solid body punches.
In the second round, Salandy, who pocketed $47,200 (US$7,500) scored a series of combinations, linking jabs and sharp right hand punches to Mooney’s body.
She shook Mooney, who earned $32,000 (US$5,000) with a couple of right uppercuts.
But Mooney was not just on the receiving end. She scored with good shots to the head and continued to press Salandy despite the counter-punching of the young southerner.
In the third round, Salandy continued a winning pattern, but Mooney switched to southpaw stance and caught her with some good left crosses. The change seemed to baffle Salandy,but for only a short time, as in the fourth, when Mooney again switched to southpaw, Salandy handled it more competently.
She never lost her focus and continued her winning tactics of jabbing powerfully and going to the body with her right hand. It was Mooney’s best round and she may have shared it, as both boxers slowed, seeming to assess what had gone on before and deciding how to continue .
After a more searching fifth round, it was obvious that Salandy was scoring more and heavier punches. Mooney’s left eye, the target of Salandy’s left jabs, was swollen and she was obviously out of her depth.
At this point, only failure to last the distance could have stopped Salandy and her confidence was noticeable, as she began dropping her guard and looking casual. Her corner must have bucked her up, because she came out in the following two rounds and pressed home her advantage, scoring freely.
It appeared that Mooney’s corner had thoughts of throwing in the towel as early as the sixth round, but she was a game opponent and continued through the seventh round, Salandy’s best, as she kept up a two-fisted bombardment of the now merely defensive Mooney.
It surprised nobody when her handlers threw in the towel at the end of the round.
Salandy was ecstatic and screamed in delight.
In a short interview in the ring, she said, “I have won it for our country and I thank our Prime Minister for his support and encouragement. I will find him on Monday to thank him personally.”
Salandy has now a record of 13 wins.
Boxu Potts, of Unified Promoters, said Salandy “needs to have about four more bouts to gain some more experience and then we will consider challenging Laila Ali for the super middleweight title.”
That should be a fight worth seeing.
Salandy has had the tenacity and commitment to chase her dream, despite the obstacles that had plagued the start of her career.
She was considered too young to box professionally in T&T and went to Curacao for honorary citizenship to be able to do so. Six years later, she is the best woman boxer in the world in her weight range.
“I always wanted to be the best I can be at a sport that I love and now I am seeing some reward for the work that I do willingly.”
Carlton Adams, brother of the late heavyweight Ancil “Baba” Adams, a T&T boxing champion, presented Salandy with a trophy commemorating the life and career of his brother.
In the other professional bout, over six rounds, T&T’s Scroller Carrington outclassed Guyana’s Chico Walcott.
Carrington had to weather the super aggressive tactics of Walcott in the first round and once she had taken the measure of her opponent, Carrington dominated the bout even when she appeared to have run out of steam in the fifth.
She had already so dominated the bout that Walcott was unable to take advantage of this.
Carrington won a unanimous decision.
Five amateur bouts preceded the professionals.
There was an intriguing bout between the Durgadeen brothers Anderson and Anthony.
Anderson, more aggressive and controlling the centre of the ring, won an unanimous decision.
AMATEURS (Three rounds)
Anderson Durgadeen 80lb outpointed Anthony Durgadeen 80lb.
Duke Brooks 120 lb (Bio Mel) outpointed Phillip Sylvester 119lb (White Eagle).
Nick Boodram 150lb (Fine Line) outpointed Simba Silvester 150lb (White Eagle).
Lee Ann Boodram 117 (Fine Line ) outpointed Liesel Stewart (Revival).
Debbie Cameron 221lb (White Eagle) beat Mariella Walcott 200lb (White Eagle) RSC 1:40 of round 3.
PROFESSIONALS (Six rounds)
Scroller Carrington 175lb (T&T) outpointed Chico Walcott 175lb (Guy) 6 rounds.
WBC-WBA World Light middleweight unification title.
Ten rounds
Jizelle Salandy 152lb (T&T) won by 8th round TKO over Liz Mooney 154lb (USA).
