Anthony Osbourne considers retirement
LOCAL BOXER Anthony Osbourne may retire following his defeat to professional rookie Kestna Davis on Saturday night.
In the feature bout between the pair at the Barbican Beach Complex, it was youth against experience, and it showed. Davis, at age 22, was having his second pro bout, while Osbourne, at age 41, was having fight number 53, with a record of 11 victories, 41 losses and a draw. Davis was quickly into fight mode and within the first minute, he knocked Osbourne down with a quick one-two combination.
It seemed the that the fight was going to end early, but a mixture of Davis taking it easy and clowning at times, and Osbourne trying hard but not being able to make an impression, it went the distance, with Davis winning every round. Osbourne said afterwards that after suffering this loss, he was thinking seriously about not fighting again.
LAST FIGHT
“This could be my last fight. I have had over 50 fights and the young boxers in the middleweight division are big and strong. I just may not fight again,” he ended.
Earlier in the evening, Jamaica’s amateur boxers pulled off a surprise 3-1 victory over Panama, and Nico Yeyo got the better of Fabian Tucker in two five-round professional bouts.
The event was the first of a series of Pro-Am boxing cards that are to be promoted across Jamaica by Creative Sports in association with the Jamaica Boxing Board, and which are being sponsored by Wray and Nephew as part of their community outreach programme.
When the Panamanians arrived in Jamaica last Thursday, they predicted that they would win the dual tournament and even promised to give their Jamaican opponents boxing lessons. However, that was not to be. After losing the first contest, when lightweight Marvin Shea was outscored by Jhonathan Miniel, the Jamaicans came back to win the other three bouts.
Miniel proved to be a wily boxer who used a varied attack to upset the rhythm of Shea in the first round. Shea came back strong in the second round, however, and it was close going all the way. Miniel proved to be too clever for the Jamaican in the third round and took a unanimous decision. In the next contest, which proved to be the most exciting of the night, Jamaica’s Sanjay Williams, who is also a lightweight, fought back aggressively after losing the first round and used concerted body attack to gain victory.
Middleweight Janathan Hanson showed resilience to get the better of Panama’s Luis Hernandez and, in an entertaining super heavyweight bout, Jamaica’s Ricardo Brown had too much firepower for Panama’s Renaldo Bermudez.
In the first main event, fans were anxious to see how newly minted professionals Yeyo and Tucker, who made their pro debuts a few weeks ago and lost, would fare against each other. There was not much excitement as both boxers showed a willingness to clinch on a regular basis. Yeyo was the more positive boxer. He occasionally showed some spark as he took the fight to Tucker. He, therefore, ended up with a comfortable victory.