‘Frog’ Holmes hops into Contender semis
Richard “Frog” Holmes, the Team Jamaica number one seed, imposed himself on his Team Canada replacement fighter Larone “Jet” Whyte with a unanimous decision to move into the semi-final round of the Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum Contender Boxing series.
The eighth staging of the Contender Series is another 16-fighter harvester with eight boxers from Canada and eight from Jamaica brought together to compete as separate teams to battle for the major shares of a $3-million purse and a welterweight title thrown in for good measure.
The final result on Wednesday night, which went in favour of “Frog” Holmes, was labelled a monstrous decision by a large section of the crowd. This was after all three judges Canadian Jim Monkel Ban and Jamaicans Laurence Neufville and Lindell Allen scored it 49-46, 49-46, 50-45, respectively, in favour of the winner.
But portions of the crowd did not agree with the judges and they made it known.
But Holmes thought he was the better boxer over all five rounds.
“Yes, I thought I out boxed him all five rounds. It was a good fight. I thought he fought strong, I fought strong as well and I got the victory. So what’s wrong with that?” said Holmes.
When asked if Wednesday’s fight was his toughest in the Contender Series, Holmes chuckled before responding.
“I fought “Chop Chop” (Demarcus Corley) for the 2016 Contender Welterweight title, I fought Sakima Mullings, I fought the ‘World Champion’ of Jamaica ‘Hitman’ Russell for the Contender in 2015. What is tougher than that?” he quizzed.
Whyte was gracious in defeat.
“I am thankful to be considered to participate in the Contender Series… it is a Series which I will want to win and will be pleased to be invited to participate for another shot at the title.
“I was confident that if I had got past Holmes I would have taken the Contender. Now I have to wait and prepare for my time,” Whyte said.
Earlier in the amateur fights, two promising welterweight boxers, Ricardo Planter, representing DreamScape Gym, and Patrick Sahadeo from the the JDF Gym, brought the pact Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) Auditorium to its feet with a robust welterweight skit over three rounds. When they last met in mid-June, Planter was an overwhelming winner.
But On this occasion Sahadeo reversed the decision and came out on top with a split decision.
In the other amateur skit over three rounds in the middleweight Open Class, Renaldo Beckford from the Oracabessa Gym made it two-from-two by bombing his way past a talented, but timid-looking Akeem Allen from the GC Foster Gym with a unanimous decision.