Jermaine Bowen explodes on I-Fight Promotion’s night of boxing
The late start to I-Fight Promotion’s ‘night of explosive boxing’ added to the deep anticipation of the crowd at the Jamaica College Auditorium on Saturday.
Boxing fans were not disappointed as the night was capped off by the electrifying middleweight match-up between Jamaica’s Jermaine Bowen and Angel Martinez of the USA.
Many persons expected the more experienced Martinez to win and were even more surprised that their bout was given the honour to close the show ahead of Jamaica’s Justin Mayweather, who was billed as the headliner.
Bowen dominated the fight winning all four rounds impressively, while stamping his class as a boxer who was ready for bigger things. He won on the three judges’ scorecards and the respect of the animated crowd that cheered him on. All three judges scored the fight 40-36 in favour of Bowen, giving him an unanimous win.
“It’s just me promise the people dem knockout, but him tougher than how mi think. The only thing him use over me since dis evening was experience. That’s why me and I-Fight a try to get to a path wey mi can get fight back-to-back.
“ Fi dey fight like one or two time or fight every two year, mi caan get to dat level, so glad how I-Fight come in now and start put on fight. It was a good fight, and it tek me to a next level cause fighter like dis me tell Chris Joy sey mi waan fight. Mi feel good cause dis tek me pan a next level, so when de judge dem see sey me put in de work, so mi did a work fi de knockout but next time,” said Bowen.
Bowen’s performance overshadowed the more-fancied Mayweather, who put away Christian Foster (USA) in a first-round knockout that stunned everyone, including the victor.
Mayweather expected a better showing from Foster, who did not attempt to get up after being knocked to the canvas in 1:54 minutes. The American’s record now shows four losses after four fights, while Mayweather is now six wins and no losses.
When asked if he expected the fight to be so short, Mayweather said “no”.
“I planned on working on a couple of things and it just happened to work out like that. I thought he was going to get up after that…I thought it was going to be longer, but I am still happy,” said the Jamaican.
The next shortest bout of the night went to Nico Yeyo, when referee Owen Nelson stopped the onslaught on Daron Weir after 2:38 seconds in round one. Yeyo came out charging at Weir from the second the referee said “box” to start the bout. Weir’s record now reads two fights and two losses, while Yeyo improved his to four wins and three losses.
The fourth match-up of the night between Alando Lewis and Fabian Tucker was very exciting, with the former showing better boxing skills. It ended in a split decision in favour of Lewis, but Tucker gained some respect for fighting with a big heart throughout the rounds.
Twenty-two-year-old Christopher Roderiquez of the USA took on Martin Anderson, who was twice his age and may have sent him into retirement. Anderson struggled for two rounds and was knocked down in the second round. His corner looked like they were ready to throw in the towel before the end of the round, with his trainer indicating that Anderson would not return for the third round.
The first bout on the night was a heavyweight match-up between Alvin Davie of the USA and Jermaine Richards of Jamaica in his debut, which he won by way of split decision. He was credited with three of the four rounds and with scores of 39-37, 39-37 and 37-39. “I am elated, with my first win as a pro. [I would like to] keep this going to see how far I can do,” said Richards.
Chris Joy of I-Fight Promotion was pleased with the results of his first local production. “I am extremely happy. For me, this is what people got a chance to see, but I knew in my head how it was gonna play out, that’s why we call it explosion boxing. We saved the last bout for the best bout; we saw two warriors going at each other. Both guys wanted to win; nobody wanted to quit. And so we made sure that was the last fight. But tonight was a great night for boxing, a great night for Jamaica,” he noted.
Joy had high praises for Bowen and said he was going to make sure the he gets the support to become a world-class fighter. He also promised that he would put on more fight cards in Jamaica.