INSPORT Boxing at Barbican Beach on Saturday, October 10. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

The collaboration between the Jamaica Boxing Board and the Institute of Sports to present a Pro/Am boxing card at the Barbican Beach football venue turned out to be a great success last Saturday night as fans came out in their numbers to welcome back professional boxing to the city.

There was one professional fight - a six-round middleweight encounter between Tsetsi Davis and Ricardo Planter - and a four-bout amateur card which had as its feature a welterweight contest between Jamaica's Sakima Mullings from Bruisin' Gym and Barbadian Keithland King.

A boxing lesson

In the professional fight, Davis, who was having only his second professional encounter, gave a boxing lesson to his highly favoured opponent Planter, who went into the contest with a record of four wins and two draws, all secured in overseas competition.

Davis seized the initiative from the opening bell, scoring frequently with jabs followed by the occasional right hook to the delight of the large crowd. Planter, on the other hand, bided his time while waiting to score a knockout with one big punch. With this being the pattern for the first three rounds, Davis built up a lead that was never relinquished.

CLOSE-RANGE EXCHANGES

Planter became more positive in the fourth round and lured Davis into close-range exchanges, but Davis still held the upper hand and also won that round. Planter became desperate in the fifth and came out slugging, but Davis, who seemed to be tiring, used his ring savvy to weather the storm and was on the ascendancy at the end of the round.

The final round saw Davis, with the certain knowledge that only a knockout could give Planter victory, switching to clever defensive work and made things difficult for his opponent. At the end, the judges awarded Davis a unanimous decision as Planter did not win one round.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT

The fight of the night was the amateur contest between Mullings and King. The Jamaican, who has been unbeaten this year, was challenged all the way by his opponent and had to resort to skill rather than sheer brawn to eke out a close, but unanimous decision.

In the other bouts, superheavyweight Germaine Scott of the new G4S gym outpointed Winsett Scarlett from the Heavy Metal Gym, lightweight Shantez McInnis from the Jamaica Defence Force outscored Adrian Matthews from Stanley Couch Gym and in a hard-fought middleweight contest, army man Monthrose Holmes pulled off an upset victory over Michael Lewis from Bruisin' Gym.