Moncriffe wins Contender crown

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

Devon "Concrete" Moncriffe, the man who was tipped to take home the Wray & Nephew 2013 Middleweight Contender title, lived up to expectations last Wednesday night, when he pounded out a hard-fought points victory over Tsetsi Davis at the National Indoor Sports Centre, before a standing room only crowd.

It was a fight that was both interesting and exciting, and at the end, judges Clifford Brown and Keith Brown scored it 97-93 and 98-93 respectively for Moncriffe, while judge Lindell Allen had it 96-94 for Davis.

The series, which started on March 7 with 16 boxers, was promoted by MJK Productions, with the approval of the Jamaica Boxing Board of Control. Sponsors were Wray & Nephew, Foska Oats and TVJ. After 10 bruising rounds of boxing, Moncriffe was awarded the victory, the Contender title and belt, and the first prize of $1-million.

Davis, who was a worthy opponent, pushed Moncriffe all the way. He said after the fight that he was very disappointed and believed that he had won, a view shared by his many supporters. He nevertheless congratulated his opponent on a good performance, and took home the second prize cheque of $500,000.

Richard Reittie claimed the third prize purse of $250,000 with a unanimous points victory over Ramel "Sub Zero" Lewis who took home $200,000 for placing fourth. This was an action-packed affair and Reittie showed that he not only has boxing skills, but also punching power, as he completely overwhelmed his opponent. Lewis took a pounding and had to get medical attention after the fight.

The main bout was what the thousands of persons, including Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Sports Valerie Neita-Headley and former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, who packed the Sports Centre, came out to see and they were not disappointed.

BOTH CAUTIOUS

Both men were very cautious at the outset, with Moncriffe trying to set up his attacks behind the jab. Davis also got his jab working, and pleased his fans by scoring to the body and head. This brought quick retaliation from Moncriffe who at the 10-second warning, exploded into action and stole the round.

Davis used movement from side to side as one of his main attributes, and his jabs worked beautifully as he outscored Moncriffe in this round. After a brisk start in the third stanza, both men became cautious, but Davis stepped up the pace appreciably near the end to also take this round.

The roller-coaster ride continued in the next round, as Moncriffe came back into the picture with good punching to the body and head. Neither man was able to establish superiority however, and it became something of a chess match as the balance shifted from side to side. At the half-way mark, it was still anybody's fight.

One could see that there was a sense of urgency in both corners as the boxers moved into the second half of the fight, and Moncriffe made a determined effort to keep the action at close range so as to use his hooks and uppercuts to good advantage. At close range he was the better fighter and Davis played into his hands by engaging him there. The action pleased the noisy crowd and they had a lot to cheer about to the end.

In the two amateur bouts on the card, Kemahl Russell from the Stanley Couch gym, made his last appearance as an amateur with an easy victory over Brian Griffiths from the Heavy Metal gym. The referee stopped the contest in the second round. In the other bout, Julian Johnson from Sugar Olympic gym, easily outpointed Baron Weir from Stanley Couch.