Ramnarine wins non-title fightBy WALTER ALIBEY Monday, January 4 2010
RIA RAMNARINE warmed up for her forthcoming WBA Mini Flyweight World Title fight against Japan’s Etsuko Tada by whipping Colombian Paulina Cardona on a unanimous decision at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena on Saturday night.
A more aggressive Ramnarine had her opponent backing all night long in the non-title fight and had it not been for Cardona’s impressive lateral movement, the contest would have been over long before the scheduled eight round.
The Colombian did catch the charging Ramnarine with a series of left hooks but they failed to trouble her. Otherwise Ramnarine, on numerous occasions, had her opponent struggling with a barrage of punches that saw her either saved by the referee or by the bell.
In the third round Ramnarine, whose aggression was improved after a recent three-week stint in the United States, caught Cardona with a big right that jolted her head back. And later in the fifth she left the Colombian stumbling with a flurry of big right and left punches before the intervention of referee Tommy Thomas kept her on her feet.
The 20-year-old Cardona did impress the decent crowd with her ability to elude the many punches thrown by Ramnarine, otherwise she needed a clear knock-out to defeat the hometown girl.
At a venue that saw Ramnarine prevailed on a controversial decision against Venezuelan Ana Fernandez some months ago, Ramnarine this time made the victory certain well before the final round had been completed.
And in the eight and final round she tried to prove the boxing pundits right that the fight would not have gone the full distance, by unleashing a series of blows that forced the Colombian to grab hold to avoid going down.
After the fight the judges expectedly called the fight 80-72, 80-72 and 79-74 in favour of Ramnarine. With the victory Ramnarine also received a trophy in memory of the late Giselle Salandy who died in a vehicular accident last year. Promoter Boxu Potts told Newsday that he was happy with the performance of his fighter.
“We knew that it would have been difficult to change her style within three weeks so we opted to improved her aggression and defensive ability which were evident last night. We expect her performances to improve with every fight as she looks ahead for Tada” Potts said afterwards.
He explained also that he will be looking for another fight for Ramnarine after Tada asked to have the bout pushed back to May. “Failing that we will send Ria back to the US to continue her training.”
Ramnarine said she felt good about the win. “It was expected because I trained very hard for the fight. I did not underestimate her but I felt really confident about a victory.”
He explained that her aggression was because of the intensive work that she had done at home and in the US.
Meanwhile Sean Corbin also defeated Barbadian Curtis Murray by Technical Knock-Out on the undercard on Saturday. The stocky Barbadian failed to answer the bell in the seventh round after being at the receiving end of a beating in the previous round (sixth).
On numerous times the Guyana-born Corbin left his man lifeless from powerful right and left punches but the stubborn Barbadian just would not go down.
It was until the sixth round that the six-foot Corbin unleashed a barrage of punches that saw Murray grab hold of his opponent to avoid going down.
Corbin is also expected to look foward to a world title in the coming months.
