Salandy retains world boxing titlesSunday, December 28 2008
TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Giselle Salandy repelled a spirited challenge from the Dominican Republic’s Yahaira Hernandez to retain her multiple light middleweight world boxing titles on Friday night.
The undefeated Salandy triumphed on a unanimous points decision to improve her ring record to 17-0 with six knockouts.
Also on the card at the Jean Pierre Complex at Mucurapo, the outstanding Barbadian Shawn Cox stretched his winning streak while Guyana’s Shawn Corbin also won.
There were no knockdowns in the ten-round women’s world title contest but the judges delivered a lopsided verdict for the 21-year-old local star.
Judge William Boodhoo scored it 100-89, George St Aude 99-93, and the Guyanese Eion Jardine scored the bout 99-92 in Salandy’s favour.
“The fight wasn’t as tough as I expected it to be,” the confident Salandy said after the bout.
Salandy’s eight international 154-pound belts were on the line, including the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) titles.
Hernandez pressed Salandy for long periods in the contest but the gifted Trinidadian, crafty and technically superior, nullified the challenger’s aggression and often welcomed a fierce toe-to-toe exchange of blows.
Salandy had a particularly strong showing in round eight when Hernandez was visibly hurt, wobbled badly across the ring onto the ropes, but held on well and was resilient to the finish. “I was prepared for her tactics,” said Salandy, who became world champion in September 2006 at home when she defeated American Elizabeth Mooney via a seventh round technical knockout at Skinner Park in San Fernando.
“I knew she would use the first two, three rounds to come hard at me, so I just absorbed that pressure and then controlled the fight with my own style, moving and counter punching,” Salandy said.
With the loss, Hernandez slipped to ten wins (five knockouts) against three defeats.
Before the main event, Cox registered the most rapid victory on the night, needing less than a round to stop Guyanese Cloyd Williams while improving his percentage of first-round knockout wins to 71.4 percent.
The former amateur standout dropped Williams twice with telling body punches to stretch his unbeaten record to 7-0 with seven knockouts. Suffering from painful rib injuries, Williams was on the canvas for almost ten minutes under the care of the medical staff.
In Cox’s brief pro-career, it was the fifth first-round knockout win for the Olympian, who won multiple Caribbean titles and a Commonwealth Championship gold as an amateur.
“Shawn was very impressive and looked extremely solid,” Cox’s manager Sam Layne said.
“His body punching was terrific and if people feared him before, they will fear him even more now,” added Layne, who struggled this year to find willing opponents for Cox. Corbin was hardly tested in his bout although fellow Guyanese Leon Gilkes managed to take the bout into the fifth round.
On the rebound after suffering his first pro defeat — to world-rated Panamanian Tito Mendoza — in April last year, Corbin scored a fifth-round technical knockout victory over little-rated Gilkes.
Corbin improved his log to 12 wins (seven knockouts) against one loss, while Gilkes, who had already been beaten by Corbin in November last year, declined to four wins (two knockouts) against nine defeats and three draws.
