Viva Las Vegas! by Kerry Duffy Jun 19th 2008

For over ten years, Finchley & District ABC have taken a squad of boxers to the USA to compete in their annual Las Vegas vs. London showdown. Each year the trip attracts a good solid group of travelling fans of which I was happily a part of this year, providing support for my brother, James, who has been training with Finchley since the beginning of this year. After representing the club in 3 successful bouts James was selected for the 14 man squad, set to face boxers from Barry's Boxing Gym, Las Vegas. A gym run by Pat Barry who boasts Augie Sanchez as one of their trainers, a man who once defeated Floyd Mayweather as an amateur and who managed to knock Prince Naseem Hamed down (though the referee deemed it not to be an official knockdown) before being stopped in round 4. Barry's club motto is: “We teach the science not the violence”. Wed 28th May 2008 Having never visited Las Vegas before, I was more than a little excited to be visiting ‘Sin City', arguably the glamorous mecca for boxing fans. Awaking on Wednesday 28th May to make my way to Las Vegas, my initial excitement was somewhat diminished by the reality of the 18hr journey I had in front of me. It was to be a long day and stopping off in Minneapolis to change planes made things go just that little bit slower. We went back and forth in time so often, it made my head spin! After the relatively short flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas, the familiar, striking skyline eventually twinkled into view as the plane descended into Las Vegas, Nevada. Arriving at 11pm local time and having to contend with the burden of the past 18hrs spent travelling, there was nothing to do but check-in and drop out. The Palace Station Hotel & Casino was not just our residence but also the venue for Saturday night's boxing and upon familiarising myself with the layout of the hotel (which I never did manage to get to grips with!) and locating my room, it was off to bed, ready for a fresh start. Thurs 29th and Friday 30th May 2008 For the boxers, Thursday and Friday was spent preparing for Saturday nights boxing and they were unfortunate not to be able to take full advantage of the $6.99 (£3.50) all you can eat buffet, which had to be seen to be believed! Ice cream for breakfast? When in Vegas..... Having to watch his weight, my brother quietly nibbled at his fruit and cereal as I rather unsympathetically piled my plate high with the sugary treats and fatty foods on offer – it would've been rude not to! Pat Barry had kindly offered Finchley's boxers his gym for a couple of hours each day to limber up and loosen down for Saturdays show, so while the rest of us were sunning ourselves by the pool, or making ourselves sick in the buffet, the boxers took advantage of Pat's hospitality and took care of the job in hand. Sat 31st May 2008 Fight Night! The weigh-in took place early morning but unfortunately for 2 of our lads a touch of illness suffered earlier in the week had left them vulnerable and they were unable to make their weight, thus ruling them out of the tournament. Our group of 14 boxers were now down to 12. As Zab Judah and Shane Mosley's bout, which had also been due to take place this evening, had been cancelled, we were expecting a mass exodus from Mandalay Bay to the Palace Station from fight fans and A-listers eager to see some world class boxing! I was a little disappointed not to see Mosley himself, as it seems every time I watch a fight live from Vegas, that man is sitting ringside! We did however have former World Super Featherweight Champion, Cornelius Boza-Edwards sitting inconspicuously amongst the crowd. Our MC for the night was Mr Bob Williams, a professional referee from England whom you may recognise from his distinctive gait, which he assumes as he stalks around the ring whilst in charge. Bob ensured the atmosphere never fell below electric and had had the crowd chanting, singing and laughing. I had heard that previous shows had welcomed some 300 travelling fans yet I felt this year our group were distinctly outnumbered by our American counterparts, although we more than made up for our deficit with our superior vocal support. The night began with 6 supporting bouts, all American affairs with some boys coming from California and even Hawaii. Amazingly there was a 13 yr old kid who had 50 bouts under his belt. Fittingly, his club were called The War Party! Before the real competition began we were treated to a parade between the Las Vegas and London teams and also the singing of the national anthems. I am pleased to report there was no booing! True to type, the reserved British rather bashfully struggled to sing along to God Save the Queen and shuffled our feet awkwardly to Land of Hope And Glory, whilst the Americans rose patriotically from their seats, removing their hats and settling their hands on their heart! Plenty of eyeballing followed in the ring as the boxers exchanged gifts and grimaces with their opponents. The first bout undeniably set the standard for the night. Having endured a stare out with his American counterpart the night before, Finchley's Ozzie Yiacoup was itching to get in the ring with his opponent, Parnell Fisher. Having started the week a little ill, Yiacoup had a tentative first round but unleashed his reply in a hard fought 2nd and 3rd easily taking the bout. However nothing would be as it seemed from the sidelines as we came to discover later. Second in the ring was a fighter who normally boxes for Dale Youth ABC but had come with Finchley to fight in Vegas, Andrew Joicey unfortunately became our first loser of the night, not doing enough to defeat Oscar Torres. Oliver Pattison, an extremely tall, rangy fighter used his reach impeccably to secure a point's win over Nicholas Kay, whilst Tommy Tear, another Dale Youth boxer showed some wonderful technique but was unable to wear down the relentless pressure from Thomas Ordonez and became our 2nd loss of the night. The score thus far stood at 2-2. Norris Thompson took the decision out of the judges' hands by forcing Steven Jones' corner to throw the towel in at the start of the 3rd round. Thompson promptly celebrated with a back flip to make Olga Korbut proud. Jonathon Hale, our youngest boxer fighting, performed superbly and I thought it would be the second stoppage in a row but Zach Kuester somehow stayed upright and after 3 rounds, Hale got the decision. 2-4 to the UK, but obviously the judges wanted to even things up because Dale Youth's Louis Reid dominated Malik Bazille for all 3 rounds, leaving his opponent grimacing in pain upon the final bell, yet incredibly the judges awarded Bazille the decision which must've shocked even him as he ran after Reid to offer him his winner's trophy. Another boxer unfortunate to lose was William O'Reilly whose opponents more aggressive style won over the judges, although O'Reilly's superior boxing skills appeared more effective to me, I could only watch open mouthed as Marcos Torres was declared the victor. Gotta knock ‘em out in Vegas!! Craig Walters fought a close contest and was unfortunate to lose to Mauricio Morales, taking the Las Vegas team to 5-4. Fight of the night went to Billy Drohan who went at opponent, Raul Duhart with undisguised venom and worked well up close, throwing upper cuts in the mix and using his superior strength to dominate the fight, easily outpointing his rival. Another fighter who fancied testing the strength of the ropes was Louis Lattuca who wasted no time in heading for a tear up and giving us all a good spectacle, but to no avail as the judges awarded Sakhi Durmohammed the decision. The scorecard now stood at 6-5 to Vegas which left it to my brother to even things up. My nerves made it impossible to film the fight with any conviction and viewing the footage does seem to induce nausea, unfortunately my nerves weren't settled during the fight as the strength and southpaw stance of Quentin Richard threw James off and his natural strength was found to be lacking, leaving Richard to take the decision. Final score: 7-5 to Las Vegas! But what a night!! All competitors and supporters alike combined to create an atmosphere to rival fight night at Caesars Palace! Each and every bout was energetic, exciting and contentious – just the way it should be! Having never met the Finchley boxers before this trip, all of a sudden I was shouting their names and felt like I had 12 brothers out there, not1! Jim and John Oliver from Finchley ABC made it all possible and what a wonderful opportunity for young boxers to fight in Vegas and for fans to visit the bright lights of ‘Sin City'. The rest of the week was focused on fun and I am still recovering. I've been home for 3 days and am still trying to piece it altogether. My heads still spinning and the lights are still in my eyes. Bring on next year!

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