Sechelt’s Marcus Davies won the vacant B.C. middleweight title over Maple Ridge boxer Tyson Gemby on Nov. 16 at the Italian Cultural Centre’s annual $100-a-plate fundraising amateur boxing event in Vancouver.
As the fight started, the powerfully built men boxed strategically, not wanting to be caught early with a big punch. The pace picked up later in the round with Gemby scoring better punches.
In round two the pace picked up with Davies being the aggressor, measuring Gemby with a nice jab and landing cracking body shots which would take their toll on Gemby as the fight wore on.
The third round of the five scheduled is when the fight really got going.
Both men had found their preferred boxing distance and the punching got heavy.
Davies knocked Gemby to the canvas with a huge right cross from which the gutsy Gemby got up.
Gemby recovered well enough to stagger Davies and give referee Dale Walters reason to issue a standing eight count to Davies.
The composed Davies stayed on plan and attacked Gemby’s body, further wearing down this tough man.
The round concluded with big punching before the roaring crown of 700.
In the fourth and what turned out to be final round, Davies took over the fight by knocking down Gemby. Unfazed, the veteran Gemby returned to the fight but was rocked again and took a standing eight count.
Late in the round, with Gemby battered, bleeding and weary, Davies closed the show by pinning him on the ropes and raining a barrage of hammering blows on him, forcing Walters to stop the fight.
At 1:56 of the fourth round Marcus Davies was the new BC Middleweight Champion.
Davies was hoisted in the air by coach Tariq Abdualrahman and corner men George Vourtsis and Rick Shannon and surrounded by family and friends in the ring.
Davies was awarded the championship belt after which the ring announcer invited the audience to surround the ring to witness what was about to happen.
With his girlfriend Kristina Rampuri in the ring, Davies was handed the microphone and got down on one knee to offer Kristina an engagement ring and marriage proposal, which she tearfully accepted.
“That proposal was the evening’s main event in my opinion,” said Sunshine Coast Boxing Club founder Rick Shannon.
Shannon said the arrival to the club’s gym over the summer of international level boxing coach Tariq Abdulrahman has brought Davies’ boxing to a new level, as it has the club’s other competitive boxers.
Abdulrahman is a former corporate lawyer from Britain and Bahrain.
“He is a class act and a huge addition to our gym with his experience and boxing teaching skills,” Shannon said. “Tariq and Marcus have a great coach/athlete relationship and it paid off with the BC Title win.”
For information about the Sunshine Coast Boxing Club, contact Randy Hollett at 604-989-5180.
– Submitted
