BY HURBUN WILLIAMS

Observer writer

IT was the night when the amphibian got the better of a big cat when Richard ‘Frog’ Holmes of Team Jamaica out-pointed Gladwin ‘Tiger’ Dorway of Team Caribbean to continue Jamaica’s dominance in the 2014 Wray & Nephew Contender Boxing Series at the Chinese Benevolent Association Auditorium on Wednesday night.

It was a peppery fight with absorbing action from the opening bell to the final gong when referee Ian Jardine had to rush between the fighters to separate them to call a halt to the fiery action.

Then the announcement came. Judge Linden Allen scored the bout 60-54, judge Clifford Brown 58-56 both in favour of Holmes, while judge Keith Brown saw it 58-56 for Dorway to hand a favourable majority decision to Holmes.

Undoubtedly the best fight in the preliminary round of the Contender Series in its short history, the large crowd in greeted with glee ring announcer Oliver Hardie’s announcement that Holmes was the winner.

The decision gave Team Jamaica a two-from-two win over Team Caribbean with six bouts remaining in the preliminary round of eight going six rounds.

In the eyes of some boxing purists who watched the fight, they thought Holmes might have been a tad fortunate to get the decision and thought it to be a hometown decision.

The victory improved Holmes’ win record to five against three losses, while Dorway tumbled to two losses and four wins.

Talking to the press following his victory, an upbeat Holmes told reporters “he is a good guy and he could take a punch and can throw punch”.

Coach and Team Jamaica manager Carl Grant explained that before the power outage, Holmes “got drawn out in the fight and lost his game plan by fighting the guy’s fight”.

“However, during the power outage he regrouped himself and came back in the fight to give me the fight we had planned,” said Grant.

Dorway, a bit subdued probably by the result not going in his favour, said “I thought it was a good fight”.

“About the decision I cannot tell you anything about that. The judges made their decision. But all that I can say is that I gave my best, which was not seemingly good enough,” the Guyanese fighter added.

Team Caribbean manager Andrew Boland was not undaunted by being two down. “Two fights down is nothing. Watch me, we are going to the next round.”

Earlier on the three-fight card, Toriano Nicholas fighting out of Tiger Gym, out-pointed Daron Weir representing Sugar Olympic Gym over three rounds in an Open Class welterweight amateur fight.

In the second Open Class welterweight amateur contest, Gregory Miller out-pointed Fabian Tucker also representing Sugar Olympic Gym.