Demarcus ‘Chop Chop’ Corley, the former World Boxing Organisation junior lightweight champion of the world, scored a unanimous points decision against Iwan ‘Pure Gold’ Azore, the current Trinidad and Tobago national welterweight champion at the Wray & Nephew White Overproof Contender Boxing Series at the Chinese Benevolent Association Auditorium on Wednesday night.

Sixteen professional boxers, including five Jamaicans, are vying for the title of Wray and Nephew Welterweight Contender Champion 2016, along with attractive monetary prizes.

Just under $3 million is up for grabs with the winner of the series pocketing $2 million of that amount, the runner-up $500,000, third place $250,000 and fourth place $200,000.

‘Chop Chop’ Corley, the four-time World champion representing Team USA, outclassed his Team Caribbean counterpart ‘Pure Gold’ Azore to become the second qualifier for the remaining rounds.

Jamaican Richard ‘Frog’ Holmes is the first qualifier for Team Caribbean following his TKO win over American Xzavier Ford in the opening bout.

Azore weighed in for the fight at 147 lbs, while Corley weighed in three pounds lighter. The weight difference did not seem to bother the American veteran as at no time was he called upon to extend himself beyond that which was necessary to get the job done over the five rounds of boxing.

From the opening bell, it was obvious that Azore was up against a much better opponent, but showed that he was capable of being in the same ring with the master craftsman and showed that he could take a punch and could deliver some eye-catching ones himself.

However, despite Azore’s resolve, all three judges concurred that Corley was the winner by a decent margin and judges Eion Jardine, Laurence Neufville and American Joseph Cooper had little difficulty in scoring the bout 50-44 in favour of the winner by unanimous decision.

At the post-match interview, Corley, the 41-year-old from Washington, DC, who entered the ring with a record of 43 victories, 26 losses and a draw, said: “My thoughts on the fight is that it was a great performance and I gave myself a B-plus. I took him to school; I boxed him when I wanted to. I got inside, we banged a little bit. I got back outside, used my jab, I used my hand speed. I used my experience to beat this young fighter.

“I gave his (Azore’s) performance a C-plus as he came to fight and he wanted to win but he was in the ring with a veteran fighter and he did not know how to get the job done,” Corley explained.

Azore, the Team Caribbean entrant, entered the contest with 16 victories, five losses and three draws in a career that started some 10 years ago.

He questioned the organisers for pitting “two of the best fighters” against each other so soon in the tournament.

“Whosoever the matchmakers are for the Wray & Nephew tournament, (they) made a wrong decision to have two of the best fighters in the competition meet so early.

“I am a champion and cannot complain, but Wray & Nephew matchmakers will have to show greater interest in preserving Caribbean boxing interests and put a little more interest in augmenting the boxers of the region’s careers also. I thought it to be bad promotion and bad selection of candidates for matches in the Contender Series by one of the region’s leading promoters,” Azore pointed out.

Azore was also penalised for holding and had a point deducted which came after repeated warnings from referee Peter Richards.