World light heavyweight champion Gwendolyn `The Stealth Bomber' O'Neil easily defeated Trinidadian Crystal Lassie Saturday night in the main event of the Smart Touch/Freeman Promotions card at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Despite weighing in 18 pounds lighter than her 186-pound opponent O'Neil worked off a stiff left jab to win all six rounds of the catchweight bout and snatch her second win in less than a month.

Dropping bombs intermittently, O'Neil nailed Lassie, under supplied in technique but brimming with heart, several times during the contest but was unable to floor the Trinidadian.

After a feeling out process, which took up the first round, the Trinidadian offered O'Neil some opposition, catching the Guyanese with a two-fisted attack late in the second round.

"I didn't want to really punish her," O'Neil told Stabroek Sport. "She didn't get the full treatment." The world champion assured that she was not hurt at any time during the event.
The Hurricane delivers: Caribbean Boxing Federation junior lightweight champion 'Hurricane' Hugo Lewis delivers a solid right to Shurwyne Marshall's body. (Photo by Lawrence Fanfair)

"I was in control right through. I was never hurt. She was just trying to hold on all the time. She never gave me any trouble."

A hard right to Lassie's head highlighted round three. The punch may have caused the Trinidadian to change tactics as she came out bouncing with guards held high in the fourth. However, the world champion would have none of it.

The visitor was in trouble later in the round and was left on shaky feet when O'Neil attacked to body and head. "At one point during the fight all she wanted to do was hold. I knew she was getting tired that's why I turned up the heat," O'Neil said.

In one of the two main supporting bouts Caribbean Boxing Federation junior lightweight champion `Hurricane' Hugo Lewis was not his usual self but still managed to pound out a fifth round TKO over Barbadian Shurwyne Marshall.

"It was not one of my better performance," Lewis confessed to Stabroek Sport after the victory. "I was coming off a lay off and I guess that I looking for a knock out. Marshall was not a classy opponent," Lewis said.

It was evident from the opening stanza of the scheduled 10-rounder that Lewis wanted an early night as he stalked the taller Barbadian who shuck his head every time he was tagged.

An unanswered four-punch combination late in the first round drifted the foreigner and Lewis followed with similar attacks in the following rounds which forced Marshall to remain on his stool when the bell sounded to start the fifth round.

Junior middleweight Shawn Garnett reeked of ring rust but also managed to end up with a fourth round TKO win over an uninspiring Benjamin Modeste.

Garnette had predicted that the fight would end by knock out.

From the inception Modeste, clearly no match for Garnette, acted as if he was in search of a suitable section of the ring in which to fall. After receiving two hard lefts from Garnette in the first round, Modeste longingly eyeballed the canvas.

The St Lucian subsequently went there in the next round compliments of a left/right combination. Garnette followed up by pounding the foreigner in round three which left Modeste wobbling at the end of the round.

He did not come out for the fourth round. Shelly `The Agricola Boom' Gibson kept up a steady body attack to a surprisingly gallant Margaret `Chico' Walcott to win the six-rounder by majority decision.

The much heavier Gibson took on the role of attacker from round one and delivered with thunderous consequences.

The title of fight of the night belonged to the encounter between featherweights Linden Arthur and Kelsy Ross. After the bruising encounter Arthur was adjudged winner by unanimous decision.

The slow starting Ross, whose contingent of supporters included two unusually crass females who hurled abuse at referee Michael Benjamin, was dropped by a vicious left hook midway in the fifth round.

However, he rose with the count at six and turned on the heat in the following round when he stood toe-to-toe with Arthur, throwing more that 50 punches in the process.

In the other six-round preliminary fight featherweight Rudy Fraser won by unanimous decision over Cecil Smith.