January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
'We showed we can compete with the world'
Bermuda’s San Shou fighters make lasting impression in bouts marred by poor calls
The small group of full-contact martial arts fighters pitted their abilities against some of the toughest, most brutal fighters in the region at the Pan American tournament in Campinas, Brazil 10 days ago.
And though they all lost their bouts, San Shou president Garon Wilkinson said they competed strongly with their opponents and were unlucky with some refereeing calls.
He said they had closed the gap with the rest of the world and shown they could compete.
Wilkinson said Jermal Woolridge, in the heavyweight category, had been on the wrong end of a judging call that had the crowd booing in derision.
"He almost knocked his opponent, from Argentina, out in the first round. The guy took a standing eight count and Jermal dominated the round.
"The judges scored it for the other guy. The crowd was actually booing at that point because it was such an obviously wrong decision. We were on the wrong end of some harsh calls.
"After that I guess he was thinking 'what more do I have to do to show I'm better than this guy' and he lost the next round and therefore the fight."
Both Woolridge and Wilkinson had two fights in a three-man round-robin section. Woolridge lost to a guy from Brazil as well as the guy from Argentina.
Wilkinson, competing in the 75kg category, said he had a relatively close fight with his opponent from Brazil but admits he was up against it when he took on the eventual gold medal winner from Venezuela.
"Venezuela had a team of pro boxers and pro kick boxers and they pretty much destroyed everybody.
"The guy I was up against reminded me of the bad guy at the end of the movie - kissing his biceps and throwing his hands in the air after he won his first fight.
"Everybody was talking about this guy before hand, saying he'd knocked guys out in 30 seconds and broken people's jaws with one punch.
"I went to watch him fight the guy from Brazil and he just destroyed him - they threw in the towel after round one, he was taking so much punishment.
"He was a pro boxer and here I am just an office worker, I knew I was in for one of the toughest fights of my life.
"It was just a case of survival really. But once I realized he couldn't hurt me I was fine. I took a couple of his hardest punches and my confidence rose. I was the first opponent in his career to take him to a points decision."
Sentwali Woolridge, in the 70kg category, was pitted in a straight first-round knock-out and only had one fight.
"He fought an excellent match against the very accomplished Peruvian fighter, which he lost on points."
Leroy Maxwell, in the 85kg category, also lost a straight knockout match on points, despite injuring his opponent, from Brazil.
"[Maxwell] caught him with a leg-kick in the second round. The guy managed to hold on to win the fight but he injured his ankle and was just a punching bag for his next opponent."
Wilkinson said he was pleased with the performance overall as well as the fact that Bermudian Oscar Lightbourne has served as a judge for the first time at an international event.
"Obviously no-one likes to get any type of loss but all of our fighters were really happy with the way we competed. It's great to know that we have closed the gap on the rest of the world. At least now we're playing the game with the best."
He added that coaches Damion Wilson and Khalid Pitcher did an excellent job preparing the athletes for the matches.[[In-content Ad]]
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