(OCT 10) There was another evening of excellent boxing by all the finalists at the Pan Am Championship, that was held at the Haguaramas Convention Centre in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.  Although some of the female boxers lost by very wide margins, they performed quite creditably.

The encounter between Canada’s Many Bujold and USA’s Cheryl Lyn Houlihan was a “holding breath” experience for those in attendance. The first round ended 0-0, the second 1-1 and amazingly the third ended 2-2. However, don’t be mistaken by the low score rate. These two boxers executed proper shots and combinations but they both had almost impenetrable guards. The final result by computer method saw Mandy Bujold taking the victory by a 4-3 margin. 

The Americans won the first three encounters with the Brazilians until Tanya Cardoso had a shut-out victory over Jody Ann Weller , 8-0. Cardoso strategically counter punched Weller whom seemed to have no answer for her slightly shorter opponent. Next victory for Brazil came from Adriana Araujo over American Caroline Barry. Araujo ended the first round with a good lead, but in the second Barry came alive and closed the gap within 3 points. The third round was extremely fast-paced as Barry sought to overtake a tiring Araujo with some accurate punching. But Araujo, held on, clinched and bounced around the ring to maintain the slight two point lead that gave her the victory at 16-14. This was the third fight for Araujo during the competition and she proved to be very versatile as she fought differently each time. 

Katie Dunn again showed her dominance in the ring when she outpointed game Quanitta Lee Underwood, USA. Dunn displayed excellent hand speed, ring craft and accuracy.

Canada once again handed another loss to the Americans when Mary Spencer had a shut-out victory over Venessa Jackson. Spencer wasted no energy, seemed quite comfortable in the ring and made it impossible for Jackson to score a point.  

Franchon Crews

American Franchon Crews would be named Ms. Congeniality if this was a beauty pageant. Crews seemed to possess an indomitable spirit and won the hearts of everyone she came in contact with. She sang the US national anthem quite beautifully and was complimented by just about everyone. In the ring she was a little sloppy with her boxing technique however. It was more of a slugfest when she defeated game Andreia Bandeira. Crews was a powerful puncher and kept Bandeira at bay with some big shots throughout the encounter.  

Trinidad’s Chimere Taylor failed to give the kind of performance she had on the second night of competition. She was overly cautious and gave Dominican Republic’s Yenebier Guillen far too much respect. Guillen had defeated Taylor in the recent CABA championships. Taylor caught Guillen with a hard straight right in the second round but instead of following up she unnecessarily stepped back allowing Guillen enough time to recover.  

The finals were well attended, with the largest crowd over the four days of competition. The Canadians won all three of their bouts, the USA four out of nine and both Brazil and the Dominican Republic two each. Although Mary Spencer was officially announced the Boxer of the Tournament, most people seemed to believe it should have been her team mate, Katie Dunn.   

Boxer of the Tournament – Mary Spencer, Canada. 
[Previous report of Day 2 & 3 Results]

Name	Country	Pts	Name	Country	Pts.	Wt.
Karen B. Leonardo	DOM	8	Stephanie Allen	TRI	2	46kg
Marlen Esparza	USA	14	Daniela Suza	BRA	2	48kg
Mandy Bujold	CAN	2	Cheryl Lyn Houlihan	USA	2	50kg
Sacred Ann Downing	USA	11	Loren Capecce	BRA	3	52kg
Cynthia Moreno	USA	17	Elisangela Maartinelli	BRA	4	54kg
Tayna Cardoso	BRA	8	Jody Ann Weller	USA	0	57kg
Adriana Araujo	BRA	16	Caroline Barry	USA	14	60kg
Katie Dunn	USA	13	Quanitta  Underwood	USA	5	63kg
Mary Spencer	CAN	4	Venessa Jackson	USA	0	66kg
Franchon Crews	USA	14	Andreia Bandereira	BRA	4	70kg
Yenibrier Guillen	DOM	10	Chinere Taylor	TRI	2	75kg

Do you have photos of this event? Please email WBAN with more photos so we can feature all the amateurs.