The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SHERMAN ‘The Tank’ Williams wanted to make an impression when he returned home to compete in his first professional boxing show and the journeyman heavyweight didn’t disappoint the fans who showed up at the A Social Affair and Convention Centre in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

In the main event on Saturday night, Williams needed just a round to get warmed up before he unleashed his conch punch on Epifanio ‘Diamante’ Mendoza to stop the Colombian in the third round. With the win, Williams improved his win-loss-draw record to 40-15-2. Mendoza, 43, dropped to 43-27-1.

In the undercard, Amron Sands, a Bahamian now fighting out of Orlando, Florida, went toe to toe with veteran Jerry ‘Big Daddy’ Butler in a keenly contested Bahamas heavyweight bout showdown. And he came out with a decision.

Johnathan Pierre won by disqualification over Anthony ‘Psycho’ Wood, who was warned too many times for holding. American Chris Vendola won over Cuban Yendris Valdez after he suffered a fractured hand and Tyrone Oliver won a second round TKO over Grand Bahamian Justin Sawyer, who both were making their pro debut. Williams, 45, said the show was exciting and he was glad that he didn’t disappoint the fans.

“Mendoza came out swinging. He came out tough with some dirty tactics,” Williams recalled. “The conch punch was able to prevail in the second round and I figured I had to get him out early and not make it a long night.”

If there was any consolation, Williams said it was in the fact that he was inspired competing at home. “That gave me a little bit of incentive to perform very well,” he stated. “I put the pressure on my opponent and got him out in impressive fashion. It was more than four decades that they had a professional fight in Grand Bahama, so I was more than happy to be a part of making history with Bahamian Suns, the promotional group for the show.

“The crowd was very good. It was a large crowd. The production was awesome, the arena was picture perfect. We had a Bahamian band playing all night, so it was definitely a national pride event. The people who showed up got a treat. The whole card was very entertaining.”

In moving forward, Williams said despite the fact that they had about 300 people in the stands, they gave him enough incentive to want to come back and put on another show. He said he hopes to build on the crowd, even though it costs the promoters several thousand dollars more to stage in Grand Bahama as opposed to New Providence.

“New Providence always has everything, so we wanted to stir up Grand Bahama and Freeport in particular,” Williams said. “So this event was able to create revenue and jobs. We employed over 60 people for this event and brought in all of the commissioners from New Providence.

“We were able to generate some revenue for Freeport with people coming in on the cruise ship and staying in the Pelican Bay and Lucaya, so we hit our projected goals. We just wanted a little more people to come out. But we need to become more nationalistic and support more things that are Bahamian.”