Jamaica’s Hylton aims to silence tough-talking DeClou in Wray & Nephew Contender boxing showdown

Edmund DeClou from Guyana will try to give the Caribbean Yellow Team its second victory in the Wray & Nephew Middleweight Contender 2015 series tonight when he takes on Jamaica's Kevin Hylton over six rounds at the Chinese Benevolent Asso-ciation auditorium on Old Hope Road in St Andrew.

The bout is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Television Jamaica (TVJ). Before the main bout, there will be two amateur fights, starting at 8:30 p.m.

Jamaican boxers have already recorded victories through Kemahl Russell, Jermaine Bowen, and Tsetsi Davis. The lone victory for the Caribbean team was by another Guyanese boxer, Derick Richmond, who had a points win over Jamaica's Gregory Miller.

DeClou takes a 15-2 record into the ring tonight and a confidence level that has grown with each passing day. He is Guyana's middleweight champion, a title he won in June 2012. He also won the WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation middleweight title in February 2012.

From the announcement of the competition in February, DeClou has been saying very loudly that he will be the winner of the competition, and tonight, he gets his chance to show that he has the boxing skills and punching power to back up his words. He has three knockout victories and has been knocked out twice.

The Guyanese said yesterday that he is confident of victory and declared himself "fit and ready".

in for a surprise

He has given the impression that he does not expect to be bothered too much by the Jamaican fighter.

Hylton, however, thinks that his opponent is in for a surprise. He can be a very difficult opponent because of his defensive skills but has shown that he can also throw a mean right hook behind his left jabs.

He had two memorable fights in the series last year. In the first, he scored a dramatic third-round knockout victory over the impressive-looking Prince Lee Isidore; and then in the quarter-finals, he gave a plucky performance against the wily veteran Howard Eastman, who won that fight on points.

Hylton's chief trainer says he has been working very hard for the fight and expects an exceptional performance.

Tonight's encounter is one of eight preliminary fights in the series. The winners will move into the quarter-finals, then there will be the semi-finals over eight rounds each; and then the final over 10 rounds.

The winner of the Wray and Nephew Contender title will take home $2 million, the runner-up $500,000, third $250,000, and fourth $200,000.