By DAHALIA SMITH, NG Sports Reporter, dahalia@nasguard.com

The British Commonwealth title has returned to The Bahamas after 22 years! Son of the soil Jermaine 'Choo Choo' Mackey won the vacant super middleweight title against Ghana's Michael 'The Amazing' Gbenga after winning a 12-round unanimous decision Saturday night at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium, recording the country's fourth Commonwealth title.

In the end, the scorecard read 115-113, 117-111 and 118-113 in favor of Mackey. "In celebration, the family and I will head to Disney World," said Mackey after the fight.

Mackey, who is also the World Boxing Association's (WBA) Fede Caribe and World Boxing Council's (WBC) CABOFE Champion, has now joined the ranks of former British Commonwealth Champs, Ray Minus Jr., Stevie 'The Heat' Larrimore and Gomeo Brennen. Furthermore, Mackey's win/loss record improved to 17-2-0 while Gbenga record now stands at 15-4-0.

The card, hosted by First Class Promotions (FCP) and sanctioned by the Bahamas Boxing Commission (BBC - country's governing body for boxing), was a lifelong dream of Mackey's. Mackey was defiant throughout the slugfest.

Going into the seventh round, both men's right eyes were swollen shut after pummeling each other in the previous rounds and Gbenga, who was looking for an early knockout, started to show signs of fatigue.

Up to this point it, was difficult to determine who had the upper hand in the fight even though Mackey threw more blows. In the eighth round however, a re-energized Gbenga emerged. Gbenga's powerful right hooks to head had Mackey on the ropes. Later on in the round, the local was fighting to stay on his feet but was saved by the bell.

Gbenga's confidence was restored in the ninth. He taunted Mackey to hit him and the Ghanaian was clearly in control. The 10th round saw a very unstable Mackey as the momentum of the fight swung in Gbenga's favor.

Having gained the upper hand heading into the 11th, a warning for holding was issued to Gbenga for the second time and the face-off seemed to have made him more cautious. Mackey's guard was down for the majority of the 11th round as he became more aggressive but due to Gbenga's fatigue he could not capitalize.

It seemed that the objective of the final round for both men was to just stay on their feet. There were no flurry of blows when the 10-second warning bell sounded for the 12th round as both men appeared to be fatigued.

Mackey noted after the Commonwealth title victory: "Later on in the fight, I knew he had a cut and he knew I had a cut. No matter what I said even if my eye drops out I am going to stay focused. After the sixth round, I was looking to knock him out but decided to pace myself as I was doing most of the work. So, late in the fight I decided to let him do all the work. The support from the crowd was also very encouraging. From here, we are going to go back to the drawing board and see what else comes up. I thank God, all of my sponsors, First Class Promotions for not giving up on this fight, pastor Ivan Butler from Kemp Road Ministries, Nautilus Water, Prime Bahamas, V8-Splash and many others."

Mackey's coach Ray Minus Jr., who won the title 22 years ago said: "I gave him all the instructions that I could give but in the end Jermaine just really wanted that title. My first Commonwealth title fight was similar. My opponent just kept coming before I stopped him in the 10th round."

Meanwhile, Gbenga said in an interview following the loss: "They gave him the decision and I don't have a problem with that. Nonetheless, I want a rematch because I feel as if the decision should have gone my way. During the rematch however it should be held at a neutral location. Also, someone from the Commonwealth Boxing Council (CBC) should be there next time because there were no officials here to oversee the fight."

In fact, there were representatives from the CBC monitoring the fight. The CBC appointed the BBC Secretary Frederick Sturrup to supervise the fight and Sturrup solicited the expertise of the WBC's Leroy Brown as a secondary supervisor to ensure transparency.

BBC's Chairman Patrick Strachan said: "I am especially proud because Mackey won the title during my tenure as Chairman of the Commission. Also, the hard work of my executive members and secretary paid off. Mackey is a champion inside and outside of the ring. He showed a lot of courage and deserves the title," said Strachan.

Nautilus Water has been sponsoring Mackey for over two years. CEO Jason Evans said: "We could not be more proud to have a British Commonwealth Champion in our camp. We always knew that Mackey would make it this far. He is not done yet though. 'Choo Choo' is going further than this!"

The BBC and First Class Promotions will now focus on getting Mackey a title defense against Charles Adamu, and hopefully a world title shot sometime next year. Mackey was initially scheduled to go up against him for the vacant title, but Adamu suffered an injury. There are 17 active countries within the CBC