– DeClou suffers broken jaw en route to defeat
Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) featherweight and lightweight champion, Clive “The Punisher” Atwell, needed just under two rounds to dispose of Jamaican Glenroy Beckford when they clashed in the feature fight of Sunday’s boxing card at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In the process, Atwell maintained his unbeaten record and enhanced his reputation as arguably Guyana’s other candidate for a shot at a world title.
The slick Atwell completely dominated the scheduled eight-round contest, flooring his opponent 40 seconds into the round two, much to the delight of the small, but partisan home crowd.
Beckford had promised to surprise Guyanese by toppling Atwell, but the Guyanese ensured an upset was not on the card, as he marched to a commanding win, flooring the man from the ‘Land of Wood and Water’ with a vicious left hook to the mid-section.
As Beckford landed on the canvas, veteran referee Eion Jardine started to administer the count, which was quickly aborted as the Jamaican signalled he had no interest in continuing the fight.
In a post-fight interview, Atwell, who improved to 11 wins (six KOs) and one draw from 12 bouts, admitted he was prepared for a much tougher time in the ring, but that was not to be.
He noted that from his research on Beckford and information received from associates in Jamaica, he envisaged a sterner opponent, and as such, prepared himself in such regard.
Beckford did manage to earn a moral victory in the opening round with a solid, but Atwell later brushed it off, noting that it was an accidental slip, as he was caught off-guard.
Beckford, speaking to the media after the thrashing, said he is ready for a rematch, since he had little time to prepare for last Sunday’s showdown.
He noted that four weeks to prepare for such a fight was cutting it too thin, but he is confident that with adequate time to train he would get past Atwell. With the loss, Beckford slipped to eight losses and three wins from 11 fights.
Atwell’s fellow CABOFE middleweight champion Edmond DeClou suffered a humiliating loss to Derek Richmond, having his jaw broken in round two of their scheduled eight-round middleweight contest.
The defeat was DeClou’s second of his 17-fight career, to go with his 14 victories and one drawn encounter. While the loss is damaging to DeClou’s reputation as a potential world champion, it ensured Richmond remained unbeaten with two victories and a loss from three trips to the ring.
In the other professional bouts, Kishan Simon and Dexter Marques won on points against David Thomas and Richard Williamson respectively.
Sunday’s card was a collaborative effort of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control and the Guyana Boxing Association.
