By Emmerson Campbell
Friday night’s action at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall produced both thunder and lightning.
After Guyana’s light heavyweight champion Kwesi ‘Lightning Struck Assassin’ Jones struck Kelsey George with a bolt of lightning, Clive ‘Wonder Kid’ Atwell followed that up with a thunderous right hook to the chin of Rudolph Fraser to lift the vacant national featherweight title.
The action was part of the month end’s Fight Night’s card put on by the Guyana Boxing Board of Control.
The 35-year old Fraser, in pre fight interviews, had boasted that it was his time to shine.
But Atwell, 23, took the sheen out of Fraser’s glistening ambitions.
At 27 seconds into the second round of the card’s headliner, Atwell landed the thundering right hand that sent Fraser crashing to the canvas. Fraser’s head whiplashed off the canvas adding further damage to the badly hurt Albouystown pugilist
To the surprise of the sizable crowd, a dazed Fraser got up, but the ‘Wonder Kid’s punch seemed to have Fraser wondering where he was. Apparently Fraser thought he was on the moon as his feet without his permission did an impression of Michael Jackson’s famous moon walk.
Punch drunk and on ‘dizzy street’, Fraser was in no state to continue and legendary referee Eon Jardine wisely put an end to the thunderstorm.
“Just on the button, right hand over his hand right on the button,” said Atwell in describing the knockout blow during a post fight interview with Stabroek Sport.
The new featherweight champion, who is based in Dominica, disclosed that he will be in Guyana until next month in order to book another ring date on the next Pro Am card. Atwell also revealed that he has intentions of matching gloves with reigning CABOFE bantamweight champion US-based Guyanese Elton ‘Coolie Bully’ Dharry.
Atwell improves his unblemished record to five wins and one draw while Fraser, who declined a post fight interview, record drops to eight wins, three losses and a draw.
Jones, who had predicted to end his encounter with George in the first round, stayed true to his word by ending the brief, one-sided affair after one minute and 28 seconds. ‘The Lightning Struck Assassin’ came out at the bell, with bad intentions, cornering the young, over-matched Berbician and landing hard left and right hooks at will.
One of those left hands struck George and opened up a cut above his left eye which required the ringside doctor’s intervention.
The ringside physician gave the green light for him to continue but George had no intention of continuing and surrendered a TKO verdict.
In the 12-round middleweight trilogy, reigning national and CABOFE champion Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ DeClou, unanimously defeated Trinidad and Tobago based Guyanese Joel Mc Rae winning 117 -111, 116-111,116-112.
The highly entertaining encounter saw both boxers (who sported Mohawk hair styles) having their moments in the fight but the more skillful, aggressive and busier DeClou threw and landed more punches than his opponent.
With the defeat, McRae failed to cross the DeClou hurdle for the third time. His record drops to nine wins, three losses and a draw, while the ‘Wonder Boy’ improves to 12 wins, two losses and a draw.
Earlier in the night, Gladwin Dorway landed a nose-breaking upper cut to David Thomas at two minutes and 35 seconds of round two to earn his first professional victory. Thomas is still winless in his two-fight career.
On the amateur segment of the card, Christopher Mansfield, Albert Thomas, Ryan Sumner and Joel Williamson all recorded victories.
Mansfield and Thomas outlasted Ryan Persaud and Teffon Green two to one respectively, while Sumner and Williamson both defeated Shaka Moore and Matthew Hollingsworth three to one in that order.
Representatives of Courts Incorporated shared out food hampers to eight amateur boxers.
Digicel created a frenzy at intermission when representatives of the phone company surprisingly shared out beverages, top ups and other gifts to random patrons.
The next Pro Am card is scheduled to box off at the same venue on July 27.
The monthly card is an initiative of the GBBC in collaboration with the Sports Ministry and the National Communications Network (NCN). Sponsors of the event include Digicel, Giftland Office Max, Courts, Banks DIH Limited and Ansa McAL.
