Guyana Fight Night boxing cards...Derick Richmond registers biggest upset, breaking Edmond DeClou jaw in the process

Guyana Fight Night boxing cards…Derick Richmond registers biggest upset, breaking Edmond DeClou jaw in the process

Oct 15, 2013 Sports

Atwell KO’s Beckford

By Michael Benjamin
In what was undoubtedly the upset of the century, underdog pugilist, Derick Richmond unleashed a vicious left hook that thudded into Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) middleweight champion, Edmond DeClou and sent him to the Georgetown Public Hospital nursing a broken jaw when those two clashed in the main supporting bout of the 30th edition of Guyana Fight Night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) Sunday evening last.
Clive Atwell was hardly required to break a sweat in his lightweight non-title affair against Jamaican, Glenroy Beckford and disposed of him early in the second round, while Dexter ‘The Kid’ Marques punched his way to a lopsided unanimous verdict over Berbician, Richard Williamson. Kishawn Simon was also in winners’ row and opened the night’s proceedings with a unanimous verdict over David Thomas in their welterweight encounter.
Usually a slow starter, DeClou uncharacteristically went after his man from the first gong and though his punches were not that powerful, they were on target and unsettled the shorter Richmond while keeping him at bay.
Fighting out of a southpaw stance Richmond, the shorter boxer, switched to a body attack in the second frame that disturbed DeClou’s rhythm. The latter pugilist held his ground and responded with a few wallops of his own that had his man on the back foot. When the bell sounded DeClou had steered his man to the ropes and was pummelling away, while Richmond sought refuge behind highly held guards.
DeClou started the third round in similar fashion as the first and attacked with long ranged punches. Richmond blocked a few and squirmed his way in where the two warriors exchanged close punches. Few saw the wicked left hook that landed just around DeClou’s lower jaw but all saw the effect. The blow stopped him dead in his tracks before gravity took over and dumped him on the canvas. Referee, Eion Jardine jumped in but even before he commenced the mandatory count, it was evident that it would have been an act in futility.
When he waved off the fight, DeClou struggled to his feet but was visibly wincing in pain. This prompted a more thorough evaluation from Dr Laxa and Nurse Green who determined that the jaw was broken and ordered further medical intervention at the hospital. The time was one minute into the third round.
Atwell started the bout at a hectic pace and made a profound statement 90 seconds into the first stanza with a super quick right cross that dumped Beckford on the seat of his trunks. He rose on tottery legs and though he somehow managed to make it to the end of the round, even the inexperienced fan knew that the writing was on the wall.
A wicked body punch greeted the Jamaican at the start of the second round and his knees buckled. An unrelenting Atwell followed up with a left hook and straight right and down went Beckford. He attempted to re-enter the fray but his legs were uncooperative and referee Jardine was once again forced to repeat the action of the previous bout, waving off the proceedings at 40secs into the second round.
Marques is not a man with a punch but compensates through consistency. He dished out a heaped serving of classic punches that distinctly separated him from his foe, Williamson, who just could not exploit his Achilles heel. The earlier rounds, up to the third, were closely contested with Williamson giving as much as he took. As the rounds increased, so did the pressure and on several occasions Williamson was subjected to vicious combinations. He came out purposefully in round four and his two fisted assault had Marques covering up but not for long as the latter boxer reasserted himself and unleashed a vicious body assault that forced Williamson to backpedal.
The sixth round represented new territory for Williamson who had recently entered the professional ranks. Marques took full advantage of his opponent’s inexperience and unleashed several punches to his ribcage while converting to his head. By now, Williamson had all but given up and when the bell sounded, he trudged to the corner with a fatigued expression. Judges Trevor Arno (79-73), Rawle Aaron (80-72) and Carlton Hopkinson (78-74) all confirmed his fears with a shutdown for Marques.
Earlier, the action got underway with the amateur segment and fans were somewhat taken aback when Trevor King (GDF) was awarded the decision at the end of his bout with Republican middleweight, Kevin Rodney. The later boxer had clinched a unanimous verdict over the former in the Berbice edition of the just concluded Mackeson Fight Night boxing cards. As in the first bout, Rodney used stiff right crosses to keep his man at bay. However, this time around, King turned in a better performance. Notwithstanding, there were murmurs from the crowd when the decision was announced in King’s favour. Orin Bancroft of the Harpy Eagles Boxing Gym triumphed in his 105-109lbs bout with Tefon Green, while Mark Marshall defeated Stephon Nedd in their bantamweight encounter. Elijah Insanally was also in winners’ row with a unanimous verdict over Anthony Camacho. All of the amateur boxers received large food hampers compliments of Courts (Guyana) Ltd.
Three lucky patrons also won lucrative prizes after their numbers were drawn from among the general paid attendance. The first prize was one Digicel Blackberry cell phone, while the second and third prizes are one pair Wiki sunglasses and 2 cases of premium beers, respectively.
The organizers benefited from the corporate support of several entities including Digicel, Banks DIH Ltd, Giftland Office Max, Guyoil, King’s Jewellery World, Ministry of Tourism and Flight Jamaica.