Confused declarations uttered as Atwell host press conference on World title occurrences

Jun 08, 2014 Sports

By Michael Benjamin
Amidst speculation of disgruntlement and discontent with his managerial team, world boxing featherweight contender, Clive Atwell, has painted a picture to the contrary claiming that despite such rumours all is well in his camp.
“There will always be ups and downs among us and I will not always be in agreement with all the decisions my managerial team makes but we discuss and compromise on issues,” Atwell declared. However, Atwell’s terse uttering

Team Atwell at yesterday’s forum (from left) Seon Bristol, Peter Abdool, Ronald Burch-Smith, Clive Atwell and Lennox Daniels.

shortly before the culmination of the forum may speak to the contrary, “My career is at a brief standstill and I am presently engaged in some house cleaning,” he declared.
Atwell was speaking to the media at the Millennium Manor Hotel, Hadfield Street, Georgetown, where he had called a press conference to deal with matters arising out of his recent World Boxing Council featherweight title bout against defending champion, Mexican, Johnny Gonzalez.
Also present at the forum was Atwell’s manger, Ronald Burch-Smith, President of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control, Peter Abdool, President of Briso’s Promotions, Seon Bristol and Atwell’s coach, Lennox Daniels.
Mr Burch-Smith said that he always felt that Atwell is of world class quality and his bout with Gonzalez only served to endorse this view. He said that the fight was a major learning experience for his team and he will be engaging in some introspection in a further evaluation process. Quizzed on the merits of the purse negotiated on Atwell’s behalf, Burch-Smith said that his team chose the best option out of a possible three others that offered shots at the Commonwealth and Silver belt titles. “Maybe with the benefit of hindsight we could have done better but no one could make that prediction,” declared Burch-Smith. He also debunked speculations of a rift among the principals of team Atwell.
Meanwhile, Abdool was especially harsh on the media and accused operatives of presenting a lopsided perspective garnered from the Mexican press. He lauded Atwell’s efforts and said that his performance was of a high quality.
“Atwell proved that Guyanese fighters belonged to the world class level,” Abdool proclaimed. He also labelled the decision as unjust since to his mind the stoppage came just when Atwell was beginning to take control of the bout. “That fight should not have been stopped; to my mind Clive started to be aggressive a bit late but I don’t believe that injury merited a stoppage,” said Abdool. He said that he wanted to protest the verdict but was precluded from doing so because it was halted on medical grounds. Nevertheless, Abdool said that he has lodged complaints with officials of the WBC.
Mr Bristol called for continued support for Atwell saying that on his cards he was the champion. “I am somewhat disappointed by the stoppage; Clive did not win the belt but in my heart he should have. There will be more opportunities,” declared Bristol.
Daniels was the man behind Atwell’s preparations but he said that the input of others made his work more manageable. He mentioned former junior/welterweight world rated boxer, Lennox Blackmore, former Olympian, Dillon Carew and Leon ‘Hurry up’ Moore, who had been a part of the training team in the USA. “Clive lost the fight but he would have gained valuable experience while training at Gleason’s Gym,” informed Daniels. The veteran coach said that though the odds were highly stacked against him, Atwell applied himself and was just stepping up the pace when the bout was halted.
Meanwhile, the Agricola Central Management Committee has acknowledged Atwell’s efforts and has planned a motorcade around the village Tuesday afternoon next to laud his efforts.

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