De Clou shuts up McRae with unanimous points victory
LINDEN’S Edmond De Clou backed his words to shut up Trinidad and Tobago-based Joel McRae on Friday night, making his opponent a human punching bag in the process, during the 16th edition of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) and Guyana Amateur Boxing Association’s organised ProAm Friday Night Fights at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. Following the pre-fight talk between the pugilists, it was a matter of put up or shut up with the GBBC’s Intermediate middleweight title at stake and certainly, De Clou who recorded a unanimous points victory over the same opponent last December, displayed enough to earn the judges’ nod, with the score reading 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92.
The contest which was the feature one in the night’s activity and broadcast live on NCN Channel 11, saw De Clou walk away the favourite, earning himself a match with national super middleweight champion Lennox ‘Too Sharp’ Allen sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Berbice’s Orland ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers won 40-36 on all the three judges’ card against Selwyn Lett of Barbados to snap his eight-fight losing strea.
A well-chiselled Kwesi Jones overpowered a jello-like Anthony Augustine in their catchweight contest while a game Miguel ‘Hands of Stone’ Antoine extended his unbeaten streak in Guyana with a clinical win over Cassius Matthews.
Having said in an interview prior to the fight, that he knows his opponent punches hard and intends to stay away from same, a game De Clou changed his game plan and stood toe to toe with McRae for the first round, unleashing several combinations to the body along with upper cuts to the chin.
There was no doubt in the minds of the few spectators who gathered at the venue, that De Clou was ready not only in body but in mind, to take on McRae, as he signalled such at the start of the second round, where boxing fans witnessed his vicious attack to the Rastafarian’s body, forcing him to seek cover but none could be found.
The 24-year-old De Clou’s attack on McRae continued for the remainder of the bout and even though his opponent managed to land a few punches of his own, De Clou withstood them as if tjey were nothing, on his way to his second resounding victory over his opponent.
A busy-looking Rogers, who is known as the local punching bag in the business locally, defeated Lett in a four-round catchweight contest, even tiring his man while hitting him at will, attacking the upper body with consistency on his way to the victory.
In the Antoine/Matthews welterweight encounter, the Barbados-based Antoine dominated his opponent who seemed to be in the mix for a payday. Instead of making a fight out of it, Matthews looked lethargic in his attack and out of sorts in his defence.
By far, Antoine was the better of the two and certainly the judges agreed when they handed him the contest with a 42-36, 42-36, 39-37 points decision.
Originally, Augustine was set to face Barbados’ Julian Tannis, who unavoidably could not honour his ring date, and was subsequently replaced by Jones the reigning light heavyweight champion who proved to be too good for Augustine as he walked away with a comfortable victory. (Calvin Roberts)