TWO national champions, middleweight Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ De Clou and featherweight Clive ‘Wonder Kid’ Atwell, kayoed their opponents when the Hurry Up Promotions/Guyana Boxing Board of Control card, dubbed ‘Invasion of the Park’, punched off at the Banks DIH, Thirst Park ground last Saturday night.

On the same card, reigning World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation (WBC/CABOFE) welterweight champion Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy recorded an unimpressive victory over a seasoned Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman in the main supporting bout.
Leading up to the action in the main bout, the 24-year-old Hardy, whose record has improved to 10-0 (7 KOs) with the win, had promised to unleash a boxing lesson on the 42-year-old Eastman, himself a former national, European and Commonwealth middleweight champion with a record that reads 46-11, with 36 KOs.
With such words and even Eastman promising to teach his opponent a lesson, boxing buffs who turned up at the venue to witness the main bout, did so expecting a scorcher to culminate the night’s proceedings and a scorcher it was.
Hardy took the first three rounds, landing crisp jabs as a lead out for his famous ‘Chin Checker’ punch, followed by his powerful right to the head and body of Eastman, who is known as a slow starter. But he weathered the storm to rebound with several combinations to the body of his much younger opponent.
When Eastman was sent to the canvas in the early stages of the fourth round, courtesy of a Hardy right to the head, many felt that it was over for the ‘Battersea Bomber’.
The knockdown sprang the crowd to life but in typical warlike fashion, Eastman rose from the dust to unleash several combinations to the body of his younger opponent, even though he was warned by referee Franklyn Brisport for hitting behind the head on several occasions.
The ‘dirty tactic’ employed by the ‘Battersea Bomber’ clearly incensed Hardy, who responded with several combinations, but Eastman was equal to the task as he unleashed some telling body blows to the WBC/CABOFE champion who had suffered a cut over his left eyelid.
Thereafter, Eastman looked like the Commonwealth champion of old, as he continuously attacked Hardy’s upper body, while shrugging off what his opponent had to offer, with a crunching right hand jab forcing Hardy to seek respite on the ropes in the penultimate round seven, as the veteran of 56 fights proved that his career may be far from over.
Before the start of the final round, Eastman raised his hands in triumph walking around in his corner of the ring, as Hardy sat on his stool trying to regain his composure, as several spectators chanted his name.
At the commencement of the last round, Hardy came out looking to connect with the ‘Chin Checker’, but his efforts were thwarted by a seasoned Eastman, who continued to land crucial body blows, while avoiding the trademark knockout punch of his younger opponent.
A sparse, but vocal crowd, left the Thirst Park ground in the wee hours on Sunday with a bitter taste in their mouth, after ring announcer Ian McPherson declared that the judges scored the contest 78-75, 75-75, 79-71, all in favour of Hardy.
In the main supporting bout, De Clou continued his climb in the middleweight division with a clinical TKO over an out-of-sorts Jermin King.
The reigning national and WBC/CABOFE middleweight champion forced King to ‘throw in the towel’ before the start of the sixth and final round, as he completely annihilated his opponent, who was throwing wild punches at will.
There is no doubt that De Clou would be brimming with confidence with the win, especially after he threw a challenge to Hardy, when the boxers converged on the office of the GBBC to sign their contracts for their respective bouts and more so after witnessing Hardy’s unimpressive performance against Eastman, a man he defeated to take the national middleweight title at the same venue last year.
Like Hardy, Atwell promised to dispose of Rogers, a local journeyman in the sport, leading up to the fight, but where Hardy failed to deliver, Atwell did not. Atwell sent his opponent to the canvas five times during their six-round contest, with the final drop taking place 48 seconds inside the fifth round.
On the undercard, Charlton Skeete gained an unlikely victory as Richard Williamson was disqualified one minute, 45 seconds in the opening round for hitting Skeete while he was on his knees on two separate occasions and Mitchell Rogers gained a unanimous decision win over Anthony Augustine.