GUYANA’S featherweight, lightweight and World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation’s super lightweight champion Clive ‘The Punisher’ Atwell last Saturday night called on all his reserves to come away with a unanimous decision win over Venezuela’s Raphael Hernandez to take the WBC/CABOFE featherweight title.

Touted as Guyana’s next world champion, Atwell, delivered on a promise to “tear up” his rival Raphael “El Potro” Hernandez, leaving the bloodied 30-year-old Venezuelan with two cuts above the right eye, which later required 14 stitches, in the feature bout of the Guyana Boxing Board of Control five fight card dubbed Firestorm and held at the Princess Hotel.
In the process, the 24-year-old Atwell earned himself a direct entry into the lucrative WBC Cup of Champions, slated to start in June this year.
However, Atwell’s compatriot, Howard “Battersea Bomber” Eastman, was not that successful, losing to Jamaica’s Sakima Mullings, who is now the new WBC/CABOFE Welterweight champion, after USA based Guyanese Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy was stripped of the accolades.
Earlier in the evening, Elton “The Bully” Dharry gained a third round TKO win over Orlon “Pocket Rocket” Rogers to lift the national bantamweight title, followed by Mark Austin’s unanimous decision over Gladwin Dorway for the national junior middleweight title, while  Mahmoud “The Extractor” Loul and Derek Richmond fought to a draw in their four-round super middleweight clash.
Two amateur fights also formed part of the card, with Guyana Defence Force’s pugilists Quincy Boyce and Candacy Benjamin prevailing over the Rose Hall Jammers pair of Keron Griffith and Akesia Arokium respectively.
In the night’s feature attraction, Atwell saw the judges, namely McKenzie Granger of Trinidad and Tobago and Eion Jardine of Guyana scoring the fight 118-112 and 119-110 in his favour, with Venezuela’s Nicolas Hidalgo having a 116-113 record in favour of Hernandez.
Atwell, who later dubbed Hernandez “the toughest guy I’ve ever fought”, improved his record to 10 wins from 11 fights with one draw, while his Spanish-speaking rival slipped to four losses, 15 wins and two draws.
Atwell’s speed, accuracy and ability to take a punch worked to his advantage, as he was consistently forced to withstand Hernandez’s left jabs, which were a constant feature throughout the 12-round contest.
While Atwell was able to counterattack everything Hernandez threw at him, he landed a decisive blow in round six that arguably changed the complexion of the fight.
An overhand left descended on the temple, shifting Hernandez, who immediately started to loose blood from a wound just above the right eye.
Though he recovered to continue the round, Atwell did not allow the Venezuelan to regroup as he unleashed a barrage of punches in the latter half of the round, much to the delight of the bias home crowd.
When Hernandez stood to his feet at the start of round seven, a small band of supporters started whistling and cheering him on, but they were living in more hope than anything else as Atwell proceeded to dominate the remainder of the fight.
Although Hernandez did manage to land a few blows in the dying stages, they proved inconsequential, as Atwell made it a habit of “jab and move”, dictating the pace of the fight after that power punch in round six.
In the main supporting bout, youth prevailed over experience as the 30-year-old Mullings proved too hot to handle for the 42-year-old Eastman.
From the opening round, Mullings’ combinations were more effective and impactful, forcing Eastman to resort to a defensive approach from the onset.
Eastman, who is usually a late starter, never really got going, and was always playing catch-up on the judges’ card. At the end of the fourth round, all three judges had it 39-38 in favour of Mullings, while at the end of round eight, Mullings was still ahead on all three cards: 78-74, 78-74, 77-75.
After the contest ended 118-110, 117-111, 116-112, Mullings called out former world champion, Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis, adding that a victory against him would only serve to enhance his profile as a budding international boxer, as he took his record to 12-0-1 (7kos), with the win over Eastman.
Quizzed on his performance, Eastman said “my timing was really off tonight”, adding that it’s now time “to go back to the drawing board.” The defeat was Eastman’s 12th of his illustrious 58-fight career.
In the other two title fights, Dharry pounded Rogers in a shortened contest, while Austin earned a hard-fought split decision over Dorway.
The 27-year-old Dharry, who dominated proceedings, had hardly broken a sweat when the 38-year-old Rogers pulled up with a hamstring injury in round three and had to be lifted out of ringside area.
While Dharry improved to 13-5-1, the diminutive Rogers’ uninspiring record now stands at five wins and 16 defeats.
The loss was Dorway’s first of his career after he had chalked up an impressive four straight knockouts, while Austin’s win was the ninth of his 15-fight career.
The card, which has been deemed a major success by the GBBC, was witnessed by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, Commissioner of Police (ag) Leroy Brummel and other dignitaries, members of civil society and ardent boxing fans.