There was hardly a dull moment for the appreciative crowd at the fight card as Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil, Mitchell Rogers and Iwan Azore punched their way to unanimous decision victories over Sharon ‘The Spoiler’ Ward, Anthony Augustin and Laurex Benn respectively.
Then Clive Atwell, in his professional debut, scored a second round TKO over Charlton Skeete.
In the first round of the main event in a catch-weight encounter, O’Neil, Guyana’s first female world champion, and Ward engaged in the initial feeling out process with O’Neil showing more experience by employing the use of the jab to keep Ward at bay.
This tactic ensured Ward’s retreat to the ropes and also set up the combination for O’Neil in the corner where she was more effective.
After the first round, it was evident that O’Neil’s technique was superior but for some brief moments Ward, whose sanctuary was the centre of the ring, landed some telling blows to restore some balance to the fight.
However, the momentum shifted right back to O’Neil who favoured close combat stitching in sharp body digs and head snapping uppercuts along with crisp and short right hand punches to the temple.
In the fourth round, sweat spilled when O’Neil landed a two-punch combination to Ward’s head and then an unrelenting barrage of punches to her framework, many of which were not clean, to bring the entire arena to its feet as they anticipated a knock down.
However, all they got was an adrenaline-pumped Ward who punched her way out of the corner until the bell sounded to send the boxers back to their corners and the fans back to their seats.
In the penultimate round, O’Neil jabbed and moved and avoided much contact and though Ward advanced she rarely found a clean opening for an attack of her own.
In the final round O’Neil inflicted one last beating on Ward who this time looked spent and beaten before the bell sounded to end the scrap.
Judges Bernard Dos Santos, Andrew Thorne and Trevor Arno all scored the bout 59-55 in favour of the ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil.
Meanwhile, if the main event was the main course, the main supporting bout between heavyweights Rogers and Augustin was the mouth watering appetizer. Rogers, Guyana’s heavyweight champion, started aggressively with punches that were clean as they were effective but none was more telling than the one that connected to the temple of Augustin and stunned him momentarily in the middle of the round.
Shouts emanated from the crowd for Rogers to “finish him” but Augustin survived the brutal onslaught of the ring rusty Rogers.
Rogers, who has been out of the ring for close to two years, recognized in the second round that his jabs were lacking sting on the noticeably stronger, but pudgier Augustin.
Augustin used his weight to further tire an already inactive boxer and launched a barrage of punches of his own; much to the satisfaction of the crowd that had thought the fight would not have gone the distance.
Augustin continued with his rough house tactics in the third, landing a few hard shots but it was Rogers who landed more consistently with power punches and jabs. Then in the third round, following advice from coach Seibert Blake in his corner, Rogers worked the pudgy midsection and then went to the head of Augustin and was immediately more effective.
This form of attack continued in the fourth until Rogers set up a two-punch `combo’ to the middle and followed up with a right hook to the head which brought Augustin to a brief stop at ‘Port Canvas.’
Referee Eion Jardine gave him the customary eight-count before Rogers continued the demolition of the ‘big man’.
Rogers’ ploy was taking the wind out of Augustin’s system to make his legs wobbly.
Rogers then connected another right hook later in the fourth round to send Augustin’s mouth guard flying out of the ring. By this time, Rogers’ jabs that had seemed like paper earlier in the fight, were more effective, snapping back the head of Augustin, who was now sporting a swollen right eye.
In the sixth and final round Augustin worked on the body of Rogers but when the announcement was made judges Dos Santos and Carlton Hopkinson had scored the match-up 59-54 while Orin Hart had it 59-55, all in favour of Rogers.
In the only four-rounder on the card Atwell, after a good run in the amateur ranks, quickly and systematically disposed of Skeete in the 35th second of the second round of his first professional fight.
From the first bell featherweight Atwell exhibited his superior speed, power and counter punching which resulted in Skeete tasting the canvas twice in the first round (10-8).
In the second round the incessant punishment continued which resulted in referee Franklin Brisport calling a halt to the bout. Subsequently, Skeete said that he only started training two days prior to the card since he was down with a bout of malaria.
The junior middleweight Azore-Benn clash was an exhibition of boxing at its best with the elusive Azore employing every technique against Benn who hardly had any answers. Azore landed the cleaner and more effective punches and counter punched better than Benn.
In round three Azore stepped up his production rate and this continued to the end of the fight. Judges Hopkinson and Aiesha Romain scored the bout 58-56 and Rawle Aaron saw the bout 59-55 for Azore.
