A systematic attack to the body and head snapping uppercuts by the new light heavyweight champion Kwesi ‘Lightning Struck Assassin’ Jones resulted in a fifth round TKO over Leon ‘The Lion’ Gilkes on Friday Night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
On the occasion of the 13th Pro-Am card Jones made light work of the underprepared Gilkes, who replaced Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman earlier on Friday after he failed to make the required weight of over 168 pounds. Eastman, who normally fights as a middleweight (160) or super middleweight (168), weighed in at 158 pounds on the morning of the fight.
Gilkes on the other hand, after receiving a pounding in the fifth round, refused to come out at the sound of the bell for the sixth frame.
He was behind on all three of the judges’ scorecards.
When the main event started the chiseled Jones came out using his jab on the pudgy Gilkes, who retreated to the ropes. It was there that Jones unleashed his powerful right uppercuts that snapped the head of Gilkes back and bloodied his nose.
In addition, when Jones was not working upstairs, he was working on the kitchen, a strategy that took the wind out of Gilkes. The journeyman, whose record slipped to 15 losses, three draws and a mere six wins, resorted to slapping with the gloves and holding, a ploy that was counter-productive to his cause because this gave Jones the opportunity to land a few of his short body digs and the effective uppercut.
By the third frame, Gilkes’ punches were telegraphed and lacked the sting to cause any damage while Jones countered with more power shots of his own until the fight ended.
Preceding the first professional fight between Edmond De Clou and Eversley Brown, the boxing fraternity observed the death of former boxer Andrea ‘The Rock’ Duncan, who died of cervical cancer and was buried on Thursday, with the traditional 10 tolls of the bell. Duncan fought two professional fights in 2008, winning both against Pauline London, in her debut, and Shelly Gibson.
When the fight got underway De Clou controlled the pace before gaining a unanimous decision victory over Brown. De Clou landed at will to the body and head of the once dreadlocked Brown, who was content with throwing few punches.
De Clou landed several power shots in the second round and continued at the beginning of the third but was unable to floor the stunned Brown. De Clou was guilty of smothering his opponent and not giving himself enough room to land harder, more effective punches.
Both fighters appeared spent as they held and took resort on the ropes in the latter part of the third. Early in fourth De Clou connected a three-punch combination that hurt Brown again but the fighter failed to close out due to a barrage of wildly thrown and misdirected punches.
Cassius Matthews, who has not fought in seven years, used his more sound technique to highlight the technical flaws of the younger Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy. However, in the end the stronger Hardy, who scored a knockdown late in first round, forced Matthews to quit after the second round.
The ladies’ contest bet-ween Veronica Blackman and Sharon Ward panned out with a unanimous decision victory for the latter.
In the amateur segment World Youth Boxing Champ-ionship selectee Carolann Bess lost to Ansilla Norville but her counterpart for the same championships in Turkey, Theresa London was successful against Amanda Charles. Romano Clark won over Delroy Nero and Nandkumar Singh defeated Mark George.
