By Emmerson Campbell
Simeon ‘Candy Man’ Hardy’s reputation of a knockout specialist was once again dented on Saturday night at the Thirst Park Ground by Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman who stunned his opponent with his staying power and turned on the heat in the latter stages of their eight-round contest.
Despite winning a majority decision over Eastman, the 24-year-old Hardy, is fast losing his reputation as the `Chin Checker’ he once proclaimed himself to be.
Hardy, who defeated the ‘Battersea Bomber’ in what he called the toughest fight of his then nine-fight career in June of this year, had bragged about knocking out the former European champion this time around. However Saturday night’s performance was anything but spectacular as some patrons felt that Eastman was robbed and loudly booed the 78-75,75-75,79-71 verdict when it was announced.
Hardy’s fountain of youth was certainly not flowing in the headline bout of the card dubbed ‘Invasion in the Park’ which was promoted by Hurry Up Promotions as the 42-year-old Eastman absorbed each of the ‘Candy Man’s’ power punches and just kept going forward landing the occasional jab and combinations to the head and body of the welterweight CABOFE title holder.
The ‘Battersea Bomber’ is renowned for his slow start, skill and defence and on Saturday last Eastman showed why he was a former world rater.
The first three rounds were clearly won by Hardy as he landed crisp right hands and the occasional jab to the head and body of Eastman. In the fourth frame however, Eastman came out with a sense of urgency stalking his shorter opponent landing hard right hands and further opening a cut over Hardy’s left eye that he sustained in the second round.
The fifth round was also Eastman’s as it mirrored round four. The sixth round was some what even as neither Hardy nor Eastman seemed to get the better of their opponent. In the penultimate round, Eastman cornered the ‘Candy Man’ and landed perhaps the punch of the fight, a right hand to the chin of’ Mr. Chin Checker’ that rocked him and sent him on the retreat.
With the crowd chanting his name and with blood oozing from the cut, the Berbice native stalked Hardy trying to land the home run punch but Hardy survived the round and made it to his corner looking hurt and exhausted.
At the start of the final round Hardy’s tape on his gloves became unglued and that perhaps saved him from suffering his first defeat as his corner provided him with some insurance by taking more than a minute to cut and replace the old tape.
Round eight saw both fighters digging deep and trying to land the home run punch but neither succeeded and the fight went to the score cards where Hardy was declared the winner.
Eastman’s record drops 46 wins and 11 losses to while Hardy improves to 10 wins.
On the under card, reigning local and CABOFE middleweight champion, Edmond ‘Wonder Boy’ DeClou, put on a show of skill, power punching and speed and gained a TKO victory over Jermaine King after King threw in the towel at the end of round four.
Relentless pressure mixed with accurate counterpunches by DeClou were the ingredients that caused King’s cookie to crumble. A hard right hand by the ‘Wonder Boy’ to the mid section of King’s body sent King to the canvas just before the end of the fourth round. King held on for dear life and was saved by the bell.
That punch which took the wind out of King’s sails and put paid to his night as he refused to leave his corner at the start of the fifth frame.
Richard Williamson suffered his first blemish of his young career as he was disqualified in his featherweight bout with Charlton Skeete. Williamson decked Skeete on two occasions but punched Skeete on both occasions while he was on the canvas and the referee disqualified the southpaw Berbician for the infringement of the rules.
In the battle of the heavyweights, Mitchell Rogers won his third fight against Anthony Augustin, as the Banks DIH employee and former national heavyweight champion defended his turf and improved his record to eight wins and four losses after a 60-54, 60-54, 59-55 unanimous verdict.
Anthony’s record drops to two wins, seven losses and a draw.
National featherweight champion Clive’ Wonder Kid’ Atwell overwhelmed journeyman Orlon ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers and earned a TKO victory after referee Franklin Brisport deemed Rogers unfit to continue after he was floored for the fifth time in the bout. The end came at 48 seconds of the fifth round.
The 39-year old Rogers’ abysmal record drops to five wins and 14 losses while Atwell’s improves to seven wins and a draw.
The card was sponsored by Liat, Delta Airlines, Banks DIH Limited and others. The next boxing card is scheduled for October 27 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall which will be headlined by former WBC World cruiserweight champion Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite.
