The championship bout ended with much controversy, with Lewis’ opponent Vincent ‘The Kid’ Howard labelling the result as “political”.
The third encounter between the two, in the Banks Malta Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) Boxing Day card, failed to live up to its pre-fight billing as both boxers were guilty of not landing enough effective punches in the 12-round affair.

Like his charge, trainer George ‘Canchie’ Oprecht was also disgruntled with the decision while several fans left the venue displeased, many feeling that Howard had done enough to emerge victorious on this occasion. The first fight ended in a controversial draw at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground while Howard was TKOed in the second last year Boxing Day when Lewis captured the national junior-lightweight title.

In the main supporting bout, Guyana’s Gwendolyn ‘The Stealth Bomber’ O’Neal was taught the art of boxing by American Veronica Simmons, who withstood her robust tactics to emerge victorious by a majority decision in their six-round light-heavyweight brawl.

Cassius Matthews registered a majority decision over Dennis Breedy in a lacklustre eight-round lightweight contest; Leon Moore scored a technical knockout over Errol Trotman in their featherweight scrap while Mark Dalton won by a similar margin over Linden Arthur in the opening bout of the night, a featherweight affair.

After the excitement generated by the Simmons/O’Neal duel, holiday fans were yearning for more in the main bout.

The USA-based Lewis looked the sharper of the two at the outset, getting the better of the exchanges in the opening round with more telling body shots.

Using the jabs to good effect with more body blows, Lewis again looked superior in the second round.

Both fighters upped the tempo in the third round, with Lewis catching Howard in a neutral corner and landing more blows to the mid-section. As the fighters moved back to the centre of the ring, Howard fought back well and as Lewis fell on the canvas, referee Eion Jardine ruled it a slip, to the disapproval of some fans. It seemed an even round.

Lewis again started as the aggressor in round four but Howard would have none of it, employing right and left jabs with regularity. The round ended with Howard getting the better of the exchanges to claim it.

Round five was another good one for Howard as the boxers suddenly began a clinching match, slowing down the action in the process. The determined Howard seemed willing to take the attack to Lewis.

SIMMONS connects with a stiff left to the jaw of O’Neal.
The clinching continued in round six with Lewis trying his best to keep Howard on the ropes and the latter evading several attempted ‘haymakers’ from a somewhat frustrated Lewis and sticking some good jabs of his own. Another even round.

Endeavouring to keep his opponent on the ropes once more, the tactics paid dividends for Lewis at the start of the seventh round but once off the ropes, the round took a different turn as Howard retaliated with some clean jabs. Another even round.

Lewis rushed at Howard at the start of round eight, seemingly aiming for a knockout but Howard was equal to the task, evading most of the punches thrown by Lewis. In a furious exchange, Lewis was warned for hitting low, losing a point in the process. It was one of Howard’s best rounds.

The fighters exchanged punches at long range at the start of round nine, a change from the clinching style they had adopted in previous rounds, but the combinations were timid as Chronicle Sport again saw the round even.

It was back to clinching again at the start of round 10, but they were quickly apart as the even round proved quite lacklustre.

The penultimate round was a good one for Howard, whose left-right combinations and effective jabbing had Lewis at bay.

Howard connected with a solid right to the body of Lewis early in the final round which saw some fine exchanges while Lewis attempted to “go for the kill” but missed his target frequently. The bout ended tamely with the champion and challenger exuding confidence before the result was announced.

In the end, judge Trevor Arno had the fight 118-113 in favour of Howard; judge Mohan Persaud 115-113 in favour of Lewis and judge Ian Alves 117-111 for Lewis.

The victory earned Lewis an automatic Top-20 ranking in the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the champion said, optimistically, he was looking forward to a world title crack.

Acknowledging that he did not expect such a tough fight from Howard, Lewis pointed that his opponent “cannot keep running all over the place and expect to win.”

Howard was however adamant that he had done enough to come out victorious, saying that he’s having second thoughts about fighting in Guyana. “A win the fight, Hugo can’t box,” he emphasised.

Oprecht declared that it was clear case of wanting to give Lewis a break, but said that Howard also deserves one. “This is a planned decision,” a dejected Oprecht said.

Unlike Howard, Oprecht said he wants a return bout between the two boxers.

In the main supporting bout, ‘The Stealth Bomber’ learnt that her robust/wrestling style was not going to prevail once she met a boxer who was prepared to stand up to her as the American Simmons did.

The world-rated O’Neal was warned on several occasions for pushing and holding while the crafty Simmons made her look out of sorts with a skilful display, jabbing and hitting with precision.

Judge A. Hernandez saw it 58-56 and Rawle Caesar 59-56 for Simmons, while Arno scored it even 57-57.

Simmons, whose trainer is former Guyana world-rated boxer, Lennox Blackmore, now has three victories from as many professional bouts. Simmons declared that she feels great beating the world number three, especially since she had not fought for more than a year as she was not getting fights.

Blackmore promised to take Simmons to the top, pointing out that this victory was only a stepping-stone.

Simmons said that at no time was she scared of O’Neal and her bullying tactics and felt she had hurt her in both the second and third rounds of the six-round contest.

Matthews and Breedy almost sent the near-capacity Sports Hall into a slumber in their eight-round bout, hardly throwing any punches in their ‘love affair’.

Mohan Persaud scored the fight 78-75 and Caesar 77-76 for Matthews while Alves had it 79-73 for Breedy.

Leon Moore was quite impressive in his victory over Errol Trotman, sending his opponent to the canvas in 1:17:0 of the first round. The blow caught Trotman in the left eye, necessitating the intervention of ring doctor, Dr Max Hanoman, who ruled that Trotman could not continue.

Moore was therefore awarded the fight by a technical knockout.

In the opening bout, Mark Dalton got the nod of Mohan Persaud (40-35) and Hernandez (40-36) while Caesar went for Linden Arthur (37-38) in their four-round slug-feast.

The other scheduled fight, featuring Guyanese Shondel Alfred and Canadian Lisa Browne, did not come off as Browne was reportedly suffering from a virus.