Jhonny Gonzalez Beats Clive Atwell In Cut-Shortened Bout

Jhonny Gonzalez made the first successful defense of his second reign as featherweight tiltist with a 10-round technical decision win over previously unbeaten Clive Atwell.

The bout was forced to go to the scorecards with just three seconds remaining in round ten of their title fight Saturday evening in Acapulco, Mexico.

Atwell suffers his first loss, falling to 12-1-1 (7KO) in what was his first time fighting for a title and outside of his native Guyana.

Gonzalez (56-8, 47KO) was previously slated to face Abner Mares in a rematch to his shocking 1st round knockout win over the then-unbeaten three-division champ last August. The rescheduling and eventual cancellation of their planned sequel left Gonzalez out of the ring for nine months prior to Saturday's title fight.

His winning effort over Mares last year earned Gonzalez the distinction of becoming a three-time champ, including two separate reigns at featherweight. The 32-year old also previously served as a bantamweight titlist. 

With his first defense out of the way, Gonzalez and his team plan to proceed with negotiations for an all-Mexico Civil War with former four-division champ Jorge Arce later this year.