16/04/2019
Old boxing poster from April 1972, for the Welterweight Champion of The Bahamas between Elisha Obed and Sugar Cliff at the Nassau Stadium.
ELISHA OBED
"Obed entered the amateur ranks at age 12. Fighting almost weekly, he ran up an undefeated record of 46-0 (16 knockouts). At 14, he decided to turn professional.
For almost 6 years, he lingered on small promotions on the island of Nassau, in the Bahamas. He was billed as undefeated, but he had lost a fight by knockout to veteran Kid Carew.
Veteran trainer, manager, and promoter Moe Fleischer traveled to Nassau to "check-out" this upcoming prospect. Mike Dundee, nephew of Angelo Dundee came in as his manager.
Soon after Obed was fighting main events. He earned a top ten ranking by knocking out former title contender Bunny Grant. Obed made his U.S. debut in Florida. Knocked out every top middleweight boxer in Florida in the early 1970s, including state Champion Dennis Riggs and former champion Jimmy Williams.
In 1975 he captured the WBC Light Middleweight Title by defeating Miguel de Oliveira. He defended the title twice before losing the belt to Germany's Eckhard Dagge in 1976 when he quit, claiming he had blurred vision. Obed stated that he had been thumbed in the eye by Dagge. In actuality, he was later found to have a detached retina and is legally blind in that eye.
Obed decided to enter the middleweight ranks. By 27, he was back to where he started from, fighting on local fight cards in Nassau. He retired in 1988."
SUGAR CLIFF
"As it was, he campaigned as a Bahamian boxer from 1959. His first 18 fights included 16 victories and two draws. He lost for the first time when he traveled to Jamaica to fight the fellow up-and-coming Caribbean boxing stylist Bunny Grant. The story goes that it was one of the great sporting nights in the history of Jamaica, at Sabina Park in Kingston. For 10 rounds, the Jamaican and the Bahamian matched skills. There was Grant, crouching, unleashing swift punches with both hands and constantly aggressive.
“Sugar Cliff”, on the other hand, was true to his style. They nicknamed him “Sugar Cliff” because of the sweet movement that characterized his ring work. He slipped punches, and deftly countered Grant’s aggressiveness with movements to the right and left of the attacker. “Sugar Cliff” liked to speak about that match with Grant. At the end, there were cheers for both pugilists. Of course, being at home, Grant got the decision and “Sugar Cliff” never made the judging an issue.
Then came his encounter with Obed. “Sugar Cliff” was 37 at the time, in March of 1972. Elisha Obed was 20 and rising swiftly through world rankings, on the way to his world title fight in November,1975. The younger Bahamian was too much for the cagy Bahamian veteran on that night in 1972.
After six rounds, “Sugar Cliff” called it a night. He realized there was nothing he could do with a young Obed, other than to take serious punishment in the later rounds. Obed would go on as aforementioned to his world title triumph, becoming the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Junior Middleweight Champion. “Sugar Cliff” would move off into the sunset."
Photo source:- vintagebahamas.com
Obed source:- en.wikipedia.org
Cliff source:- thenassauguardian.com
