Considered as the best Canadian amateur boxer, Custio Clayton was promised a bright future when he was hired by Yvon Michel (GYM) in November 2014.
The Nova Scotia was compared to former unified lightweight champion Timothy Bradley and a world championship fight was even contemplated in just two years. But two and a half years after his visit to the professionals, Clayton counts only eleven fights on the counter and his name still does not appear in the different ranking of the four great world organizations.
“The goals were not met,” said Clayton’s manager Douggy Berneche to the media. “To claim that Custio is unhappy would be clearly exaggerated, but I can say that we are not satisfied at the moment.” Berneche added.
After playing his first four professional fight on schedule, Clayton then become the headliner of the new version of the gala series presented at the Casino de Montreal, where he quickly managed to demonstrate the full extent of his potential. Except that six months finally passed between his last fight against Ramses Agaton in October 2016 and the most recent against Alfredo Chavez in Cornwall, Ontario, a minor promoter.
Normally, Clayton would have had to fight on GYM cards on December 23 at the Casino du Lac Leamy and on February 24 at the Videotron Center, but both parties had been unable to come to an agreement. Originally, a suspension to his opponent Lanardo Tyner had been pretext to justify the absence of the father of four children of these two events.
“The negotiations were difficult. Yvon and I did not have the same value of what Custio was to get. Custio’s contract provided him with a minimum pay for each fight, but we thought he deserved more. It was not Yvon’s assessment.” Berneche added.
Custio Clayton is ready to move to the next level. (Source:www.thefightcity.com)
Asked by media, GYM owner Yvon Michel reacts to the complaints of Berneche. “It is certainly two fights they should have taken,” Michel said. “The most important thing for Custio at the moment is to succeed in increasing his reputation and being active as often as possible. Being inactive for six months is too much.” he added.
There are still two fights and six months to the contract at that binds Clayton to GYM and it will be renewed automatically if certain performance targets are met.