By Pepe Rodriguez

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.