by GM Ross – Canadian Champions were on display in three weight divisions Saturday night, each winning their respective contests. At the Montreal Casino, Canadian Boxing Federation (CBF) super middleweight champion David Lemieux needed less than two rounds to finish Walid Smichet and retain his laurels. The only Canadian super middleweights that stand a chance with Lemieux seem to be his Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) stable mates Adonis Stevenson and Sebestien Demers. For the time being, however, Lemieux while campaign at middleweight. The Canadian super middleweight champion will vacate his title and fight for the WBC International middleweight championship in June, at Uniprix Stadium, against an opponent to be announced..
In other action in Montreal, CBF welterweight champion Victor Lupo easily defeated Antonio Soriano of California via eight round decision in the super welterweight division. Kevin Bizier, a contender for Lupo’s crown, remains undefeated after thoroughly outpointing Wilfredo Nigron of Puerto Rico 80-70 on all three judges’ score cards. Bizier won each of the scheduled eight rounds, gaining an extra two points on low-blows committed by Nigron. Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette suggests that the wins for Lupo and Bizier set up a “title showdown” for the CBF welterweight crown. Indeed, such a contest could be just around the corner. But what about globetrotter Phil Lo Greco of Montreal? Far more satisfying to this author would be for Bizier to tangle with this 19-0, CBF number one contender, before a title shot. It could be staged as a CBF title eliminator, adding some intrigue to a non-title matchup, while hyping the future CBF welterweight title bout in the process.
The undercard at the Montreal Casino contained two other bouts, in the light middleweight and super middleweight divisions. At super middleweight, Francis Lefreniere made his debut, fighting to a four round majority draw with Patrick Tessier. Judges Benoit Roussel and Jean Lapointe scored the bout 38-38, while Pasquale Procopio had the contest 38-37 in favour of Lefreniere. At light middleweight Samuel Vargas of Mississauga won a six round unanimous decision over Jose Leonardo Corona of Mexico City.
On the West Coast, CBF light heavyweight champion Junior Moar defeated Billy Bailey of California via an eight round unanimous decision at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, British Columbia. This was Moar’s sixth straight victory. In his rear-view mirror approaches the CBF’s number one contender Carl Handy, of Louisiana via Montreal, Quebec. With 33 fights, and only seven defeats, Handy is sure to give Moar a legitimate test for the CBF crown.
On the undercard, Dwayne Welsh, Victor Wang and Sarah Marshall all lost their debuts. Welsh lost to Dave Petryk via unanimous decision in a four round welterweight contest. Ty ‘Bam Bam’ McDougall of Kamloops spoiled Wang’s debut, defeating the Vancouver resident by referee stoppage. Wendy Roy of Vancouver got the first victory of her eight fight career by defeating Marshall of Kamloops. Conflicting information has caused some confusion regarding the outcome of the Jamie Walton-Sandy Pembroke contest. Although Pembroke is listed as the winner by Boxrec.com, the Canadian Boxing Federation (via Fightnews.ca) and Vancouver Sun report the bout as a draw. I’m quite confident – given the sources mentioned – that the fight was, indeed, a draw. Last, but not least, Steve Lowry of New Westminster, British Columbia, lost to Will Williams of Portland, Oregon, by way of first round TKO in their scheduled four round light welterweight contest.