By GM Ross – It was a tough evening for promoter and fighter Sheldon Hinton at the Palace Banquet Centre in Edmonton, Alberta last night. What could have been an excellent evening of boxing was left in shambles, when four of the bouts had to be scrapped, including Hinton’s own fight against Zack Page for the promoter-boxer’s Canadian-American-Mexican (CAM) heavyweight title. According to Murray Greig of the Edmonton Sun, preliminary bouts featuring Omar Valdez and Arash Usmanee were called off 72 hours before the show, followed shortly thereafter by the cancellation of the Taylor Bull-Ray Konvinic bout.. Needless to say, the card had lost much of its intrigue, and was only further deflated when Sheldon Hinton’s bout with Zack Page has to be cancelled on fight night because the latter’s medical was late arriving. The Hinton-Page contest has been rescheduled for May 29, when Hinton will defend both his CAM and World Boxing Board heavyweight titles.
Luckily, Lee Mein of Lethbridge, Alberta, was able to go on with Taylor Bull in a heavyweight contest, allowing Bull to make his much anticipated debut and salvaging the hours of training the newcomer no doubt endured in preparation for his scheduled bout with Konvinic. Bad luck struck again, however, abbreviating Bull’s already chaotic debut. After only 56 seconds of action the bout had to be halted when Mein suffered a torn bicep. Hopefully Bull will get another chance to display his wares in the not too distant future.
In welterweight action Frank Abbiw of London, Ontario, lost a split decision to Kenneth Giroux of Edmonton, Alberta. Judges Usman Ali and Chris Loblick scored the four round contest 39-37 for Giroux, while Dave Bilocerkowec had it 39-37 for Abbiw. The two other fights held in Edmonton Saturday evening both ended via TKO, with Jorge Ravanal Jr. of St. Albert, Alberta, stopping Peter Neufeld of Edmonton in the second round of their four round super middleweight affair and Rory Coveney of Edmonton ending the night of Saint-Jerome, Quebec’s, Pascal Leonard in the third round of their scheduled four round welterweight contest.
At the Universite de Moncton, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Guy Desforges of Eel Crossing, New Brunswick, was crowned Maritime Cruiserweight Champion after defeating Dale Simmonds of Moncton, New Brunswick. Desforges won the bout via TKO in the fourth of a scheduled five rounds. In the final of the “Next Great Heavyweight” tournament, staged by New Generation Productions, Wayne Porter of Doaktown, New Brunswick, emerged victorious, scoring a second round knockout over Julien Collette of Bouctouche, New Brunswick. In the night’s other heavyweight contest, Jon Normand of Curryville, New Brunswick, needed less than a round to knockout Jeff Lundberg of Saint John, New Brunswick. Eric Roy of Sainte-Anne-de-Madawask, New Brunswick, and Norman Peters of Moncton, made their debuts in the lone light heavyweight contest of the evening, with Roy winning by TKO in the second round.
The Moncton card also featured two contests in New Generation Productions’ “Next Great Cruiserweight” tournament. The contests were scheduled for five, two minute rounds. Jesse Francis of Eel Ground, New Brunswick, advanced by earning a unanimous decision over Travis Conners of Doaktown, as did Chris Norrad of Bloomfield Ridge, New Brunswick, via a split decision victory over Denis Martin of Edmunston, New Brunswick. According to thenextgreatheavyweight.com, Norrad and Francis will now be matched to decide who will be declared “The Next Great Cruiserweight.”