by GM Ross – Last night, May 1, in Brantford, Ontario, Kara McLeod of the Six Nations Reserve put on a boxing clinic in her four round featherweight contest with Bernadette Hume of Toronto. With unflinching composure McLeod tactically dismantled Hume amidst the constant adoration of her fans. Hume’s best work occurred early on in round one, when she and McLeod set a furious pace. As the two exchanged, however, it became increasingly apparent that McLeod’s shots were taking a toll on Hume, while the latter’s failed to slow the more polished McLeod. After this initial exchange McLeod took control, repeatedly landing crisp, tight punches. As the bell rang to end round one McLeod looked calm and controlled, while Hume was noticeably shaken. The remainder of the fight was much of the same, with McLeod landing big shots on her exhausted opponent. The crowd roared with delight when McLeod connected and cries of “finish her” echoed throughout the arena. Round three was very nearly a 10-8 round in my estimation, with McLeod utterly dominating her opponent. From ringside it looked as though McLeod had easily won every round. Two of the judges felt the same, giving McLeod a 40-36 victory, while the other somehow found a round to give to Hume..
Unfortunately, questionable judging continued as the evening wore on. In the second fight of the night, Issac Maich of Brantford seemed to thoroughly out box Erik “El Toro” Johnson for almost the entirety of their four round, welterweight contest. For the first three rounds Maich did excellent work on the inside and outslugged Johnson in several hard-hitting exchanges. Johnson, however, quickened his pace in the fourth round, while Maich slowed considerably. “El Toro” took advantage of his now heavy-breathing opponent, landing his best shots of the night. In my eyes, however, it was too little, too late. I felt Johnson needed something drastic – be it a knockdown or a knockout – to win the fight and gave Maich a 39-37 edge on my final scorecard. Unfortunately, when you leave a fight to the judges, anything can happen. Only one official’s scorecard matched my assessment of the fight. Another had the complete opposite, giving the fight to Johnson by a score of 39-37. The crowd became noticeably agitated as they awaited the final scorecard and booed mightily when a 38-38 draw was proclaimed. Thus, the fight ended as a rare split-draw, robbing Maich of what appeared to be a clear cut victory.
The third fight featured light welterweights Dave Aucoin of Brantford against Gregorio Jiminez of Toronto in another four round contest. This bout was likely the toughest to score, with the majority of the action occurring in close. Jiminez was able to push Aucoin to the ropes on several occasions, but the latter managed to land the cleaner punches nonetheless. In this fashion, Aucoin mounted what appeared to be a clear, three round lead. In the fourth, Jiminez – no doubt sensing the decision slipping away – came out strong and set an impressive pace. He stayed to the outside and landed his best punches of the fight, preventing Aucoin from banging inside. When the dust settled I had the contest 39-37 for Aucoin. Two judges concurred with my assessment, while the other had the contest a 38-38 draw, giving Aucoin a majority decision victory.
In the main event of the evening, Brantford’s Chris Aucoin completely outclassed newcomer Jeremy Abbot. Aucoin continually landed the harder, more effective punches in rounds one and two. In round three Aucoin had Abbot in some serious trouble, backing him into the ropes and landing at will. Abbot twice escaped imminent knockdowns by slipping through the ropes, forcing the referee to reset the fighters. Aucoin was relentless and dictated much of the fight with his superior ring generalship. That being said, on the few occasions when Abbot was able to create space and fight from the outside he was quite effective. These instances, however, were few and far between and Aucoin was awarded a controversial split decision victory.
South of the border, Mikael Zewski of Trois Rivieres, Quebec, was also in action last night at TKO Boxing Promotions’ “May Mayhem” card in Iowa City, Iowa. His opponent was Alex De Leon (2-1-1) of Saint Joseph, Missouri. As le Journal de Quebec has noted, “Pour la première fois de sa jeune carrière, Zewski (3-0-0, 2 K-O) n’a pas passé le K-O à son rival” [For the first time in his young career, Zewski (3-0-0, 2 KO) was unable to knockout his opponent]. Instead, this highly touted twenty-one year old had to settle for a four round, unanimous decision victory.
The previous night, April 30, in Edmonton, Alberta, James Cermak got a much deserved shot at a regional title against Frank White of Sarnia, Ontario. Up for grabs was the vacant WBC Continental Americas cruiserweight title and fifteenth position in the WBC rankings. All twelve scheduled rounds were needed, as Cermak and White battled to a majority draw. Two judges had the fight 114-114. The other gave Frank White a 115-114 edge. Hopefully, these two will be rematched in the near future.
In other action in Edmonton, CBF middleweight champion Adam Trupish won his six round contest with Jose Humberto Corral, by impressive scores of 60-54, 60-53 and 60-53. Super middleweight prospect Jason DeLaronde kept his perfect record intact by knocking out Jose Luis Alvarez in the second round of their scheduled six round affair. Vanessa Bradford got her second win in as many fights, defeating Wendy Roy via a six round unanimous decision and Dana Laframboise moved to 2-1-0, earning a unanimous decision over Edgar Hernandez in their four round, super middleweight contest. Finally, Brad Marks of Edmonton defeated Walter Linthorne of Nova Scotia by unanimous decision in a lightweight four rounder, the judges scoring the contest 39-37, 38-37 and 38-37. With the victory Marks moves to 4-1-0.
Send information regarding your Canadian amateurs and/or professionals to GM.Ross.Eastsideboxing@gmail.com.