GM Ross – After venturing south of the border for an unsuccessful eight round rendezvous with Craig McEwan in Vegas last month, Kris Andrews returns to Canada May 7 to defend his CBF light middleweight title against Anthony Lessard at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. Andrews is best known for his brutalization of Codey Hanna back in 2007 for the interim CBF light middleweight title. Hanna hit the canvas three times in the second round before Andrews introduced him to the sandman later in the stanza, claiming the interim title.
Andrews lost his CBF laurels in a showdown with Gareth Sutherland later in 2007, only to regain his crown by thoroughly outpointing Anthony Lessard in 2009.. In this earlier meeting Andrews outpointed Lessard 97-89, 97-88 and 97-89 on the judges scorecards. But don’t count Lessard out just yet. He has displayed an uncanny ability to learn from his mistakes. After losing via unanimous decision to Massab Kabalan for the Alberta welterweight title in 2005, Lessard defeated Kabalan later that year via sixth round TKO. In 2004 he fought to a four round draw with Corey Houston and stopped Houston in the first round of the rematch. Most recently, Lessard avenged his early career loss to Darren Kenny, scoring a unanimous decision over the Manitoban in November of last year.
On the undercard, Dominga Oliva of Brooklyn, New York, is scheduled for an eight round rematch with Edmonton’s Jelena Mrdjenovich. The last time these two clashed was for Mrdjenovich’s WBC super featherweight title and resulted in a draw. Oliva is coming off a six round unanimous decision over Mrdjenovich’s countrywoman Nathalie Forget last month in Montreal, while Mrdjenovich is on the comeback trail after losing back to back title fights against Olivia Gerula and Ann Saccurato. In other action Kyle Matuk takes on Robertino Kukic, Jorge Ravanal Jr. meets Mukai Muromo, Jarid Bussemakers and Aaron Zimmerman meet in their debuts, and the very talented Amy Johnson fights newcomer Brandy Badry. All of the undercard performers are Albertans except Oliva.
Ulysse and Mike Doiron of Victory Promotions have informed Eastsideboxing.com that the Shediac, New Brunswick, fight card scheduled for May 29 will go ahead as scheduled. Victory Promotions have announced four bouts for their Shediac fight night so far. The main event will feature former IBO Inter-Continental light middleweight champion Ian MacKillop of Fredericton via Montreal, against Patrick Tessier of Longueuil, Quebec. Chris Aucoin, fresh off his recent victory over Jeremy Abbot, will return to action against Aaron Edgett of Moncton, New Brunswick. Edgett – a five time New Brunswick golden gloves champion – has campaigned in America for the entirety of his professional career. Les Haley, a four time golden gloves champion from Moncton, meets T.J Coletti of Montreal, while five time golden gloves champion Jonah Arbuckle of Moncton takes on Curtis Biggs of Sarnia. Further details will be provided as information becomes available.
Last, but certainly not least, professional boxing will make its long overdue return to Winnipeg, Manitoba, on July 8, when King John Promotions presents WBC super featherweight champion Olivia Gerula versus Brooke Dierdorf of Illinois. The former will be putting her title on the line in front of her hometown fans for the first time. Also scheduled to appear are CBF light heavyweight champion Junior Moar, former CBF middleweight champion Larry Sharpe and undefeated heavyweight Nick Penner. The opponents for these fighters are TBA.
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