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By Hans Olson, ringside in Quebec City
“Now it’s vacation! It’s the Christmas holiday,” said a joyful Antonin Decarie to Boxing Insider just a few hours after his big win over Victor Lupo on Saturday night.
Pointing to his swollen right eye, Antonin smiled and said, “I’ll recover from that in no time, and I’ll be back.”
It was an eye that swelled up early in the fight, but it mattered little. Antonin Decarie gave Victor Lupo a boxing clinic.
“To be honest with you I thought it was a head-butt, it could’ve been a thumb—I have no idea. It happened in the beginning of the fight, maybe in the 4th or so. But thanks to Russ Anber by cut-man—he did an amazing job—it didn’t bother me at all the whole fight. But now, I mean, there’s no pictures but you can tell.”
The picture painted by Antonin Decarie inside the ring was that of domination. Opening the fight very patiently, Decarie found success with jabs, straight rights, and effective counter punching to Lupo’s applied pressure and roughhouse tactics. “I knew the kind of fighter he was. I was prepared for that. It’s just a matter of staying sharp mentally, staying focused, and not get overly frustrated. You know that he does it to play with your mind, so you just have to be smart.”
In the end Decarie (26-1) defeated Victor Lupo (19-2-2) with ringside scores reading 119-110, 118-110, and 117-112. Boxing Insider also had Decarie winning wide 118-110.
With the win, Decarie earned the WBC’s vacant International welterweight title.
“I’m very happy. This fight makes 2011 not too bad for me actually,” said Decarie. “I beat Shamone Alvarez in the beginning of the year, and I beat Victor Lupo for the WBC International title at the end. Two big wins against good opposition. I would’ve like to have been more active, but stuff happens. It’s okay, I stay motivated, and I’ll be back busy next year.”
In the evening other featured bout, Kevin Bizier earned his first title, the NABA’s vacant welterweight strap, with a dominant 12-round decision victory over the game veteran Lanardo Tyner. Using a ferocious body attack, Bizier never allowed Tyner to get into the fight. It was an impressive showing from Bizier, who seems to improve drastically each and every time he sets foot in the ring. In this instance, it was his ability to control a tough veteran over the bout’s 12-round distance. Before tonight, he had never been beyond the 8th.
The win sets up what should be a huge 2012 for the Saint-Emile prospect.
In earlier action…
Sylvera Louis handed Eric Martel Bahoeli his first career defeat with a unanimous decision over 6 rounds; Sebastian Bouchard scored a 2nd round knockout win over Patrick Tessier; Lionell Thompson had an easy night of work, putting away Christian Cruz (who appeared to injure his hand) in 2 rounds; and Baha Laham stopped Dave Aucoin in the 6th round to score the 7th victory of his career.
