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By Hans Olson, ringside
Eleider “Storm” Alvarez, showing craft and savvy well beyond his years, dominated Shawn “The Sioux Warrior” Hawk over the course of 12 mostly lopsided rounds at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, on Friday night, improving to 9-0.
Establishing his jab early, Eleider’s perfect timing and distance never allowed Hawk to generate offense over the first half of the fight. A commitment to the body opened up many an opportunity upstairs, Alvarez snapping back the head of Hawk with nearly each jab he threw.
In the 5th round, Alvarez really turned it up, the effects of his punches starting to show on the face of Hawk, whose right eye was swelling shut. Flurries and power shots excited the hometown crowd, who were craving a knockout.
But Hawk, like his nickname suggests, is a warrior. He may have lost nearly every round, but he earned the respect of many ringside with his toughness.
For Eleider Alvarez, it appears the sky is the limit, and according to promoter Yvon Michel, we could see him back in action as soon as August on the undercard of Jean Pascal vs. Tavoris Cloud.
In the evening’s co-feature, David Lemieux returned with a purpose, destroying Jaudiel Zepeda in two rounds.
Lemieux (26-2-0, 25 KOs) looked eager at the opening bell, clearly ready to turn the page on the two losses he suffered in 2011.
In the first round, Lemieux stalked his prey with powerful rights and lefts, Zepeda answering with very little. It seemed the Californian might be able to weather the storm and perhaps be able to go rounds with the hard hitting Laval native.
It turned out he wouldn’t.
Early in the second round, Lemieux blasted Zepeda with a counter right hand, sending him crashing to the canvas. Zepeda would make the count, but was dropped again shortly after by a left hook to the body.
“I was just loose…I was loose and my coach Marc Ramsay said, ‘let your hands go,’ and boom! I got him with a right hand and that was it,” Lemieux told Boxing Insider after the fight.
The win had to be satisfying for Lemieux, who hadn’t tasted victory since December 2010.
“It feels great! I’ve been training hard, I’ve been training a lot—I’ve been waiting for this for a while. My hand is good, I feel like I’m already ready to come back for the next fight. I want to be active, I’m going to get back in the gym. I want to get back in the ring as soon as I can!”
In a highly competitive heavyweight contest, Oscar “Kaboom” Rivas bested Sylvera Louis via split decision. Rivas, going 8-rounds for the first time in his young career, used enough pressure and power to influence ringside judges Jean Lapointe and Jack Woodburn, who scored the bout in his favor 78-74 and 79-73, respectively.
Judge Claude Paquette was impressed by Sylvera’s intelligent counters and volume, scoring it 77-75 for Louis. Boxing Insider scored the fight in favor of Rivas, 77-75.
In earlier action, Ghislain Maduma annihilated Robert Kiraly, knocking him out in the first round; Winnipeg’s Andy Gardiner scored a decision victory over Patrick Tessier, and heavyweight Didier Bence defeated Stephane Tessier to improve his professional record to 5-0.
