Tag Archives: Quebec scene

Posted on 04/05/2012

By Hans Olson

This Saturday at the Claude-Robillard Center in Montreal, Ali Nestor Charles returns to the squared circle, taking on Mexico’s Martin Avila for the UBO super welterweight title. Charles (12-5-2), who has gone 7-0-1 in his last eight, looks to continue his winning ways against the game Avila, who enters Saturday’s bout coming off of consecutive knockout wins.

Although sporting a less-than-glossy record of 13-8, Avila has been in with decent competition. He holds a UD victory over Saul Duran, though Montreal fans might best remember him for being knocked out in two rounds by David Lemieux back in 2009.

In the evening’s co-feature, Cornwall, ON star Tony Luis puts his undefeated record on the line against Hungary’s Ferenc Szabo.

“I’m ready 100 percent,” said a confident Tony Luis to Boxing Insider on Wednesday. “My only concern is a runny nose at the moment, haha, but that’s Canada for ya. I had a great training camp in Cuba as part of my preparations for this fight. [I] always learn a couple things that I take home with me; put lots of time into my strength and conditioning work as well.”

Tony assured that a small cold was nothing to be concerned with.

“[It’s] nothing to fret over, it just means lots of snot and blood for him on Saturday!”

As far as the relatively unknown Szabo?

“I understand he was national champion for some time in the amateurs in his native Hungary,” noted Luis.

“He doesn’t have the prettiest record, but he’s also been matched very tough from the outset of his career; so he’s won some and lost some.

“But win or lose, he’s always proven to be a tough competitor and gives the fans their money’s worth. I’m expecting a strong aggressive fighter coming at me this weekend.”

Also Saturday, Laval’s Roody Pierre Paul takes on Carlos Martinez, and Mascouche’s Francesco Cotroni squares off against Emanuel Guzman.

Quebec’s Francois Miville, and Montreal’s Kevin Lavalle will see action in separate bouts, along with Dimitri Waardenburg, who will make his professional debut.

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On May 26, Montreal-based superstar Lucian Bute heads over the pond to fight Carl Froch, the mandatory challenger to his IBF championship.

Although Bute is still under contract with Showtime, where he has a fight remaining, the network (along with HBO) passed on the Froch fight. Sky Sports in the UK will televise, and Canal Indigo will offer PPV in Canada.

What about the U.S.?

Thankfully, American fans will be able to see the fight live on Epix and EpixHD.com.

“EPIX is very pleased with the fan reaction and audience growth of its series of exclusive live U.S. telecasts of world championship fights. The fireworks Bute vs. Froch will produce is the perfect follow up to our unprecedented heavyweight championship trilogy which featured Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin defending their world titles over three consecutive weeks,” said Travis Pomposello, EPIX CCO and executive producer of EPIX Sports in a press release earlier in this week.

“I am very pleased that boxing fans in the United States won’t miss this war between Carl Froch and me,” said Bute in the same presser.

“I want to thank the EPIX network for broadcasting this fight. I am training very seriously to face Carl Froch and I look forward to defending my title for the 10th time. May 26th is going to be a great night of boxing!”

Boxing Insider’s Hans Olson can be reached at [email protected] Follow @hansolson

Posted on 03/09/2012

By Hans Olson

Adonis “Superman” Stevenson will return to action on Friday, April 20, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, in a card that will be televised live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.

“The main event will involve Adonis Stevenson in a 12 round bout at Super Middleweight,” said promoter Yvon Michel through GYM’s Facebook page (translated from French)

“The co-feature will be a 10 rounder where Antonin Decarie will defend his WBC International Welterweight Championship. Opponents and other fighters on the card will be announced shortly.”

Stevenson, who is rated #2 by the IBF, was ready and willing to fight Librado Andrade in a fight said sanctioning body had ordered earlier in the week.

Andrade however, wanted no part of “Superman.”

“The IBF ordered an eliminator between Stevenson and me. I said no I’m not interested,” said Andrade to Boxingscene’s Jake Donovan.

“Stevenson can have Bute. In the meantime I’m going to have a stay busy fight to get back [on track] and then I will go from there.”

Maybe Andrade doesn’t want this to happen to him:

Decarie, who appeared on Friday Night Fights in February of 2011 (defeating Shamone Alvarez), is coming off of a fantastic performance last December in which he defeated Toronto’s Victor Lupo in Quebec City.

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Montreal’s Arash Usmanee (17-0) will hit the road on March 17 when he faces Chris Howard (14-0-1) in Atlanta, GA for the vacant WBC Continental America’s title.

Usmanee is coming off a hard earned points victory last month against Innocent Anyanwu. Usmanee was dropped in the fight, but was able to recover and show a steel resolve through the final rounds to shade the win.

An unpopular decision in the arena itself—many boos were heard, strangely, when the decision was given to the hometown fighter—Usmanee can use his time on the road to bounce back from what wasn’t his best showing…and he’ll certainly look for a win of the dominant variety to re-ignite the buzz he had developed in the province up until his most recent showing.

Usmanee vs. Howard will be on featured on Wealth TV.

Boxing Insider’s Hans Olson can be reached at [email protected] Follow @hansolson

Posted on 02/29/2012

By Hans Olson

Hot off his recent first round knockout of Arizona’s Jesus Gonzales, Adonis “Superman” Stevenson’s popularity continues to swell.

On Sunday, the southpaw from Longueuil hit the talk-show circuit, stopping by CBC’s Tout le monde en parle.

Stevenson on Tout le monde en parle

For those not fluent in French, Daniel Cloutier provided English translation to some key quotes Adonis made in his recent column on Pound4Pound.

“Lucian cannot avoid me now,” said Stevenson. “He is supposed to fight Carl Froch in May in England, and I will be the next to face him. If the Bute-Froch [fight] is cancelled for one reason or another, I think that the IBF championship committee will force him to fight me. Trust me, I will be the next IBF champion this year.”

Confidence is clearly not something Adonis is lacking.

“I am 100% sure that I will beat him,” continued “Superman.”

“When I was member of the amateur Canadian national boxing team, I got the chance to spar with Bute. I was preparing myself for the Commonwealth Games, and Bute was training for a fight. I floored him with a body punch, and I saw [how] his face changed. I hurt him so bad that he refused to spar with me after. I am [convinced] that he is afraid to face me. Watch me if he takes the risk to face me!”

It Happened on Twitter

The bold enthusiasm from Quebec’s latest talk of the town made its way from chat-show to Twitter on Monday.

Tweeting Lucian’s renowned trainer Stephan Larouche, Stevenson said (translated from French), “Golovkin stopped him as an amateur, I stopped him in sparring, Andrade stopped him in front of 16,000 fans, which I’ll re-do.”

This was in response to an earlier tweet by Larouche where he wrote (originally in French), “The only time @InterBoxBute was the floor, it was in front of 16,000 people, against Andrade. Pathetic lies.”

This could get interesting…

Superman Returns

Finally, according to numerous sources, the tentative date for Stevenson’s return to the ring is April 14. No opponent has yet been named.

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This weekend at the Hotel des Seigneurs in Saint-Hyacinthe, 4-0 prospect Mick “L’Unique” Gadbois takes on Robert “Don’t Lose” DaLuz in a featured 6-round bout.

Gadbois in action last September against Lithuania’s Vladimiras Balaklijec

“It will be a good fight,” Gadbois told Boxing Insider on Tuesday. “DaLuz has a lot of experience, he knows how to take punches…I’m not looking for a home run hit. I will box him, I will make him pay. There will be good rounds…I will be active. I will have the advantage to be bigger and I’m going to use it.”

Trained by Marc Seyer, Alain St-Amand and Pierre Bouchard, Mick began boxing at the relatively late age of 18—though he’s determined to make up for lost time.

“I wanna fight, first because I love this game. I don’t care right now about any title. For sure, to be world champion is something big…but before that I just wanna fight. I know Interbox has eyes on me, so maybe having a contract could [make that] closer to the reality right now.”

Rounding out the card will be Alexandre Hamel vs. Patrick Tessier, Francis Hamel vs. Emanuel Guzman, and Eric Barrak vs. Cullen Rogers.

Boxing Insider’s Hans Olson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @hansolson