Super middleweight Eric Lucas (39-8-3,15 KO’s) wanted a real test to see if his comeback had any promise, so he chose top ten ranked Librado Andrade (29-3,22 KO’s). Although Andrade had proved himself as a World Class fighter with a titanic set of whiskers the thinking in Quebec was that the defeat to IBF Super Middleweight Champ Lucian Bute had rendered Librado “Gun Shy” according to trainer Stephan Larouche. It was a notion that Larouche admitted to being wrong about and it was just as clear to the over 8,100 in attendance at Quebec’s Pepsi Coliseum that Andrade is still the same formidable foe he has been in his last 4 fights in Canada, maybe better.

With that said this fight was a real crowd pleaser and Lucas did everything he could do before being stopped by cuts after 8 hard fought rounds. From the onset Andrade was all about coming forward and landing vicious combo’s while Lucas would pick his moments in every round and get off a barrage of his own that would get the hometown crowd roaring with pleasure.

The back and forth action made for an exciting fight but with every exchange Andrade was slowly chipping away at Lucas while the shots from Lucas had little or no visible effect on Librado.

From around the fifth round on Lucas was dripping blood from his nose and small cuts over his eyes but the former champ would not relent and he still was hanging in there with Librado and was not out of the fight yet.

But in round 8 a hard right hand opened a huge gash over the Canadian’s eye that forced the ref to have the doctor take a closer look. The fight was allowed to continue and Lucas made one last attempt that fell short and the remainder of the round saw Andrade lay some serious leather on the hometown fighter.

Eric’s corner took one look at his eye in between rounds and decided it was time to put a halt to the valiant warrior’s night. The ref was notified and the fight was waved off before the bell for round 9 would ring.

In a move that shows why Andrade has endeared himself to the Quebec boxing fans, Librado lifted up Lucas in celebration of the man he just defeated and his wonderful career. The crowd applauded both Lucas and Librado for their accomplishments and it should come to no surprise to anyone to see Andrade in another major fight in Quebec before the year comes to an end.

Hat’s off to Interbox Promotions and Eric Lucas who have put together one of North Americas premier promotional companies. We look forward to seeing what you have in store for boxing in the coming years.
 

Middleweight Renan St Juste (21-2-1,14 KO’s) made a big impression on me on the Lucian Bute vs. Edison Miranda undercard but he made little or no impression on Saturday nights foe Marcus Upshaw (13-4-1,6 KO’s) who dropped St. Juste in the early rounds and then went on to secure a split decision victory over yet another home town fighter.

No one can complain about “home cooking” in this one, St. Juste did everything he could to give away this fight that was there for the taking. Neither fighter was taking any command and at times it seemed nary a punch would be thrown for an entire round. The crowd showed their displeasure by booing over and over again as they fighters posed instead of fighting.

The icing on the cake for Upshaw may have been a bizarre called knockdown that came after a punch. St. Juste didn’t actually go down but instead he turned around and leaned on the ropes which gave the ref no choice but to give him a standing eight. At the end of 10 somewhat dull rounds final scores read 95-94,94-95,93-96 in favor of Upshaw.
 

Light middleweight Mikael Zewski (4-0,3 KO’s) needed exactly 1:45 seconds to drop John Hoffman (11-25,3 KO’s) 3 times and get an easy win over the consummate tomato can. That’s no disrespect to the young Zewski who did exactly what he had to, and that was dispose of this hapless foe.
 

Heavyweight Eric Martel Bahoeli (4-0,3 KO’s) put a wicked beatdown on Chad Thrun (0-2) who spent more time running and on the deck than he did fighting. The bout was stopped after 1 round and rightly so…”Baho” was gonna put some serious hurt on this guy.
 

Super middleweight Francy Ntetu (4-0,1 KO) dropped Ahmad Selemani (0-2) once early and then went on to win an easy 4 round decision. Scores read 40-35 twice and 39-36 all in favor of Ntetu.
 

Super featherweight Benoit Gaudet (22-2,9 KO’s) defeated another in the long line of Mexican Champions sons, this time the offspring was Pipino Cuevas Jr (14-5,12 KO’s). The gallant Cuevas showed he has the heart of his Father but came up short on his skills. Gaudet used a good attack and slick defense to overcome the South of The Border fighter, stopping him by TKO in 8.

Lightweight Pier Olivier Cote (12-0,7 KO’s) closed the show with another impressive victory, this time over Hugo Armenta (11-6,7 KO’s). Cote dismantled Armenta over the 4 round distance and went on to win a shutout unanimous decision, 40-36 on all cards.



Questions? Comments? Contact William Trillo