Quintessentially Quebec
By William Trillo
It’s been well over two years since I ventured northward to my favorite fight city, Montreal. That’s right, although Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world, is basically a stone’s throw away from my Southern California home, there is still nothing that pleases me more than being a part of the fight week festivities in Montreal.
With two shows on the ledger last week, GYM on Thursday and Eye of the Tiger/Interbox on Saturday there was more than enough action to satisfy my ferocious fight hunger. Along the way I managed to squeak in a crepe or two. (maybe three)
Without question the highlight of my Montreal vacation was paying a visit to The Grant Brothers Gym. Howard and Otis always welcome us with open arms and make us; (Librado Andrade and I) feel right at home. With Lucian Bute now a part of The Grant Brothers team it will go without saying that our Jerked Chicken and Ox Tail lunch was a classic. This was one of those, “you had to be there” moments and I wouldn’t do the reunion of the fighter’s, (Andrade, Bute and Otis Grant), justice if I tried to recreate that moment. Suffice to say it’s a memory I won’t soon forget.
As to the fights, I had not covered the fights at The Casino Montreal until now. It’s a great venue that puts a lot of good local talent on display. Of course having the two Grant Brothers fighters come out on top made the evening perfect. The GYM Group put on a nice evening of action
Saturday night it was back to my familiar stomping grounds at The Bell Center covering the Eye of the Tiger promoted card. Without question this is one of my favorite venues to cover boxing.
Speaking of questions…why in the world would anyone bring up seasoned fighters from Mexico and try to showcase the local Montreal talent against them? You give me a fighter from South of the Border with 20-30 fights and I don’t care what his won/loss record is; chances are there is going to be an upset in the making. Such was the case for two of the budding Quebec up and comers on Saturday night. That’s a hard lesson to learn.
In the first of two main events of the evening we saw Steven Butler in a free swinging three minutes that saw him victorious before the first round was over. Butler looks like the goods. Keep an eye on this kid as he takes his next step up in completion. It’s time for the rubber to meet the road.
To cap off the night David Lemiuex won a unanimous decision over a tough and awkward Argentinean by the name of Rios. It was far from a classic performance by David but he got the job done and now it looks like he will be part of the Bernard Hopkins farewell fight in Los Angeles.
With all the cravings satisfied for now it’s time to head back home to sunny Southern California. Until next time…..thanks Montreal….Je t’aime.
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Lemieux pretty much confirmed he has no chance of winning another world title with that performance. Still, you got a nice holiday and met some old friends. Is Beterbiev based in Montreal?
Dead on point about Lemiuex, not an impressive outing. Yes, got to see a lot of old friends, it was well overdue.
Beterbiev is out of Montreal and I was told he will be fighting in Montreal around Christmas time.