| |
|
|
Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Bizier Stops Campbell
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL - Kevin Bizier is closer than ever to an WBA
welterweight elimination bout or a world championship
bout. The fighter of 28 years from Québec City, who was
ranked fifth contender by the
WBA before this bout, won a NABA North American championship
and IBF Intercontinental championship bout in front of about
4,000 fans Friday evening in the ring of true Bell Centre,
in beating the veteran Nate Campbell, a former WBA, IBF and
WBO lightweight champion of the world, by TKO at the end of
the 8th round.
For Bizier, it was a first appearance on an ESPN boxing
night. Bizier still undefeated in pro boxing (20-0-0). For
Campbell, a boxer of 40 years old from Jacksonville,
Florida, it was his 10th defeat (36-10-1).
Bizier dominated lightly the first round with his jabs and
solid hooks. Both fighters connected with powers shots in
the second and third rounds, but Bizier was certainly the
most active of the two.
In the fourth, Bizier excited his fans in attacking Campbell
constantly in the last minute. Campbell got rough and
difficult 5th, 6th and 7th rounds. Pushed in the ropes,
Campbell was hit more than 40 times with solid hooks and
uppercuts in each round.
After a close 8th round, Campbell did not respond to the
bell announcing the 9th round. His trainers showed to the
referee Marlon B. Wright that they were surrendering.
LAHAM SURPRISED ASSELSTINE
In the first of the two fights televised by ESPN, Tyler
Asselstine suffered a lot physically during 10 intense
rounds… and clearly, he was suffering mentally after the
bout. The Montrealer Baha Laham, who was replacing the
Californian Joel Diaz (injured), caused a surprise in
beating Asselstine by majority decision of the judges
(95-95, 96-94 and 96-95).
Asselstine (12-1-0), a southpaw from Ottawa, Ontario, threw
a lot of punches in the first three rounds, but Laham
(11-0-1) was chasing him constantly, finding always a way to
place solid power shots, with hooks and uppercuts. Very
persistent, Laham became the most active punchers in the
fourth round. Same situation in the fifth. Asselstine got a
good 6th round, but Laham forced him again to do a lot of
inside boxing.
After a very close 7th round, Laham dominated the 8th round
with a solid performance in the inside boxing. Asselstine
looked extremely tired in the 9th and Laham never stopped
chasing him. Asselstine gave a tremendous effort in the 10th
round, to finish the bout on a good note, but it was not
enough.
Laham did more than him offensively between the fourth and
the 9th round, in showing more energy and persistence than
the opponent.
GADBOIS UNDEFEATED
The super featherweight Michael Gadbois, from
Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, and Kryzystof Rogowski, from
Warsaw, Poland, showed up in the ring with perfect records:
8-0-0 for Gadbois, 5-0-0 for Rogowski.
Gadbois left the ring undefeated. He won the bout by
majority decision of the judges (56-56, 58-56 and 59-53).
The Canadian fighter was suffering of serious cuts over the
two eyes in the last
three rounds, but his power shots were the most spectacular
in four of the six rounds of the fight.
ROUGH FIGHT FOR BENCE
The Montrealer heavyweight Didier Bence increased his record
to 7-0-0, but he got a very rough fight with Joey Dawwejko
(7-2-2), a dangerous puncher from Philadelphia, a former
amateur world champion.
Bence, who was more active then his opponent, won by
unanimous decision in six rounds. The three judges scored
the fight 38-36 for the Montrealer.
GOOD ACTION
In a preliminary bout organized at the last minute, the
young heavyweight Steven Harvey (3-1-0), from Montréal, and
the veteran Stéphane «Brutus» Tessier (3-20-2), from the
south shore of Montréal, gave great action to the crowd.
Harvey was very intense during the four rounds on this bout,
but Tessier hurt
him several times with surprising power shots. Finally,
Harvey won the bout by split decision.
EASY FIGHT FOR ROLIS
In the opining fight of the evening, the super middleweight
Steve Rolis (3-0-0), from Toronto, won by unanimous decision
in four rounds against Ahmad Selemani, from Québec City.
Selemani left the ring with a record of…0-8.
ALCINE GETS A NIGHT OFF
The veteran Joachim Alcine (33-3-1), a Montrealer who was
WBA super welterweight champion of the world in 2007, got a
night off. He was supposed to fight David Toribio (19-14-0),
a boxer from Miami who failed to respect the weight
mentioned in his contract. The GYM Group has been obliged to
cancel the fight, because Toribio refused to loose the
pounds over the limit.
|
|
|
