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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Alvarez Established Favorite By
4-1
By Daniel Cloutier
QUÉBEC CITY - The Montrealer Colombian Eleider Alvarez has
the conviction he will get out of the ring in the winning
shoes Friday evening at the Videotron Centre in Québec City,
and the Las Vegas bookies really believe the shoes will be a
perfect fit!
These bookies established him favorite by 4-1 to beat the
Montrealer Romanian Lucian Bute Friday night, in this WBC
light heavyweight (175 pounds) elimination bout, the main
event of a boxing show presented by the GYM Group, headed by
the promoter Yvon Michel.
WBC first contender, Alvarez is undefeated (21-0-0). Former
IBF super middleweight (168 pounds), Bute, who won 10
consecutive world championships bouts between 2007 to 2012,
has a record of 32-3-1.
However, Bute scored only one win at his last four presences
in the ring. During that sequence, Bute won by TKO in less
than four rounds against the Italian Andrew Di Luisa
(18-4-0) in Montréal, but at his previous fight, also at
Bell Centre in Montréal, he lost by unanimous decision
against the Montrealer Jean Pascal (30-4-1), a former WBC
light heavyweight champion of the world. And after the Di
Luisa’s fight, Bute lost by unanimous decision against the
actual IBF super middleweight champion of the world, the
British James DeGale (23-1-1), in Québec City in 2015, and
he got a draw against the WBC super middleweight champion of
the world, the Swedish Badou Jack (20-1-3), in Washington,
D.C., in 2016.
Then, Lucian got a record of 1-2-1 at his last four bouts.
The winner of this elimination bout Bute-Alvarez will face
later this year the WBC light heavyweight champion of the
world, the Montrealer southpaw Adonis Stevenson (28-1-0).
“I want absolutely to face Stevenson this year, then, I will
do the necessary to win this WBC elimination bout,” said
Bute Thursday afternoon at the weight in held at the Château
Bonne Entente hotel in Québec City. “I am positive that my
talent, my big experience and my determination will make the
difference in the result of the fight. I am very calm and
confident. As you know, I have been involved in 13 world
championships bouts, then, I have the background to feel
good at few hours of this important fight. Alvarez is a
talented fighter, no doubt about it, but he has never been
involved in a bout of this amplitude. It’s clear in my mind
he will be very nervous when he gonna hear the first bell.
If Alvarez believes I am too old to become the first fighter
to beat him, I will have a hell of surprise. I feel so good
mentally and physically.”
Bute will be 37 years old in few days. Alvarez is 32 years
old.
“I know I just reached the peak of my boxing career, and
Bute is declining since a couple of years,” said Alvarez. I
still believe I gonna win this fight before the end of the
sixth round. Bute has an impressive background, I cannot
deny it, but it’s time for him to do something else. I am
determinate to become world champion this year, and I gonna
show it in few hours. I know I have the potential necessary
to reach my goal. I really think that 2017 will become the
glorious year of my pro boxing career. You will certainly be
impressed by my performance in few hours.”
All the officials on this main event will be Montrealers.
The referee will be the Marlon B. Wright, and the judges,
Richard DeCarufel, Jack Woodburn and Nicholas Esnault.
At the weigh in, controlled by the WBC, IBF and WBO
championship committees and the Québec Athletic Commission (Régie
des sports de combat), Bute posted an official weight of
173.6 pounds, versus 174.6 for Alvarez. Perfect weights for
both fighters.
Howard Grant, Bute’s trainer, is clearly impatient to see
his fighter in action. “Lucian Bute is better prepared for
this bout than he was at his last four bouts,” said Grant.
“I cannot remember the last time he was so prepared for a
fight. No doubt in my mind, Lucian will perform at his
maximum. Lucian knows he got to win this WBC elimination
bout to get the chance to face the WBC light heavyweight
champion of the world, Adonis Stevenson. I am sure Lucian
will fight with all his energies, his talent and his
intelligence Friday evening. I am expecting a great win for
him.”
Obviously, Marc Ramsay, Alvarez’s trainer, does not agree
with Grant. “Eleider knows that he will be involved in the
most important fight of his pro boxing career in few hours,
and he will certainly offer us the greatest performance of
his career,” said Ramsay. “Eleider is extremely hungry of
success. He wants so much to become WBC light heavyweight
champion of the world this year. As you know, he is ranked
WBC first contender since 18 months now. He has now the
maturity to reach the top of the 175 pounds division.
Eleider is not nervous like Lucian thinks he is, he is
extremely confident.”
In the most important preliminary bout of the evening, the
heavyweight Eric Martel Bahoeli will dispute the most
significant fight of his pro boxing career. Bahoeli (11-6-1)
will face the former CFL football player Adam Braidwood
(6-1-0) in a WBU world championship fight (minor title). The
middleweight Francis Lafrenière (14-5-2), a fighter from
Côteau-Du-Lac (West Island of Montréal) trained by Howard
and Otis Grant, will fight the Mexican Uriel Gonzalez
(15-1-1) for the NABO North American title and the IBF
international title. The super welterweight Sébastien
Bouchard (14-1-0), from Baie St-Paul, Québec, will meet the
Mexican Gustavo Garibay (13-7-2), the super welterweight
Dario Bredicean, from Cape Coral, Florida (he lives in
Montréal since few months), will be opposed to the Mexican
Alejandro Torres (9-1-2), and finally, the super
middleweight Christian M’Billi (1-0-0), the last Gym Group
acquisition, will fight the Mexican Jesus Olivares (5-3-0).
At the weigh in, Bahoeli posted an official weight of 253.8
pounds, Braidwood 250.8, Lafrenière 157.8, Gonzalez 159.2,
Bouchard 149.6, Garibay 150, Bredicean 169.2, Torres 165.4,
M’Billi 163.2, and finally, Olivares 168.2.
The show will start at 7.00 PM, Eastern Time.
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