It wasn’t easy, sometimes even frankly not easy, but Mathieu Germain reinvited himself among the best boxers in the super-lightweight division by defeating Ontarian Steven Wilcox, Thursday evening, in the semi-finals of the gala Pascal-Eifert at Place Bell.
With his victory by unanimous decision, the boxer from Mascouche won the intercontinental belt of the International Boxing Federation. He will therefore be reinstated in the top-15 of the aspirants of the sanctioning body.
“I’m happy with myself, I won, I’m back in the world top-15”, rejoiced Germain (22-2-1, 9 KOs) in the ring a few seconds after the confirmation of his victory.
The great Wilcox (24-4-1, 7 KOs) gave him a hard time, especially late in the fight. The 33-year-old Quebecer was cut in the right eye in the ninth round, which required a doctor’s visit.
Two judges handed cards 97-93, while the third scored the fight 96-94.
The crowd favorite’s best assault was the fourth. Germain managed to land three left hooks to the face, one of which seemed to shake his vis-à-vis.
“Steven was harder to hit cleanly than I thought he would be,” admitted Germain, limited by his 5’6 height. He is a good boxer with a lot of experience. I’m happy, I’m champion. »
Germain, now trained by Stéphane Larouche, thus signs his fourth consecutive victory after his loss by K.-O. against Yves Ulysse son in Rimouski in 2020.
“I want to go fight outside,” he told promoter Yvon Michel. We will see the offers that we will have, we will go there and we will win. »
On the undercard, Karla Ramos Zamora (10-9-1, 3 K.-O.) caused the first surprise of the evening by winning by K.-O. technique tale of adopted Montrealer Jessica Camara (10-4, 2 KOs).
The 29-year-old Mexican bludgeoned Camara on the fourth bout, forcing referee Martin Forest to stop the duel at 1:46. Ramos Zamora, who lost to Quebecer Leila Beaudoin at the Casino in September and to newly retired Marie-Ève Dicaire in 2016, has won the IBF international super-lightweight belt.
Hard setback for Camara, who had fought for a unification fight in 2021. She was not sufficiently wary of the power of the Mexican.
Ireland’s Joe Ward (9-1, 5 KOs) made sure to celebrate Friday’s St. Patrick’s Day with joy thanks to a technical knockout against Mexico’s Mario Andrade Rodriguez (7-1, 4 KOs) in the first round. Two left hooks sent the Mexican to the mat. Another strike from the left forced the referee to end the fight halfway through the assault.
In featherweight, after a tight first round, Caroline Veyre (3-0) quickly took the lead over her rival Anaëlle Angerville (5-2-1) to win by unanimous decision at the end of the six rounds. . A single judge gave a round to the French, world champion of muai-thai, Thai boxing, who acted as a substitute with two weeks notice.
Energetic, Veyre was particularly skilful in avoiding the blows thrown by his opponent, who attacked well at the start of the fight, but seemed to run out of gas towards the end.
Earlier, Italian-Cuban Yoel Angeloni (2-0, 1 KO) charged Mexican Alexander Calixto (1-2) for a shot below the belt in the second round, knocking him down. the restart and forcing the referee to stop the duel after the count. The 19-year-old southpaw, whom co-promoter Lou DiBella announces as a future world champion, picked up his first knockout.
As a curtain raiser, in a more hotly contested match than the ratings indicated, Ontario’s Amanda Galle (8-0) edged Mexico’s Lorena Cruz Aispuro (4-3) by unanimous decision.
