Gala at the Casino de Montréal | Mary Spencer wins the World Championship

Mary Spencer had one last chance, one last opportunity, to grab what she always wanted, in one moment. Rather than let it slip away, she took it. And now she’s a world champion, having defeated Naomi Mannes.

Spencer won the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super welterweight title by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the match 96-93.

Her coach Samuel Décarie-Drolet had described the situation bluntly: it was make or break for Mary Spencer. At 39, this was her third attempt at the world championship. A defeat would have been fatal for what followed.

That’s why the wait was endless, until the judges’ scores were given. At first glance, it was far from certain that Mary Spencer had done enough to deserve the belt. The adopted Montrealer, for her part, believed she would win. However, she didn’t know if the judges would agree with her.

When the announcement was made, the crowd at the Montreal Casino cabaret seemed surprised.

Naomi Mannes dictated the pace of the ten rounds of the fight. Her footwork was more efficient, more fluid than Spencer’s. But Spencer, slower, stood out with her punching power.

“I never know how the judges are going to award their scores,” she said, belt around her waist.

“I know my harder shots were landing. I expected to hear the crowd scream when I hit them hard, but they weren’t reacting, they weren’t seeing my shots. But I saw them and felt them connect. I trusted the judges to see them,” added the new champion.

Fall and Runaway

In the tenth round, Mannes fell. She appeared to have slipped, but the referee ruled that it was Spencer’s blow that caused the fall. To Mannes’ disbelief.

“I can see why she was upset,” Spencer admitted. “I hit her, but I was also the one going forward and she was going backwards when she got hit. The referee was on my left side, so he saw the hit land.”

The fight was “ugly,” “not pleasant for the spectators,” especially because his opponent “was running away,” according to Spencer.

Considering this, the Canadian seems reluctant to grant a rematch to Naomi Mannes.

The boxer Spencer would like to face is Terri Harper. The British boxer holds the WBO belt. “It would be a fantastic fight,” Spencer says.

Harper will face another Brit, Rhiannon Dixon, on September 28. It is difficult to know whether she will want to face Spencer until the outcome of that fight is known.

Quick Duel

The main fight of the evening was between two boxers with perfect records: Arthur Biyarslanov and Tamas Kiliti. During the three short rounds that the fight lasted, Kitili looked anything but perfect. By the time the referee called a halt to the fight, Kitili had already visited the floor four times.

It was a 16^e Victory for Biyarslanov, a 14^e by K.-O.. Quickly, the Russian hit his opponent in the face. From that moment on, Kitili began to retreat. Cloistered in the corners, he did nothing but take the hits.

Biyarslanov was originally scheduled to face Marcos Villasana, but the latter had to withdraw due to “logistical issues”.

In a burst

Short rest, big victory

Wilkens Mathieu was supposed to fight his first eight-round fight in his career. He didn’t have to go that far. He technically knocked out Argentine Rolando Wenceslao Mansilla in the fourth round.

Mathieu, 19, improves to 11-0. He didn’t look a bit rusty, considering this was his second fight in just over two weeks.

A big scare

The first fight of the evening offered a terrifying scene. In the third round, Frenchman Moreno Fendero landed a solid left on Argentine Carlos Ronner. Defeated by technical knockout, Ronner remained on the ground, inert. It took a few minutes before he was seen opening his eyes, moving his arms and legs. Ronner was put on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Home Winners

As expected, all the local boxers won their undercard fights. Hawkesbury’s Avery Martin Duval took several blows, but still disposed of Argentina’s Jesus Daneff by unanimous decision.

EOTTM star Christopher Guerrero was more incisive. After a slow start, he took American Courtney Pennington to the floor three times in the fourth round, winning by technical knockout.

Montrealer Jhon Orobio also had an easy day at the office. He defeated Argentinian Joel Ivan Manriquez in the second round by technical knockout.