Adoptive Montrealer Christian Mbilli scored a convincing second-round technical knockout victory over American DeAndre Ware in the final of Eye of The Tiger Management’s first boxing gala of the season on Friday night at Montreal Casino Cabaret.
Posted at 12:15 a.m.
Referee Alain Villeneuve ended the fight with 40 seconds remaining in the second bout of a duel scheduled for 10 rounds, after Mbilli (22-0, 20 KOs) dispatched Ware (15-4-2) knocked down for the third time in the match, and for the second time in the second round.
With this spectacular victory, Mbilli successfully defended his WBC Continental Americas title and won the WBA International middleweight belt.
This victory for Mbilli also came to put a little balm on an evening which was marred by the completely unexpected abandonment of the Frenchman Newfel Ouatah, who was to face the Trifluvien Simon Kean in a duel of 10 rounds in heavyweight, as a prelude to the main battle.
Kean was credited with a 22e victory in 23 fights when his opponent simply refused to fight when he was already in the ring!
After the bell sounded signifying the start of the fight, Ouatah (18-5) put his right knee on the ground and raised his right arm in the air, when Kean had advanced in the center of the ring.
Visibly surprised by what he saw, Kean still served a left jab to the Frenchman, who lost his balance slightly.
Referee Martin Forest summoned Kean back to his corner and then knelt down in front of Ouatah to argue with him. Seconds later, the referee waved both arms in the air to signify the fight was over, all to boos from the crowd.
Ouatah then stood up, walked over to the Quebecer and gently put his gloves over Kean’s and appeared to say a few words to him. He then returned to his corner, where Camille Estephan, the big boss of Eye of the Tiger Management, joined him to try to understand what was going on.
Before leaving the ring, Kean addressed the spectators, saying he was sorry for what had just happened.
“I did my job. The person declined the fight. Really, I feel sorry for you. Thank you fans for supporting me. Honestly, I didn’t know how to react. […]. Me, I would never do that, a case like that. It is unthinkable. »
expeditious spencer
After four fights that went to the limit, Mary Spencer (7-0-0 5 KO) changed the trend and in a spectacular way with a victory by technical knockout in the first round against the Mexican Cynthia Lozano .
From the first sound of the bell, Spencer rushed on Lozano (9-2-0) and this one visited the floor from the 41e second of this fight scheduled for 10 rounds.
After the mandatory eight count, Spencer continued to baton the Mexican, and referee Albert Padulo stepped in to end the duel after just 63 seconds of uneven action.
Lozano is the same pugilist who lost by knockout in the seventh round to Marie-Ève Dicaire on December 17 at the Bell Center.
Spencer, a 37-year-old Ontarian now resident of Montreal, had her fifth win before the limit. And on each occasion, the duel did not go to the second assault.
The victory allowed Spencer to secure the vacant WBA International and WBC Silver super welterweight titles.
Quebec sweep in preliminaries
The preliminary section allowed four Quebec boxers to improve their record. However, if they were aiming for knockouts, they will have been disappointed.
In the very first duel of the evening, a four-round duel at welterweight, Montreal’s Christopher Guerrero signed a fourth victory in as many outings, winning by unanimous decision of the judges against Mexican Jose Avila Ibarra (2 -2).
At lightweight, Luis Santana (7-0), another Montrealer, also earned a unanimous decision win over Argentinian Cristian Rodrigo Gonzalez (11-15-1) in a six-fight rounds.
In the first of two women’s boxing matches of the evening, Quebec’s Leila Beaudoin, at super featherweight, collected a seventh victory in as many fights, by unanimous decision in another six-round bout against the Mexican Karla Ramos Zamora (9-9).
To do this, she had to overcome a low point in the middle of the fight.
In another featherweight duel, Montreal’s Avery Martin-Duval (8-0-1) also had to work hard to earn a unanimous decision win over Argentina’s Matias Ezequiel Guenemil (9-3- 1) in a six-round clash.