Quebec boxers who got attention for the wrong reasons

The recent problems of light heavyweight Jean Pascal, arrested in Montreal on Friday for refusing a breath samplerecall that other Quebec boxers have had their share of troubles outside the ring over the years.

Moreover, the former world champion in his category has already made acquaintance with the court of Saint-Jérôme, without however being condemned. In February 2018, he received a stay of proceedings on charges of assault with a weapon and death threats against a teenage girl who claimed to have been the victim of an assault a few years earlier.

However, other athletes in the Quebec arena suffered the wrath of the judge or at the very least attracted attention for the wrong reasons. Here are a few.

The Hilton Family

All boxing fans have heard of the Hilton family’s many setbacks in court. The most publicized case remains that of Davey Hilton Jr., convicted in 2001 of assaulting his two daughters and sentenced to seven years in prison.

His troubles had prompted the World Boxing Council to strip him of his super-middleweight belt acquired in December 2000. In addition, he returned to bars in 2007 for breach of conditions, having threatened his former wife.

However, Davey Jr. was already known to the police, as were his brothers. He and his brother Matthew were arrested for robbing a Dunkin’ Donuts in 1991. The same Matthew and Jimmy assaulted three men outside a bar two years later. As for Alex, his track record is also well-stocked: having spent time in prison for breaking and entering a motel more than a decade ago, he was the author of acts severe before. He notably fired a bullet through the window of a nightclub in 1985 and, in 1988, he received a five-year sentence for ordering the sexual assault of a fellow prisoner.

Stephane Ouellet

Like his great rival Davey Hilton son, whom he faced three times between 1998 and 2000, the Jonquiérois experienced his share of problems outside the ring, especially with drugs. In September 2003, Stéphane Ouellet was sentenced to two years less a day after admitting guilt to various charges, all following an assault on his wife’s former friend who had filed a complaint against him for harassment.

Lucian Bute

Despite himself, Lucian Bute found himself at the heart of a Montreal police investigation, as the owner – with his wife Elena Aprozeanu – of a building in the borough of Lachine where a balcony railing gave way December 6, 2015, causing two deaths and one injury. A few months later, the borough authorized the Régie du bâtiment to carry out work to replace the obsolete furniture.

Adonis Stevenson

The past of Adonis Stevenson has often been mentioned by his detractors. Apprehended in 1998 when he was a member of a street gang, the ex-world champion faced justice and was sentenced to spend four years behind bars for pimping, in particular. “When I watch his fights, I dream of the day when he will win someone stronger than him. I dream that he feels what I felt when he beat me”, one of his victims told the “Journal” in 2013, more than five years before the fight of December 1, 2018 during which Stevenson suffered severe head trauma.

Steven Butler

In January 2019, the Eye of the Tiger Management protege pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault. The victim of Steven Butler says he was struck twice in the face outside a bar in Blainville on November 12, 2016, except that the Crown could not prove that the physical consequences of the altercation on her were the result of the beatings. In addition, to continue his career, the boxer had to promise the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux in 2017 that he would no longer have links with organized crime.

Arturo Gatti

The circumstances of Arturo Gatti’s death on July 11, 2009 in Brazil will remain synonymous with doubt. On the other hand, before his wife Amanda Rodrigues was suspected and then released, the couple seemed to be experiencing upheavals. In April 2009, Gatti was charged with common assault on his wife. To return to his death, following two autopsies and an investigation commissioned by the family of the deceased, the hypothesis of suicide was retained by the local authorities.