(Laval) There was no love and a lot of arrogance between Mazlum Akdeniz and Sébastien Bouchard, Saturday night, in the ring. Ultimately, it was the first who became the new proud owner of the international WBC welterweight belt.
Akdeniz defeated Sébastien Bouchard by unanimous decision (97-91, 98-90 and 98-90), Saturday evening, on the undercard of Kim Clavel’s fight against Evelin Bermudez.
This fight was highly anticipated and you just had to hear the crowd to understand it. The spectators at Place Bell were divided between the two boxers from the Yvon Michel Group. “Mazlum, Mazlum, Mazlum!” », chanted some. “Bouchard, Bouchard, Bouchard!” », replied others.
Akdeniz quickly gained the upper hand in the first rounds. The 26-year-old appeared incisive offensively from the third round, while being cautious defensively. In front of him, Bouchard nevertheless defended himself rather well, without being able to hit his target as he would undoubtedly have liked.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Mazlum Akdeniz takes a hit from Sébastien Bouchard.
After four rounds, Akdeniz clearly had the advantage. The slope was steep for Bouchard, who fought proudly, but was unable to change the sidewind.
“It was a good fight,” Akdeniz reacted at the end of the evening. In training, my sparring is difficult, I am ready for any eventuality. I expected that. Did I expect him to advance so much and lower his head so much? We have a bit of the same style. I was kind of expecting that, but I was expecting a little less that it would be a dog fight where the referee had to intervene. »
Many low blows were dealt throughout the duel; three times, Akdeniz sent a blow below Bouchard’s belt. The latter, with a swollen face, did not mince his words.
“The truth is that I would have liked to box with a boxer, but I boxed with a head all evening,” he summed up bitterly. I had his face in my face. Every time I went to the body, I got headbutted. The doctor told me: my face is defeated here. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Sébastien Bouchard tries to block a shot from Mazlum Akdeniz.
“His corner was talking to the referee, saying to check me, that I’m a bastard boxer, but I boxed clean all evening. »
To this, Akdeniz responded that “it’s easy to say one thing, but you have to look at both sides of the coin, look at the whole fight again.” “On several occasions I was headbutted. At one point during the fight, I even said to Bouchard: “You hit me more in the back of the head than in my face.” Maybe I have my mistakes, but he has his too,” he summed up.
For Sébastien Bouchard, this defeat represents a “big step backwards”, but the 36-year-old pugilist is not bowing out. “I would happily take a rematch,” he said.
Not for the meek
Just before, Marie-Pier Houle defeated Mexican Cindy Reyes Espinoza by majority decision. The judges dealt cards of 76-76, 77-75 and 77-75. Houle entered the ring with a big smile and came out in the same state, but a little more shaken than anyone would have expected.
“I thought it was a long time before they gave the decision! the winner said to the media. I knew it was going to be tight. We knew we were in a battle. Everyone expected it to be another Mexican girl like the others. »
“We looked at her, we knew that she was a girl who knew how to box, who still had an amateur background, and had been a champion in Mexico. We knew she was a girl who put a lot of pressure. That was it. »
In other words, this confrontation was not one for the gentle. Let’s say that the two boxers skillfully warmed up Place Bell for Bouchard and Akdeniz.
Larger and more athletic than her opponent, Houle quickly set her pace with heavy, precise strikes in the first three rounds. But Reyes, 21, surprised everyone by holding on and taking advantage of the momentum in the fourth round, increasing body strikes. Houle, as if surprised to see Reyes maintain the rhythm, seemed to lack energy in the 6the round. She regained the ascendancy at the 7e and 8e rounds. In terms of volume of blows, the spectators were served.
“I demonstrated that I was there, that I was capable of boxing, of being active on my feet, of moving,” Houle summarized. She hit me on the body a lot, so that slowed down my game plan a little bit in relation to that. But the important thing is victory. »
It was Houle’s first fight at 140 lbs. This victory is a “first step,” she said.
“We’re going to take a little rest to restart the machine and come back with something stronger. 140 lbs is a division in which the girls have more volume, a little more speed. It’s going to be up to me to adjust to that. The goal is to improve with each fight. »
Veyre triumphs, Pomerleau convincing
A little earlier, Caroline Veyre won her duel by unanimous decision (80-72, 79-73 and 79-73) against the Italian Jessica Bellusci to bring her perfect record to 6-0-0 among professionals. However, it was a more or less exciting fight. Bellusci, as if incapable of delivering powerful strikes, surrounded Veyre with his arms most of the time. The two pugilists found themselves constantly in hand-to-hand combat. Veyre took some good hits at the 7e and 8e rounds, but overall she had the upper hand with punches that were more lively and sharp than those of her opponent.
Derek Pomerleau only needed three rounds to defeat the Czech Michal Chludid by knockout. technique in what was the first professional fight of the evening, around 7:45 p.m. The Quebecer easily reached his opponent numerous times in the first round, so much so that we wondered if Chludid would reach the second round. “Slick” Pomerleau, clearly technically superior, finally had the upper hand with a solid left hook.
The looks at Arturo Gatti Jr.
Surprisingly, the crowd was loud quite early in the evening, before the professional fights even began. Indeed, among the amateurs, the young Arturo Gatti Jr. made a somewhat disproportionate entry into the ring for a boxer who is only in his third duel among the amateurs. The young man, visibly confident, lived up to the expectations he himself had created by dominating his clash against Terry Digaletos. His powerful blows surprisingly made the crowd react, which the teenager greeted with pleasure.