By Vincent Morin
Eye of the Tiger (EOTTM) will present a gala featuring Albertan Steve Claggett on November 14 at the Montreal Casino.
For the occasion, Claggett (36-7-2, 25 KO) will defend his NABF super-lightweight title (140 lbs) against Californian of Mexican origin Miguel “Explosivo” Madueno (30-1, 28 KO) in a shock scheduled for 10 rounds. The latter notably made the limit of 12 rounds against the former WBA super featherweight world champion Jezzrel Corrales.
In the evening's semi-final, Montreal middleweight Steven “Bang Bang” Butler (32-4-1, 26 KO) will return to the arena in a return duel scheduled for 10 bouts against Mexican Ivan “Zurdo” Alvarez (32-14-4, 21 KOs). This will be a first outing for Butler since his failure in the WBO world championship against Kazakh Zhanibek Alimkhanuly on May 13.
Since the setback, the Quebec slugger has been trained by American John “Iceman” Scully in Connecticut. Scully notably managed the former lineal light heavyweight world champion, Chad Dawson. He is also part of the team of current IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev.
Russian light heavyweight Imam Khataev (4-0, 4 KO) will be making his second appearance under the aegis of EOTTM when he crosses gloves with the pugnacious Mexican Fernando Galvan (8-8-1, 2 KO) in an 8-round confrontation.
Two other face-to-face matches of eight commitments are also on the menu. Turkish light heavyweight Mehmet Unal (6-0, 5 KO) will face Mexican Jaime Hernandez Lopez (10-10, 4 KO), while Montreal lightweight Luis Santana (10-0, 4 KO) will do the same against the experienced Mexican Cristian Bielma (19-6-2, 7 KO).
Montreal super-middleweight Wilkens Mathieu (4-0, 3 KO) will make his first career six-rounder by facing Poland's Grzegorz Madyla (1-0-1, 1 KO), while in the curtain-raiser, the weight French middleweight Moreno Fendero (1-0, 1 KO) will fight against Mexican Cristian Lopez Lozano (2-2, 0 KO).
The “Canadian Gangster” on the attack for a second PFL title
A Fleurdelisé mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter will also be in action in November, as the “Canadian Gangster,” Olivier Aubin-Mercier (20-5), will attempt to get his hands on a second Professional Fighters League championship ( PFL) when he faces tough American “Cassius” Clay Collard (24-10) on November 24 in Washington.
Aubin-Mercier won the 2022 edition of this annual tournament, the winner of which is awarded the tidy sum of one million US dollars. During the 2023 edition, he defeated the American Shane Burgos, the Canadian Anthony Romero and the Brazilian Bruno Miranda in turn to earn a place in the final.
His rival is well known to boxing fans, since in addition to excelling in the octagon, Collard (9-6-3, 4 KOs in boxing) was also one of the most popular boxers during the boxing galas. Top Rank in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he fought four duels in “The Bubble” at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
