By Vincent Morin
Belgian Femke Hermans (17-4, 7 KOs) won the IBF world championship and defended her IBO super-middleweight (154 lbs) crown in the final of a boxing evening orchestrated by Eye of the Tiger (EOTTM ), last Wednesday evening at the Montreal Casino. She defeated adopted Montrealer Mary Spencer (7-2, 5 KOs) by majority decision in 10 rounds.
At the end of the 10 engagements, the judges handed out cards of 96-94 Hermans (Sylvain Leblanc), 97-93 Hermans (Patrick Morley) and 95-95 (Martha Tremblay).
This was the second clash between the two fighters. Last December 16 at the Gervais Auto Center in Shawinigan, Hermans triumphed over the Canadian Olympian by unanimous decision.
In the semi-final of the evening, Laval resident Erik Bazinyan (31-0, 22 KO) retained his immaculate record as well as his NABA and NABF super-middleweight (168 lbs) titles thanks to a victory by knockouts in the sixth engagement against the American Ronald Ellis (18-4-2, 12 KO).
This performance is worth its weight in gold, considering that Ellis is a training partner of Saul «Cinnamon» Alvarez and that he had done 10 rounds with Christian M'Billi in 2021.
On the undercard, welterweight Christopher Guerrero (9-0, 5 KO) of Montreal defeated Mexican veteran Jose Lopez (30-9-2, 16 KO) by TKO in the fourth round. It was his biggest test of his career thus far.
Back in the ring after a first career setback during her last outing in Mexico, Leila Beaudoin (10-1, 1 KO) from Rivière-du-Loup returned to the winning path with a dominant performance over the Mexican Estrella Valverde (19-12-2, 4 KOs). After eight one-sided rounds, Beaudoin was declared the winner by unanimous decision (80-72, 80-72 and 80-72).
In the other duels, the rising stars of the EOTTM firm shone. Colombian lightweight Jhon Orobio (5-0, 5 KO) stopped Mexican Jesus Solis Reyes (4-2, 0 KO) in the fourth round, while super middleweight Wilkens Mathieu (4-0, 3 KO) does the same in the third attack with the Mexican Cesar Lopez Romo (2-1, 1 KO).
Russian Olympic bronze medalist Imam Khataev (4-0, 4 KO) did not miss his Montreal entry by serving a correction to the Argentinian David Benitez (9-9, 2 KO) in less than three engagements, while At the curtain-raiser, the Turkish Mehmet Unal (6-0, 5 KO) wasted no time against the Italian Luca Spadaccini (9-6-3, 4 KO). The latter capitulated after finishing the first round.
