By: William Dumoulin
Photo credit: Groupe Yvon Michel — Bernard Brault
Continuing its celebration of its 20 years of existence, the Yvon Michel Group presented this Thursday a second gala this year at the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal. Here is a summary of the evening which featured former WBC light flyweight world champion, Kim Clavel.
In the final of the evening, in a crucial duel to hope to return to the big fights, Kim Clavel (18-2, 3 KO) faced the Moroccan Fara El Bousairi (8-4, 3 KO). The latter had missed the weight by 1,4 lbs during Wednesday's weigh-in. The Quebecer even mentioned after the fight that she felt that her opponent had an advantage in terms of physical strength and striking power. Despite this, Kim showed us his superiority in speed and technique to win the fight by split decision (95-95, 96-94, 98-92). These judges' scores do not necessarily reflect the reality of the fight since Clavel dominated the majority of the rounds.
For the semi-final, former world contender Marie Pier Houle (10-1-1, 3 KOs) faced Marisa Joana Portillo (20-19-2, 4 KOs). Portillo had never been knocked out previously and had already boxed several times in the world championship. Houle still managed to put pressure on from the start of the fight and his opponent was forced to give up after the 3rd round.
In his first duel scheduled for 8 rounds, Quebec hopeful Derek Pomerleau (8-0, 6 KO) faced Carlos Mohamed Rodriguez (15-13-1, 6 KO). The latter was returning from a controversial defeat against the talented Joshua Frazer. Pomerleau dominated his opponent and knocked him out in the second round after a big blow to the body. The Mercier native expects an announcement to be made soon in connection with a longer-term collaboration with the Yvon Michel Group.
In the most competitive duel of the evening, Theo Owusu (3-0-1, 2 KO) was back in his first fight scheduled for 6 rounds. For the occasion, he faced an opponent who was also undefeated, the left-handed Petr Novak (1-0-1, 1 KO). This fight ended in a draw (57-57 X 3) while neither boxer managed to win a majority of the rounds.
To open the gala, Reid Twohey (1-0, 0 KO) made his professional debut by facing Stepan Guba (17-24, 13 KO) in a 4-round clash. Despite an uninteresting record, Guba gave a good fight to Twohey who had to settle for a victory by unanimous decision (40-36, 39-37 X 2).
The Yvon Michel Group will present a third event at the Montreal Casino on May 16. Mazlum Akdeniz and Kim Clavel will be the headliners of this gala. In addition, Marie Pier Houle, Derek Pomerleau and Abed Almoty El Safadi will also box at this event.
