Montreal Picks Golovkin
As can be the case when you have two high-powered promotional outfits in the same city, earlier this week saw not one, but two major press conferences concerning future boxing events in fight-mad Montreal. And of course our own Manny Montreal made sure he was on hand for both.
First we had Eye Of The Tiger Management hyping their October 22 card at the Bell Centre featuring middleweight David Lemieux. The former IBF champion and Gennady Golovkin knockout victim will be facing fringe contender Cristian Fabian Rios of Argentina in the main event.
But perhaps the chief reason for fight fans to pay attention to this event is the undercard, as virtually every member of the EOTTM stable will be in action, including undefeated prospects Steven Butler, Yves Ulysse Junior, Batyr Jukembayev, and Mathieu Germain, plus a match which could be a great action fight sees Ghislain Maduma taking on Ricky Sismundo. As Manny likes to say, “It’s a stacked card, folks!”
Then later that same day it was Groupe Yvon Michel’s turn to be in the spotlight as they hosted reporters and media at the Montreal Casino to announce an ambitious program of future events which includes a three year commitment to stage shows at both the Montreal and Lac Leamy casinos, as well as major cards at both the Videotron Centre in Quebec City and the Bell Centre in Montreal.
“This season, we will present ten to twelve galas in Quebec,” stated Yvon Michel, “and some of our boxers are also likely to be in action outside the country on Premier Boxing Champions events.”
Undefeated prospect and former Olympian Custio Clayton will get top billing for several of the casino events and Artur Beterbiev will likely be a headliner as well. Other talents we can look forward to seeing in action include Oscar Rivas, Vislan Dalkhaev, Dario Bredicean, Marie-Eve Dicaire and Erik Bazinyan. Plus, Michel stated that a light heavyweight showdown between Adonis Stevenson and Eleider Alvarez is being planned for sometime before the end of the year. (Two Montreal light heavyweights clashing for a world title in The Fight City? Yeah, we’ll take it.)
So leave it to Manny Montreal to seize the opportunity and talk to every boxer present and get everybody’s picks for this weekend’s big fight. Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook. Two undefeated champions clashing in London, England in front of a huge crowd. It’s one of the biggest fights of the year, so Manny was curious, who do the boxers think is going to take this? And do any foresee a huge upset? More than one fighter admires Brook’s courage and hope he can make history, but that aside, the consensus is rock solid: Triple-G has got this.
Sorry, Kell; it’s not that Montreal doesn’t have any love for you, or that we hold anything against you after your demolition of our own Kevin Bizier. And in fact, Montreal has always been a city of romance and dreams, a city that loves underdogs and unlikely heroes. But when it comes to fisticuffs, evidently we’re realists. As Marie-Eve Dicaire puts it, “My heart goes with Brook, but my head goes with Golovkin.” Check it out: