Sports News
Olivier Lontchi KO's Ruben Estanislao
Olivier Lontchi is ready for bigger fish after knocking out Ruben Estanislao in the shortest fight of his career.
Lontchi (17-0-2) dropped his Mexican opponent with a shot to the liver only 30 seconds into the second round of their scheduled 10-rounder on Saturday in a non-title super-bantamweight fight at the Montreal Casino.
After a cautious opening round, the Montreal boxer threw a harmless-looking right to the body. Estanislao (18-11-3) didn't react at first, but after taking a couple of steps to his left, got a pained look, dropped to a knee and was counted out.
"I expected to get him in the solar plexus, that was the target, but I got him in the liver," said Lontchi. "I was trying to hit as hard as I could. "I wanted power punches whenever I could get them. It's been a year since I knocked someone down, so I'm happy."
Lontchi is ranked fourth by the WBA and ninth by the WBO and said it is time for a world title fight, or at least an eliminator that will lead to a shot at one of the major belts.
The WBA title is currently held by Panamanian Celestino Caballero, who will fight a unification bout against IBF champ Steve Molitor of Mississauga, Ont., on Nov. 22 at Casino Rama in Ontario.
Promoter Yvon Michel said that if Caballero wins, the WBA normally would declare him a super-champion and then hold either a single bout or a tournament to decide a secondary champ. That would be Lontchi's best short-term hope of getting into the title action. And if, as expected, Molitor wins, Lontchi said he's ready for him, too.
"Since a long time ago I think I'm ready," said the Cameroon-born Lontchi. "It's not just because I won this fight. "I know I'm not a super fighter. I'm not going to put myself in the same place as a (Manny) Pacquiao, but I'm sure that I can give these people a good fight."
Otis Grant, who helps train Lontchi with his brother Howard Grant, said he "would like Olivier's chances against Steve Molitor.
"I think the only 122-pound guy we have to worry about is Juan Manuel Lopez, the Puerto Rican (WBO champ). He's the cream of that division, but even if he came our way, I think Olivier's ready to make the move."
The Molitor camp could not have been overly impressed with its last look at Lontchi. On a Molitor undercard at Casino Rama in August, Lontchi was knocked down in the first round by Roberto Lopez and needed a furious comeback to earn a draw.
Lontchi still fumes at the referee of that bout for failing to give him a point or even declare him the winner when he had Lopez in trouble in the eighth, but Otis Grant had a different take. "Our brother got married in Toronto that day, so Howard and I weren't able to make it," he said. "It was Olivier's first fight without us. "He was probably not as comfortable as he should have been."
Marc Ramsay, who trains super-middleweight contender Jean Pascal, took over as trainer for that bout.
"I hope with the fight I had today I'll forget what happened in Ontario," added Lontchi.
In the co-feature, 23-year-old Ali Chebah (28-1) of France wore a Montreal Canadiens jersey into the ring and then knocked out Pipino Cuevas Jr. (13-3) of Mexico at 1:15 of the third round.
Chebah is now co-promoted by Groupe Yvon Michel and Bernard Roos of Switzerland and has moved to Montreal to train under Howard Grant. His presence got the fight card onto Eurosport TV across the Atlantic.
Trainer-broadcaster Russ Anber's latest protege, 19-year-old light middleweight David Lemieux, stopped Patrick Tessier (3-8) of Longueuil, Que. at 2:51 of the second round, on his fourth knockdown, but still wasn't happy.
"I didn't want to get hit as much as I did," said Lemieux (12-0), who has knockouts in all his pro fights thus far. "We wanted a KO, but in a better style. "I was trying to knock him out too fast and he was tough. I should have taken more time."
Only eight days after he was roasted in the media across North America after the controversial ending to the Lucian Bute-Librado Andrade title fight at the Bell Centre last week, referee Marlon B. Wright was back in the ring for the first bout on the card.
This time, super-middleweight Nicholson Poulard (11-2) won all eight rounds clearly over American Joe Park (8-4).
Wright said he was pleased with the support he got from top officials and by at least some of the media, including Anber on TSN, on how he handled Andrade's last-round knockdown of the IBF super-middleweight champion Bute. He was especially pleased that IBF president Marian Muhammad and former New Jersey commissioner Larry Hazzard backed him up. "It's starting to turn in my favour now," said Wright. "People have watched the tape and seen that I made the right decision."
In other bouts, welterweight Kevin Bizier (2-0) of St-Emile, Que. shut out Cesar Figueroa (0-2) of Mexico in a four-rounder, and Manolis Plaitis (13-0) of Montreal won a unanimous eight-round decision over Michael Springer (7-5-1) of Toronto in a light welterweight contest.
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