2023-04-21 03:44:00
MONTREAL – “I would have liked it to last longer. I had trained so hard. I had worked on so many things in the gym that the icing on the cake was the fight. »
Quebec heavyweight Alexis Barrière was prepared to stop American Michael Marshall before the limit, but certainly not in 2 minutes 49 seconds as was the case in the final of the Groupe Yvon Michel event held Thursday evening at the Cabaret of the Casino de Montreal.
Barrière (10-0, 8 KOs) thus recorded a 10th victory in as many fights following Marshall (6-5-1) probably injured his left knee following a fall to the floor which however, seemed innocuous. He then remained on the ground for long minutes and was still sitting on his stool when the house announcer formalized the verdict.
“I hit him on the counter-attack, except that I didn’t feel like my shot had landed that much, explained Barrière, who was in his first final at the Cabaret du Casino, when he left of the arena. It was when I saw that he took his knee that I understood what was happening.
“It was my intention to finish it quickly, but in a way that I had worked on in the gym. My coaches had just told me to crank up the volume, muffle him even more so he freaks out and starts throwing whatever. What I wanted was a knockout. spectacular. »
His trainer Laszlo Marien also shared his disappointment, given that Marshall had been specifically chosen to work on certain aspects of Barrière’s boxing. After beating “a tough opponent” in his last duel, this time he faced a “slick” rival.
“We had the chance to choose the opponent we wanted,” recalled Marien. This won’t necessarily be possible anymore, as Alexis’ name is starting to circulate. Some boxers do not want to face him at all or will still ask an exorbitant amount to do so. »
In the short term, Barrière’s salvation lies in becoming one of the training partners of a top boxer. The left-hander was also expected to help the whimsical Tyson Fury in his preparation for a shock once morest Oleksandr Usyk which however never materialized.
“The ideal would be for Alexis to be invited by a boxer top-5 or top-10 so that he is used to a large volume at high intensity, said Marien. This kind of boxer is surrounded by a professional team that works full time with very good training plans.
“It’s extremely difficult for a training partner to embark on a camp like this, but right now it’s exactly what is needed for Alexis’ progress. »
Over the past few months, Barrière has had the opportunity to put on the gloves in the Boston area and he has recognized that the experience has been very useful to him in his journey.
“Just the fact of meeting boxers that I don’t know is great,” said Barrière. These are guys who want to make me look bad and want to impress their world. It is also for me the chance to concentrate only on boxing, to forget my life in Quebec. »
Victories for Osias and Blemenfeld, a draw for Poulin
In the semi-finals, Terry Osias (12-0, 6 KOs) remained undefeated following beating Niclas Elfstedt (11-2-1) via referee stoppage at 2:24 of the 2nd round. Osias, who is in remission from cancer, proved far too talented for his Swedish-born rival, who had recorded almost all of his victories once morest inexperienced boxers or with losing records. After a first round during which he installed his jab, Osias quickly went on the attack in the second and his sharp strikes encountered no difficulty in manhandling poor Elfstedt.
Former Canadian amateur champion Thomas Blumenfeld (2-0) served a real boxing clinic to Mexican Luis Enrique Morales Hernandez (4-8-2) before winning by unanimous decision (40-36, 40-36 and 40-36). Blumenfeld, who turned pro in June 2022 but was only on his second outing since, had hands that were simply too fast for his opponent, who constantly urged the Montrealer to throw more and more punches at him. . Blumenfeld had huge success when he tackled the body of Morales Hernandez.
In the opening, Jan Michael Poulin (7-1-3) had his hands full with the Czech Michal Chludil (3-1-2) and finally had to settle for a shared draw (58-56, 57- 57 and 55-59). The medium from Mascouche, who was fighting his first fight since September 2019, boxed once morest the cables for a good part of the confrontation in addition to having been cut in the brow bone of his left eye in the third round. The breach was never completely closed, however, so Poulin had the left side of his face stained with blood at the end of the six-round confrontation.
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