By Dave Spencer / Fightnews Canada at ringside
If most two handed fighters can’t make it out of the second round with middleweight knockout sensation David Lemieux, what chance does a one-handed fighter have? The answer: hardly any. Lemieux disposed of Purnell Gates (18-2 13KO) with the Michigan fighter’s corner throwing in the towel after two knockdowns in the second round on Friday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Gates had grabbed his right hand early in the first round, wincing in pain and started running as far and fast as he could for the remainder of the bout that officially ended at 2:50 of round two. Lemieux who is ranked #3 by both the WBA and WBC remains perfect at 25-0 scoring his 24th stoppage, the 21st within the first two rounds.
Renan St-Juste (22-2-1 15KO) destroyed Sebastien Demers (31-4 11KO) at :54 of the second round, knocking the super-middleweight down and capturing the NABO championship. A counter left hand buckled the knees of Demers and St-Juste chased his opponent across the ring with two more lefts, putting him on his back and out cold.
Arash Usmanee (10-0) won a hard fought 98-91, 99-90, 97-92 decision over Pedro Navarrete (25-10-3), capturing the vacant NABA super featherweight title. Both fighter had their moments in what was a very entertaining bout. Usmanee controlled most of the action and scored a knockdown in the fifth round.
Lightweight Tony Luis( 11-0) scored a 77-75, 77-75, 76-76 majority decision over Aldo Navarrete (25-13) in a bout that Luis controlled throughout.
Super-featherweight Kevin Lavallee (3-0-1 3KO) went past the first round and to the scorecards for the first time in four fights and had to settle for a 38-38, 38-38, 39-37 majority draw with Isaac Bejarano (9-8-1 7KO) of Mexico. The Ste-Adele fighter came out quickly in the first round landing with authority over Bejarano, but unlike his previous fights, his opponent remained tough and withstood the initial barrage. The Mexican was able to land some right hands in the middle rounds but nothing of true significance on Lavallee who had trouble putting his punches together and remaining fluid throughout the bout, loading up instead of letting his hands go.
Junior-middleweight Ahmad Cheikho hasn’t made it past the first round since 2006, going 3-1 in that time including Friday’s win versus Justin Fountain of Hamilton. Cheikho showed improved hand speed and started landing left hooks from the beginning and soon realized that everything being thrown, was landing. Fountain went down twice and was on his way to a third time when the bout was halted at 1:44. Cheikho moves to 5-2-2 with his third straight victory.
In a pair of lightweight bouts featuring newcomers, the local fighter came out on top. Tyler Asselstine needed all of two punches and 37 seconds to dispose of Dave McQuaker (1-3) who didn’t make it out of the first round for the third time in a row. Meanwhile in the opening bout of the evening, Gylain Maduma was forced to the scorecards and scored an easy 40-36 (x3) decision over Sezer Erunsal 3-10-2 of France.
