by Hans Olson
This Thursday’s “Fast and Furious” card at the Belle Centre in Montreal was originally scheduled to be headlined by Laval native Antonin Decarie. Decarie was to take on Mexican veteran Jose Luis Castillo for the NABF’s vacant title at 147 lb. Unfortunately, Antonin suffered an injury while training. Speaking to Fight News’ Dave Spencer, Antonin’s trainer Marc Ramsay quoted “It was last week and he was feeling a pain in his chest. The day after, it was a lot worse and he saw a doctor and tried to rehab the situation, but the last sparring that he did the injury was a lot worse. I was unable to put him in the ring in that condition, especially with an opponent like Castillo.”
Injuries happen in boxing, and although fans were excited to see Decarie back in action, they’ll still get their money’s worth with the return of local favorite Dierry Jean (19-0). Nearly a year after breaking his jaw beating Wilfredo Negron, Dierry squares off against Francisco Lorenzo (37-10) in what will now be the evening’s featured bout.
Dierry Jean is a fiery, athletic boxer with power. His high knockout percentage (he’s knocked out 13 of 19 opponents), and aggressive style make him a crowd favorite. Lorenzo is essentially a journeyman, but has been in with solid opposition. He’s taken Erik Morales, Jorge Linares, Luis Ramos Jr., and Humberto Soto all to the distance. In fact, Lorenzo owns a dubious DQ victory over Soto as well:
A stoppage by Dierry Jean would be impressive. Look for all action in this one.
Also appearing on the bill will be Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (5-0), who takes on Michael Walchuk(9-4) in a scheduled 10-round bout. A big-time puncher, Alvarez moved from his native Columbia to Montreal a few years ago, and is now being trained under the watchful eye of Marc Ramsay. Alvarez had a stellar amateur career, winning Gold at he Pan-American Games back in 2007. Many scribes had called Alvarez the best Columbian amateur since Robinson Pitalua, and he could be one of Quebec’s next big stars professionally. Check out Eleider’s knockout of Jesse Sanders in his pro debut (3:53):
Featherweight prospect Tyler Asselstine will also see action when he steps into the ring against Cristian Palafox. The heavy-handed southpaw from Ottawa has been very active; this will be his 7th fight in since he turned pro just under a year ago.
Check out his vicious knockout of Dave McQuaker (4:21):
Also set to see action on Thursday will be heavyweight Oscar “Kaboom” Rivas (6-0), prospect Ghislain Maduma (4-0), Welterweight Manolis Plaitis (16-1-1), Longueuil native Abdou Sow (5-1), and heavyweight hope Didier Bence (2-0).
Boxing Insider’s Hans Olson can be reached at hanswilliamolson@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @hansolson