By Alex Pelletier - 9/14/2005
Junior middleweight contender Joachim Alcine improved his perfect record to 25-0 (18 KO) on Saturday afternoon, scoring an 8th round stoppage of Marco Antonio Avendaño (20-5, 13 KO) in Montreal. Alcine picked his spots from the beginning, remaining tight defensively, with memories of hitting the canvas in his last fight perhaps still in his mind.
Alcine stayed behind his jab and did very little else against an opponent hesitant to go on the attack. The Haitian-Canadian started landing his right hand late in the fight, and by the 8th, began to lead with it. With a few seconds remaining in that round, one of these right hand leads caught Avendaño flush on the chin while he was trapped in a corner, and Alcine poured it on, forcing the referee to stop the fight at 2:51. A premature stoppage perhaps, but the Venezuelian clearly seemed out on his feet… It was Alcine's 7th consecutive KO victory, a streak he's been riding since April 2004… He is currently rated in the top 10 by both the WBA (5th) and the WBC (9th).
On the undercard, young Sébastien Demers (11-0, 4 KO) made the first defense of his Canadian junior middleweight title, also annexing the vacant Quebec regional title by disposing of Ian MacKillop (20-6-1, 11 KO), avenging a loss by KO back in the amateurs by an impressive unanimous decision. The more experience MacKillop hung in early, landing blows on the inside and opening a cut over Demers' right eye, keeping the fight a virtual deadlock up to the 6th round. But Demers used his height and reach advantage to establish his jab in the second part of the fight, sweeping these rounds on the scorecards en route to tallies of 98-93, 98-92 and an incomprehensible 100-90 in his favor… Demers has made his pro debut in October 2004, but has already fought 11 times, winning the Canadian title in his 8th month of activity, back in June… He has called out his #1 contender for the Canadian belt, Byron Mackie, after the fight.
Other undercard results from Montreal: Welterweight Victor Lupo decisionned journeyman Anthony Ivory (31-76-5, 13 KO). Lupo, who could soon be fighting his stable mate Adam Green for the Canadian title that could soon be vacated, improved his unbeaten record to 9-0-1 (6) … Meanwhile, 2004 Olympian Jean Pascal scored his 5th KO in 6 pro fights by stopping Barbados' Ricardo Kellman (5-2, 3 KO).
Be back next week for the results of the upcoming fight between Lucian Bute and Kabary Salem, and for a preview of the two major cards to be held in Western Canada at the end of September.
Fight on,
Alex Pelletier