Rumble at Rama VIII

Last night I was ringside at Casino Rama officiating for the Rumble at Rama VIII. As usual it was very smoothly run and they really put on a great show up there. The venue is perfect for boxing and it looked like a sell out crowd again. There was 6 fights on the card showcasing some good Canadian talent.

First up was a women's super batamweight 4 rounder. French Canadian Nathalie Forget improved her record to 2-0 with a 4 round shut out of Amanda Ayotte. Forget looked very accurate and barely missed a sinlge punch. I felt she could have easily gotten a TKO if she pressed the action a little more but seemed to be content with going the distance. To Ayotte's credit she took all the shots and did survive to the end.

The second fight was the pro debut of super middleweight Pedro DeMelo from Milton. He took on Juan Sanchez from Nova Scotia. I have to say I was impressed with DeMelo....he looked very calm and in control for it being his first professional fight. He has a good style and pounded out an easy 4 round shut out. Sanchez was game but never really in the fight. Keep an eye on DeMelo.

Next up was Hamilton's Justin Fountain taking on Ivan Flores of Mexico in a 4 round junior middleweight contest. This one had some good action and good exchanges especially towards the end of the fight. Both fighters look exhausted by the midway point but Fountain was able to land enough clean shots to take the decision. Fountain's right uppercut being the best tool in the fight.

Canadian Heavyweight Champion Greg Kielsa fought an overmatched and overweight Byron Polley in the night's 4th fight. Kielsa kept his composure looking to box but Polley was a game fighter and did land some decent left hooks in the third round but was dropped by a body shot.
In the 4th round Kielsa was actually stunned when he moved in to finish Polley...he legs buckled momentarily before he was able to drop Polley again en route to the 4th round KO. Polley just barely made the count and the fight was waved off.

In a very interesting matchup, an undefeated junior middleweight prospect from the U.S., Austin Trout (17-0-13KO) took on Brampton's Shawn Garnett. Garnett started out well showing great defensive skills slipping most of Trout's shots. He had a very good second round which had me wondering about an upset in the fight. But as Garnett tired and slowed down by the 3rd round Trout picked up the pace and found his range landing more and more often. Garnett was never able to get back into the fight in the second half and Trout walked away still undefeated with an 8 round unanimous decision.

The main event saw the return of the "Canadian Kid" Steve Molitor. Molitor took on the tough mexican Heriberto Ruiz for the IBF #2 ranked super bantamweight eliminator over 12 rounds.
It was the clear that the Casino Rama crowd was there to cheer on their fighter. The fight though turned out to be more of a chess match with not alot of action. They started very slow over the first couple rounds trying to figure each other out which did draw some boo's from the fans who were hoping for a little more action. The rounds were close but I felt Molitor was stealing them with the cleaner shots. When they did exchange Molitor was the faster of the two and landed the better punches. Around the 5th round Ruiz caught Molitor with a right hand that appeared to shake him momentarily and Molitor played defensive clearing his head. Midway through the fight there was an accidental beadbutt that left Molitor with a decent cut high up on his head. The cut wasn't in a bad spot but they were never able to stop the bleeding so it looked much worse than it was. The last half of the fight was much like the first. Ruiz stole a few rounds here and there but Molitor controlled it for the most part with the cleaner shots. The fight was actually called a split decision but I had personally scored it 117-112 for Molitor. Two of the judges had it 116-112 for Molitor and one had it the reverse 116-112 for Ruiz. Ruiz was the aggressor for most of the fight but he was just not effective. Not a stellar performance for Molitor but still a victory and that's what counts. He will be returning to Rama on September 4th for his next fight. All credit to Allan Tremblay for a great show again.