Less triumphant night for local undercard boxers
Cody Crowley wasn’t the only hometown boy fighting professionally for the first time in Peterborough Saturday night.
Unlike Crowley’s triumphant return to the city in the main event, it was a tougher night for Jay Corcoran and Andrew Slade.
Fighting on the five-bout undercard, in front of 3,500 spectators at the Memorial Centre, Ennismore’s Corcoran, a veteran of 70 amateur bouts, turned pro at age 45 and lost a majority decision to Napanee’s Jason Kelly by scores of 38-38, 39-37, 39-37. It was the first win in four bouts for Kelly.
Peterborough’s Slade, 25, made his pro debut against Mexico’s Enrique Contreras in a 168-pound fight and suffered a similar majority decision defeat. It was also Contreras’s first bout.
Corcoran was the aggressor most of his fight laying a foundation with body blows while Kelly, who bloodied Corcoran’s nose in the first round, stuck more to head shots. It was a competitive bout in each round with the hometown crowd chiming in to encourage Corcoran.
While supporters told Corcoran after the fight they thought he got robbed, the boxer didn’t know what to think.
“It was a close fight. The bottom line is I had a game plan I didn’t execute,” he said. “I crowded myself which I’ve had a habit of doing throughout my career. I didn’t establish my range with my jab early. I think I hurt him to the body early and I just got in too tight. I couldn’t follow up with another couple of shots.
“My hat’s off to him. He surprised me. I thought with an MMA background he’d try to brawl me but he actually boxed a lot more than I thought he would,” said Corcoran.
He said there is nothing quite like boxing in how you bare yourself in front of so many people.
“There is nowhere to hide. You put yourself out there and when you walk away anybody can say whatever they want to try to console you, but I need to figure it out on my own,” he said.
Slade gave a crowd pleasing effort, with chants of “Andrew, Andrew” spurring him on but Contreras took the four-round nod 38-38, 39-37, 40-36..
Slade rushed his opponent in the first round and may have expended more energy than was wise. A case could be made for Slade in either of the first two rounds but Contreras was much more effective over the last half of the fight opening a mouse under Slade’s eye. Contreras poured on the pressure in the fourth and had Slade in retreat in the latter stages until the hometown boy ended the bout with one of his better punches.
Bowmanville’s Abokan Bopke kicked off the card with a onesided win at heavyweight over Argentina’s Javier Lardapide. Bopke dropped his reluctant opponent to a knee with a body shot 1:44 into the third round and he didn’t get up.
The second bout was much more competitive with two skilled boxers. Oshawa’s Jerome Gabriel improved to 3-0 with one knocked by taking a unanimous decision (39-37, 40-36, 40-36) from Argentina’s Maximiliano Ledesma at 168 pounds. Gabriel was a bit slicker, mixing up combinations with an occasion right to the body. Ledesma landed perhaps the best punch of the fight a little too late in the dying seconds. Gabriel’s best moment was a 20-punch flurry when he trapped Ledesma in a corner in round two. It was Ledesma’s first loss after two knockout wins.
Mississauga super-welterweight Micheal Brandon showed plenty of promise with fast hands and good combinations in winning all three judges’ cards by 60-54. Brandon improved to 5-0 with two ko’s. Martinez fell to 9-3.