Collette expects little opposition from Frees
Maritime heavyweight boxing title up for grabs Saturday at Shediac's Festival Arena
SHEDIAC - The way Julien Collette sees it, he will have an easy time defending his Maritime heavyweight championship belt during Saturday's professional boxing card at the Festival Arena in Shediac.
The Bouctouche native will clash with Anders Frees of Eel River Crossing in the main event on the eight-bout card. The doors open at 6 p.m. with the first fight set for 7 p.m.
Collette, 5-1, finished runner-up in The Next Great Heavyweight's inaugural tournament and he certainly stirred the pot during a tension-packed news conference yesterday. Frees is 0-1.
"To get in the ring, you need to be tough. But it's another thing to be plain stupid. What he's doing is stupid. It's suicidal. Taking this fight is not a good thing for him. I know my skills. I know what Anders can do and he doesn't match up to me whatsoever.
"I'm going to pick him apart in the first round, second round, maybe drop him a couple of times in the third round. People pay good money to come and watch the fight. I'm not going to knock him out in 30 seconds. Plus, I'm looking to gain experience."
Collette is No. 10 in the national heavyweight rankings compiled by the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation. If he wanted to knock out Frees in 30 seconds, could he do it?
"Probably I could," he said. "Maybe I will, too. You never know. Buy some tickets. Come and see. You know what, maybe I will knock him out in 30 seconds. Now that you're saying that, you've got me going."
Asked what he expected to see from Frees in this bout, Collette replied "Not much really."
Asked if he has any respect for Frees as a fighter, Collette commented "No, not at all. None whatsoever."
Tickets are on sale at Frank's Music in Moncton, Bayou and CC's Lounge in Shediac, Gaudet's Grocery in Cap-Pele, Joanne's Video in Bouctouche and by phoning 961-4265. The prices are $35 general admission, $55 ringside and $480 for the eight-seat VIP tables. The venue has a 1,500 capacity and it's almost half sold out.
Collette stared at Frees while others spoke during the news conference, an obvious attempt to intimidate. At one point, Collette interrupted proceedings and started telling Frees that he was too weak mentally to be a fighter.
"I admire his confidence," said Frees. "There's a fine line between being confident and cocky. I think he's crossed the line and is cocky, but then again that probably makes him the boxer he is.
"Knockout is a term you can use loosely. If that's the term he wants to choose for now, that's great. We'll see who uses that term after the fight."
Frees was asked if he gains extra motivation from Collette's comments.
"It's kind of fun to hear it," he said. "I definitely consider myself an underdog in this fight. I really have no comment on the things he's saying. He's a great fighter. I won't take anything away from him.
"He's got a long reach so common sense is I want to get inside on him. His jab works for him and he's a good boxer. He's 5-1 and I give him credit for everything he's done so far.
Hopefully, I can bring a good fight to the table and make an entertaining evening out of all this."
New Generation Boxing has staged seven professional boxing cards since June of 2009, five in Moncton and two in Shediac. Saturday's event, billed "Bombs Away," also marks the start of the second edition of The Next Great Heavyweight Tournament.
Warren Porter of Doaktown defeated Collette in the championship bout in the inaugural The Next Great Heavyweight Tournament. Porter then retired for medical reasons.
There are six combatants in the second edition of The Next Great Heavyweight Tournament. The matchups on Saturday are Dalhousie's Danny Savoie (0-0) vs. Elsipogtog's Mark Sock (1-1), St. Basile's Sylvain Roy (1-0) vs. Grand Lake's Adam Kennedy (0-0) and New Maryland's Joel Anderson (0-0) vs. St. Mary's First Nation's Justin Henderson (0-0).
The three winners and one loser who's voted in as a wildcard entry will advance to the second round of the tournament.
Chris Norrad of Boiestown will defend his Maritime cruiserweight title against Guy Desforges of Eel River Crossing. Norrad is 6-0 and Desforges is 4-3.
Norrad is No. 6 in the national cruiserweight rankings compiled by the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation.
In another championship bout, Moncton's Robbie Cameron (2-1) will put his Maritime light heavyweight title on the line when he meets St. Basile's Eric Roy (3-1).
Other bouts are Saint John's Jeff Lundberg (0-2) versus Shediac's Emile Arsenault (2-1) in heavyweight and Shediac's Pat Arsenault (1-0) against an opponent still to be named in middleweight.
"It's going to be a very exciting night," said promoter Dwayne Storey. "We've got a Maritime heavyweight championship bout for the main event. Julien Collette is a skilled tactical boxer, Anders Frees is a power puncher and there's obviously animosity between them.
"It's also exciting to have The Next Great Heavyweight Tournament starting again. It generated a lot of enthusiasm a couple of years ago. This is an eight-bout card that also features Maritime cruiserweight and Maritime light heavyweight championship fights. I'm sure fans will be happy with this show."
Storey added fuel to the fire when it comes to the fighters in the main event.
"Sunday was Mother's Day and as fate would have it Julien Collette and Anders Frees were both in the shopping mall at the same time," he said. "I heard from reliable sources that Julien made the gun sign with his hand and pointed straight at Anders.
"It seems like there's a personality clash between them. Julien is talking a lot about what's going to happen. Anders is taking the road of not saying too much about what's going to happen."
This article was taken from: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com
