Nationally-ranked boxers on Shediac card
Local favourites make up many of tomorrow's fights
SHEDIAC - There will be five nationally-ranked fighters on tomorrow's eight-bout professional boxing card at Festival Arena in Shediac. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the action begins at 7 p.m.
Julien Collette of Bouctouche will battle Matt Anderson of Minnesota in a heavyweight bout that serves as the main event. Collette is 7-1, Anderson is 6-5-1 and both have five knockout wins.
Collette is No. 6 in the national heavyweight rankings compiled by the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation. He's fresh off winning the Eastern Canadian heavyweight title.
"Collette is making a big step up in this match," said New Generation Boxing president Dwayne Storey, who's promoting this card. "Anderson is a veteran fighter who's originally from Sweden. He brings international experience and a big punch."
Advance tickets are $20 for seats in the stands and $30 for seats on the floor. These prices increase $5 on fight day.
Ringside seats are sold out. There are a couple of VIP tables and approximately 200 tickets remaining. For information on VIP tables, call 961-4265.
Tickets are available at Frank's Music in Moncton, CC's Lounge and The Bayou in Shediac, Gaudet's Grocery in Grand-Barachois, Try Us Video in Cap-Pele and Joanne's Video in Bouctouche.
The public is invited to the weigh-in tonight at 6 p.m. in the multi-purpose centre which is located beside Festival Arena.
Chris Norrad, No. 5 in the Canadian cruiserweight rankings, will look to improve his 9-0 record when he faces Fred Mallery of Petitcodiac.
Norrad, of Boiestown, won The Next Great Cruiserweight Tournament and he's currently the Maritime cruiserweight champion. He was recently voted Atlantic Canada's top professional boxing prospect.
Emile Arsenault, No. 7 in the Canadian cruiserweight rankings, will face mixed martial arts veteran Todd Henry of Moncton. Arsenault is 4-1 with two knockout wins and Henry is making his pro boxing debut.
Arsenault, of Shediac, is putting his New Brunswick cruiserweight title on the line in this bout.
Jonah Arbuckle, No. 4 in the Canadian middleweight rankings, will meet Minnesota's John Hoffman. Arbuckle, a Moncton native, is 6-2.
Eric Roy, No. 4 in the Canadian light heavyweight rankings, will look to improve on his 4-2 record when he defends his Maritime light heavyweight title against Guy Desforges of Moncton.
Pat Arsenault of Shediac and Jason Bernava of Moncton will square off for the New Brunswick super welterweight championship. Arsenault is 2-0 and Bernava is 0-1.
Ron Savoie of Eel River Crossing and Jeff McKay of Moncton will clash. Savoie, former Canadian middleweight champion, is 7-6-1 and McKay is 1-0.
Kevin Cormier of Cap-Pele and Danny Savoie of Dalhousie will do battle in heavyweight action. Cormier, a former professional hockey enforcer, won his pro boxing debut in August with a first-round knockout of Saint John's Jeff Lundberg. Savoie is 0-1.
"We have five fighters on this card who are in the Canadian rankings," said Storey. "My goal is to get these guys a shot at the Canadian title. We also have some others coming up that we think will be in the national rankings in the future.
"Ron Savoie was the last New Brunswicker to win a Canadian title and that was 15 years ago. My hope is that over the next two or three years we will have multiple Canadian champions from New Brunswick."
Storey began his career as a professional boxing promoter in June of 2009. This will be the 10th card he's staged, including his fifth consecutive event in Shediac.
"It's a great market because we have fighters from Shediac, Cap-Pele and Bouctouche and it's only a short drive from Moncton," he said. "These fighters are very popular in their hometown and have a solid following. Between Kevin Cormier, Pat Arsenault, Emile Arsenault and Julien Collette, probably 70 per cent of our crowd comes to watch them."
This article was taken from: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com
