Mathieu Germain was “proud” and “happy”, but also relieved, in a way, to have gone through his fight against Steven Wilcox, which he won by unanimous decision of the judges, Thursday evening at the Place Bell, on the undercard of the event featuring Jean Pascal.
Declared the winner thanks to scores of 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94, Germain (22-2-1) captured the IBF intercontinental super-lightweight belt, which will allow him to rise among the first 15 aspirants to the crown held by Subriel Matias. “It’s a new chapter that is opening for me,” said a smiling Germain at a press conference.
“But it’s been a long training camp, a very long camp and now I need a rest. I felt like flat and very tired during the fight. I’m due for a vacation. »
“Mathieu had been in the gym since August and I reiterate that his fight could not be postponed another time. He had to fight there, added his trainer Stéphan Larouche. I was afraid I had stretched the rubber band a bit too much, but he had too many tools for a guy like that. »
Even if he conceded a few inches in size to Wilcox (24-4-1), Germain nevertheless managed to regularly hit the target with his jab in addition to being very effective in counter-attacking with his left. He notably took advantage of his opponent’s passivity to dictate the pace of the duel.
Wilcox had his best moments when he was active and let his hands go, but Germain never allowed him to take flight by bouncing back from each of the rounds he dropped. Germain always managed to do a little more to curry favor with the judges.
The Quebecer, however, suffered a slight scare in the ninth round after the Ontarian cut him in the right eye after an accidental headbutt, but the breach was quickly sealed by his cornerman Pierre Bouchard. “It’s going to make for great pictures,” joked Germain.
Promoter Yvon Michel mentioned that Germain could get back in the ring this summer and that opportunities will certainly arise with his new status as a world contender.
In the main undercard fight, Jessica Camara missed the chance to get her hands on the IBF international light welterweight belt when she was stopped by Karla Ramos Zamora at 1:46 of the 4th round. The Mexican forced referee Martin Forest to put an end to the hostilities by hammering the Montrealer with a dozen blows to the face that remained unanswered.
Camara (10-4), who lost by split decision to light welterweight champion Kali Reis in a unification bout in November 2021 in England, had her hands full very quickly with Ramos Zamora (10- 9-1, 3 K.-O.), who had already suffered defeats by unanimous decision against Marie-Ève Dicaire and Leïla Beaudoin in the past. Camara was never able to stop Ramos Zamora breaking through her defense despite having both hands high.
Caroline Veyre (3-0) remained undefeated by beating Anaëlle Angerville (5-2-1) by unanimous decision (60-54, 59-55 and 59-55). As much as the start of the confrontation was explosive, it was totally Veyre’s business thereafter. The Quebecer indeed demonstrated an impressive technical control which ensured that almost all of her French opponent’s strikes no longer reached the target as the rounds followed one another.
In addition, note also the hasty victories of Joseph Ward (9-1, 5 K.-O.) over Mario Andrade Rodriguez (7-1) by stoppage of the referee at 1:31 of the 1st round and Yoel Angeloni (2-0) over Alexander Calixto (1-2) by referee stoppage at 1:29 of the 2nd round. Finally, Amanda Galle (8-0-1) defeated Lorena Cruz Aispuro (4-3) by unanimous decision (80-72, 80-72 and 79-73).