InterBox has added five quality undercard bouts to its Friday, October 15th boxing card that will take place at the Montreal Bell Centre. These bouts will be in addition to the IBF World Super Middleweight title bout featuring champion Lucian Bute (26-0-0, 21 KO) vs. Jesse Brinkley (35-5-0, 22 KO) and the co-feature, pitting former WBC Light Heavyweight champion Adrian “The Shark” Diaconu (26-2-0, 15 KO) against former World title contender Omar Sheika (30-9-0, 21 KO).
Ionut “JoJo” Dan (26-1-0, 14 KO) makes his long anticipated return to the Bell Centre ring to face Andres Pablo Villafane (16-5-3, 5 KO) from Argentina in a bout scheduled for 8 to 10 rounds. JoJo will renew acquaintances with his Bell Centre fans after having disputed his last 3 bouts away from Montreal. The Romanian born top ten World rated boxer will be looking to rebound from a controversial points loss last June to Selcuk Aydin (20-0-0, 15 KO) in Aydin’s country of Turkey for the WBC Silver Welterweight title. Many observers saw Dan winning the bout, but the three judges at ringside gave the nod to Aydin.
JoJo performed like a true champion in Turkey. He should have been declared the winner of that fight. The important thing is that despite the loss, JoJo knows what it takes to win a World title. He proved it. I am convinced he will come back stronger than ever and will offer his fans a great performance come October 15th” states Groupe Sportscene Inc. and InterBox President Mr. Jean Bedard.
Villafane will be disputing his 25th professional bout. He will be fighting in Quebec for a third time in under 4 years, having registered unanimous decision losses to Paul Clavette and top ten World rated Antonin Decarie. Villafane is coming off consecutive victories by KO.
Gaudet, Gauthier, Cote and N’Tetu also in action Benoit Gaudet (22-2, 9 KO), from Drummondville, Quebec, is scheduled to face Ceferino Dario Labarda (19-2, 7 KO), a southpaw from Argentina, in a bout scheduled for 8-10 rounds. Gaudet will be looking to score a third KO in a row and continue his climb back up the World ratings.This will be Labarda’s second trip to Canada, having gone 10 rounds with current IBF 122 lb champion Steve Molitor in 2008.
“We wanted to give Benoit a good solid test on October 15th, and we believe Labarda is the perfect opponent for him. Beating Labarda convincingly should land Benoit a top 15 spot in the World ratings. Our plan is for Benoit to participate in a major bout by the end of 2011” states Jean Bedard.
In the bantamweight division, Sebastien Gauthier (18-2, 12KO) from St-Jerome, Quebec, will face one of his toughest opponents to date in Julio David Roque Ler (29-6, 17 KO). Gauthier, a long-time member of InterBox, will be looking for his 19th professional victory. Ler has won his last three bouts (two by KO), and has laced up the gloves against some high profile boxers, having gone 12 rounds with former 115 lb World champion Jorge Arce in 2007.
Ler is a very experienced boxer, having fought 35 pro bouts at 29 years of age. Ler has only been knocked out once in his career, and three of his six defeats are to former World champions.
To round out the card, InterBox protégée Pier-Olivier Apou Cote (12-0, 7 KO) will exchange hostilities with Walter Sergio Gomez (22-9-1, 11 KO) in a 6-8 round bout, and Francy N’Tetu (4- 0, 1 KO) from Saguenay, Quebec, will face Martin Desjardins (7-16-4, 3 KO) from Quebec City.
The ringside sections are sold out for the InterBox October 15th Gala, but good seats are still available at the Bell Centre Ticket Office. Interested fans can contact the Bell Centre ticket office by dialing 514-790-2525, or by visiting www.evenko.ca. Group ticket packages are also available at InterBox by calling 450-645-1075.
