MONTREAL — Undefeated super lightweight prospect Mazlum Akdeniz (16-0-0, 8KO) will have an opportunity June 2nd to cross an important stage of his career as he fights for his first career title – WBC Continental of the Americas – at the Cabaret of Montreal Casino against powerful, experienced Juan Antonio Rodriguez (32-8-0, 28KO), from Puebla, Mexico. The 24-year-old Akdemiz will already be in his third fight since his signing with GYM last December. Rodriguez, who fought for a world title in 2015, claims most notably an impressive 9th-round knockout victory over elite fighter Mercito Gesta (32-2-2, 17KO) in 2019.
Initially, the event was scheduled for May 5, but following the loss of the main event, involving former world champion Eleider Alvarez, Mazlum was upgraded to the main event position against a high quality southpaw, the popular Canadian requested greater preparation time as well as other considerations in Quebec, prompting GYM leaders to make this decision. All May 5th ticket holders can be refunded at the point of purchase, but they will all be honored for June 2nd.
This GYM/Probellum boxing event at the Cabaret of Mopntreal Casino is presented by Miso-O-Jeu.
Popular super lightweight Mathieu Germain of Mascouche (20-2-1, 9KO) will try to extend his win streak to three, which began with his brilliant performance against Steve Claggett (29-6 -2, 21KO) a year ago. His opponent in the 10-round co-featured event, Eduardo Leonel Rodriguez (9-2-1, 4KO), from Aquascalientes, Mexico, was an upset winner of Jonathan Medina (21-1-0, 16KO) by KO by way of a first-round stoppage in his last fight.
This event will also mark the return of one of Quebec’s brightest boxing hopefuls as two-time Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Wilfred “Freeboy” Seyi (9-0-0, 4KO) resumes his professional career. This spectacular 2019 WBC Junior champion has every intention of picking up where he left off versus Argentinian David Benavidez (8-5-0, 2KO), who has a good amateur background including his participation in the AIBA World Boxing Series.
Canadian prospect and former Canadian National Team member, promising Eric Basran (1-0), of Vancouver is scheduled to be in his second pro fight, versus Jorge Castro (3-5-2, 1KO), of Guadalajara. in a 4-round lightweight match.
Also in action in her professional debut will be bantamweight Sara Couillard against Flor Carrera (1-0-1), from Puebla, Mexico. Couillard is the spouse of the world title aspirant Patrice Volny (16-1, 10KO). More fights will be announced in the coming days.
TICKETS ON SALE
It’s an invitation to all! Tickets may be purchased for each event on ticketmaster.ca or by contacting GYM directly by email at info@groupeyvonmichel.ca
About Yvon Michel Group (GYM)
Groupe Yvon Michel is a professional boxing promotion organization founded in 2004 by Yvon Michel, Alexandra Croft and Bernard Barré, who are still active in the company, the most prolific organization in Canadian professional boxing. Since its foundation, GYM promoted 162 events in Quebec, all broadcast in Quebec on RDS, TVA Sports or Radio-Canada; and participated in 37 international events outside Quebec. Seven boxers have become world champions: Joachim Alcine, Jean Pascal, Adonis Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev, Eleider Alvarez, Marie-Eve Dicaire (twice) and Oscar Rivas. Seventeen GYM boxers have fought in 51 world championship fights. maintaining an excellent record of 27 -22-2. Major American television networks were more active than ever during this period in terms of coming to Quebec to broadcast the GYM’s most important events. On 36 occasions, major American networks presented a GYM event, showcasing Quebec, including HBO (8), Showtime (7), ESPN2 (10), Wealth TV (4), Spike TV (2), ESPN ( 3), CBS (1) and NBC Sports (1).
