By Darren S. Barcomb: On February 25th, 2011, Montreal’s SP Promotion launched their inaugural event titled Resurrection. The card had been originally scheduled to include Tommy “The Duke” Morrison, “Merciless” Ray Mercer, Joe Gatti, and Walid Smichet, but all those names were scratched for a variety of reasons.
SP Promotion hosted the gala at the Pierre Charbonneau Centre in Montreal in front of a modest but energized crowd. The main event featured Canadian Eric Barrak versus American Matt Weishaar, who had steeped in as a replacement for Morrison after he could not be licensed for the bout. With Morrison in his corner, Weishaar was quickly dispatched by Barrack by way of a 1st round TKO after a second knockdown. Barrak improved his record to a perfect 4-0 while showcasing superior movement and power.
In other bouts:
• In his professional debut, Mickael “L’unique” Gadbois won via split decision over James Carpio in a super featherweight bout.
• Andreiy Ivanov fought to a unanimous decision win over crowd favorite Stephane “Brutus” Tessier in a heavyweight battle. Using his sizeable reach advantage, Ivanov was able to consistently land jabs to outpoint Tessier, who managed to land several hard shots in the final two rounds to no avail.
• Stephane “Le Train” Landry came from behind in an exciting and action filled cruiserweight matchup to score a 4th round TKO over Francois “The Tank” Miville in another duel of professional debuts.
• In a grueling heavyweight bout, Louis “Sly” Sylvera scored a 4th round KO victory over Wayne John. Sylveria used a combination of speed and power to overwhelm John as the fight progressed.
The event also included two kickboxing exhibitions to start off the night. Overall, SP Promotion hosted a well received and appealing card. To make up for the absence of the advertised marquee names, they offered an extra ticket to any spectator who had previously purchased a $25 or $50 admission. Resurrection was able to come off, just not as planned, and leaves the door open for SP to promote follow-up events. The crowd seemed into the action but the talk of the arena was about Tommy Morrison. Many fans left the event wishing they had been able to see “The Duke” fight instead of watch idly by as Weishaar went down to Barrak. The only man in the building who was glad to see Morrison on the sidelines was likely Barrak himself.
Comments are closed.