Thursday night at the Convention Centre in downtown Winnipeg, King John Boxing presented "Hometown Heroes", a fight card that featured some of the best fighters fighting out of the Manitoba capital today. Olivia Gerula, the WBC Super Featherweight champion of the world headlined the card while Larry "Razor" Sharpe, a former Canadian champ and NABA champion, and Chad Brisson, a former Canadian champ and Super Lightweight contender saw action as well.

Olivia “The Predator” Gerula successfully defended her WBC Super Featherweight crown with a 10 round decision victory over Brooke Dierdorff of Elgin, Illinois. There was no feeling out process in this first round and it was all action from both fighters at the bell. Dierdorff had some success early, landing her left hook effectively over the first 2 rounds however, they appeared to have little effective on a very focused Gerula. Gerula quickly made proper adjustments and began to find her range. As the fight progressed, the champ was able to time Dierdorff with lead right hands and used great inside body work to gradually wear down her challenger. Ringside judges scored the fight 98-92, 98-92, 97-93 at no surprise to anyone. “The Predator” retains her WBC strap for the second time and improves upon her winning streak (now at 5 fights). Her record improves to 13-10-2 with 3 wins coming by KO. Dierdorff drops to 6-5-1.

Coming off an 8th round decision loss to Nicolas Poulard, Larry “Razor” Sharpe returned to his winning ways as he manhandled Jose Humberto Corral over 8 rounds. Corral (18-16, 12KOs) used his ring savvy and generalship to win the first round over a slow starting Pine Falls fighter. Throughout rounds 2 and 3, Sharpe was able to score more frequently with solid lefts to the body mixed in with the occasional uppercut or two. The durable Corral absorbed the leather and withstood the punishment. Rounds 4 through 10 were almost identical with Sharpe dominating this Mexican opponent who has very little answer in return. Final scores of the bout read 80-72, 79-73 and 79-73. Should this be Sharpe's final bout as a professional, then he should be congratulated on a stellar career which included capturing the Canadian Middleweight title, NABA Super Welterweight title, and the WBA Fedecentro Light Middleweight titles. At the conclusion of his 8 year career, "Razor" Sharpe had compiled a final record of 25-8 with 12 KO victories. All that being said, there are rumours floating around that Sharpe may take on current Canadian Middleweight champ Adam Trupish in the fall.

In his first bout in almost 4 years, former Canadian Super Lightweight champion Chad "Bad Intentions" Brisson was in tough, battling a former Mexican World Amateur champion in Jose Corona. Brisson showed very little ring rust over the opening 2 rounds. He was able to control the pace of the bout with a steady jab, followed by an overhand rights which had Corona on a steady retreat. As the fight progressed, Corona began to get inside Brisson's jab and force his brawling style upon the Winnipeg fighter. At this point, Brisson (22-2. 12KOs) stopped using his jab altogether. Brisson was able to weather the storm, occasionally firing back with right hand combinations that caught the attention of his adversary. Brisson found his jab once again in round 7, keeping Corona (8-12, 6KOs) on the outside. Heading into the last round with Brisson slightly ahead on the scorecards, the two fighters went toe-to-toe for the final three minutes, much to the delight on the crown. With the decision left up to the judges, two of them gave Brisson the edge 77-75 while the final judge saw the contest even at 76-76 giving Brisson the majority decision victory. This fight was undoubtedly the fight of the night.

Undercard fights results:

Light Middleweights: Lee Laquette (Winnipeg) Wu4 Roland Valdal (Winnipeg)
Heavyweights: Nick Penner (Stienbach, Manitoba) TKO3 Dana Swan (Winnipeg)
Featherweights: Darby Smart (Chisholm, MN) Wu6 Hassan Wasswa (Minneapolis, MN)