In the Main Event at Mississauga, Ontario’s Hershey Centre, in front of about 4,000 spectators, Canadian Welterweight Champ Victor Lupo (17-1-2, 9KOs) entered the ring to battle an opponent in Mexican Ulises Jimenez (16-12-1). Jiminez had been Koed 7 times in those 12 defeats so on paper, the fight looked like a walk in the park for the returning national champion. However, paper can be decieving as Mr. Lupo quickly found out. The fight would see a very rusty Victor Lupo earn himself a draw after 8 rounds in his first bout in nearly two years. In fairness to Lupo, he truly did control the pace for almost the entire bout and he definitely inflicted more damage throughout. A fair case could be made that he deserved the victory. After being dropped on what, from ringside, appeared to be very poor footwork, Lupp found himself in a hole early on. As Lupo slightly stumbling forward directly into the path of a solid right hand from Jiminez, right on the button, that dropped Lupo on the seatof his trunks to produce the first and only knockdown of the fight. From that point on, Lupo’s timing and accuracy issues became apparant. The Canadian champ threw many wild shots while eating his share of leather after opening himself up. It was enough for the officials at ringside to call this battle even (76-75 Jiminez, 77-75 Lupo, and 76-76).

The co-main event rematch between Niagara Falls based fighters, Scott Paul and Harrison McBain. Although it was a very close contest,it did not deliver the same energy or intensity of the first meeting of the two, when they both made their pro debuts. McBain would squeak out a 1 point split decision in a slower paced chess match with the fans being asked if they wanted to see a 3rd fight between these two upon the fight's completion. Judging by the crowd’s response level in comparison to the rest of the evening, the answer was a resounding “No” from the paying fans in attendance. McBain improves to 3-2-1 while Paul slips to 5-4.

The strong brawling Canadian (of Serbian descent) Neven Pajkic improved his undefeated record to 11 wins with no loses when he outslugged Florida Heavyweight Jason Gavern (18-7-3, 8Ko’s) over six rounds. This fight was full of electricity and the fight fans in Mississauga, judging from the noise, loved every minute of it! Neven opened up the bout doing just enough to land more often, and more consistently with his power shots, earning him the nod in the early rounds. Both fighters were rough housing in the ring constantly during the brawl with Pajkic being the obvious instigator as he intentionally looked to trade big shots with the smaller Gavern. Gavern however, came to fight his fight and having only ever been stopped once in his career (at the hands of the undefeated top world ranked Heavyweight Denis Boytsoz), he displayed that he had no quit in his heart. Gavern began to win over some fans for his efforts as he came on strong in spurts as the fight progressed even showboating for both Pajkic and the fans. It was definitely an entertaining bout with Pajkic getting the fans riled up one more time in victory upon the fights completion. Following the official ruling, he presented his challenge to current Canadian heavyweight champion's manager, who was also sitting ringside.

Quebec Lightweight Champion Jorge Banos and Steve Marsh,who fights out of Billy Irwin’s Fight Club gym in Niagara Falls, also did not disappoint. Banos boxed well after picking himself off the canvas early in the 2nd round, twice for what would be a single knockdown on the official scorecards. Banos would attest that Marsh was not necessarily at fault for the 2nd knockdown, when Marsh dropped Banos before the referee waved the fighters to resume. Marsh would show flashes of solid boxing throughout this bout, but definitely not as often as the more experienced and more refined Banos. Banos would deservingly go on to outbox Marsh and win a 58-55, and 57-56 (x2) unanimous decision. Though the result was a disappointment for both Marsh and his new trainer Billy Irwin, both were pleased with the effort.

Heavyweight Denton “Dangerous” Daley (with trainer Dewith Frazer at his side) made his pro debut against a man known more as a trainer of Ontario amateur boxers, Irving Chestnut. Daley who is expected to campaign as a Cruiserweight, accepted this heavyweight challenge to start his career without hesitation. While showing extreme poise under pressure for a young up and coming fighter, Daley's punches were often wild and winging, nothing uncommon for those making their pro debuts. It took Daley less than a minute into the contest to realize that his opponent was not at his level as the showboating and haymakers began to rain upon Chestnut. Winding up the right hand (ala Sugar Ray Leonard), then landing it flush sent Mr. Chestnut to the mat, one of many trip for Irving. After 3 very onesided rounds and 4 trips to the canvas for Chestnut, Daley had his hand raised in victory for the 1st time as a pro.

In an unexpected result to open the show, last minute sub Ritchie Reittie scored an impressive 2nd round knockout over Juliusz Bunda, the 3 time OBA Ontario Golden Gloves Champion. Reittie (1-0, 1KO) may have lost the first round on the cards but things would change dramatically in the 2nd. Reittie started round 2 by firing solid flurries while Bunda looked to continue landing the more powerful punches, mostly to the body. That is until Reittie unleashed a the right hand that landed so cleanly, Bunda’s eyes rolled up into his head. Bunda was sent down under the bottom rope completely out cold forcing the ref to stop the bout immediately and call in the doctor.

Two major notes on this card actually took place in 2 of the local Ontario fighter’s corners. The first would be in the corner of Victor Lupo. Lupo is no longer with Atlas Boxing Club and has joined the Chris Johnson Fighting Alliance camp! Lupo had trained under Johnson for only 3 weeks prior to this bout. Lupo is also the 2nd Canadian Champion to operate out of the CJFA gym, the other is Canadian Bantamweight champion Andrew Kooner. The other very noticeable change was in the corner of Neven Pajkic. Pajkic now calls the Cabbagetown Boxing Club his home , a move made before he even knew who his opponent was going to be. Although not in top form, Pajkic was undeniably in better shape than his last outing, coming in 12 pounds lighter.

The kickoff of the United Promotions 2010 Fight Series had to be viewed as a real success. Ironically, it was the undercard of young up and coming fighters and topped off with a good old fashioned heavyweight tilt that came through in the clutch for the newly formed Boxing Promotion. The 8 Promoters of United Promotions; Don MacDonald, Syd Vanderpool, Billy Irwin, Dewith Frazer, Bryon Mackie, Tyler Buxton, Lee Chisholm and Mike Schmit delivered on a very entertaining evening of Professional Boxing, while keeping a focus on developing young local boxing talent! Look for more of the same at the next event on March 27th, once again at the Mississauga Hershey Centre just outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada!!!

If you wish to contact the author of this article, email John Robbins at FightNews Canada