McGuinness faces Major test

24 year-old NABA Super Featherweight champion, Logan Cotton McGuinness (16-0-1, 8 KO’s), has handled the potentially treacherous transition from boxing prospect to boxing contender with brutal flair.

No longer simply punishing foes while honing his craft, Orangeville’s McGuinness has spent the past two years winning boxing’s hardened critics over with career-best efforts in a succession of fights put forth by promoter Hennessy Sports designed to test his will, as opposed to merely showcasing his skills.

As a result McGuinness has honed his style into a well-rounded blend of polish, poise, and power, combining nimble footwork, fluid combinations, and a crowd-pleasing style, all with fight-ending force.

All of those attributes were there for the world to see last October at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, when McGuinness took the biggest step of his professional career, dropping down from 135 to take on former world title challenger Benoit Gaudet for the vacant NABA 130 lb. title.

Despite being behind on the judges score cards throughout the first half of the fight, McGuinness was nonetheless unyielding in applying pressure from the opening bell, and finally got to Gaudet in round 11, staggering him along the ropes before flooring the renowned veteran for the count.

Now a full fledged contender on the world boxing scene (WBA’s 8th ranked Super Featherweight) McGuinness has to prove once again that he belongs in the shortlist of top fighters at 130 lbs. when he defends his title against Buffalo, New York’s KO merchant Meacher "Major Pain" Major (20-4-1, 17 KO’s) in the main event of See Thee Rise, promoted by United Promotions and Hennessy Sports this Saturday, May 12th at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga..

After being stopped veteran Dorin Spivey in November of 2009, Meacher has rebounded by notching stoppages in three of his four consecutive wins heading into the battle with McGuinness.

Wielding knockout power, Major has gone the distance with the likes of Lamont Peterson in August of 2005 and lost a split decision very early in his career to eventual world title challenger Edner Cherry.

It’s the kind of challenge that separates prospects from suspects, and contenders from pretenders. And it’s one that McGuinness must overcome to maintain his status as one of boxing’s true young lions.

UNDERCARD:

Undefeated Canadian Welterweight Champion and fan favorite Samuel Vargas (10-0-1, 4KO) will once again step into the ring in what is sure to be another crowd-pleasing performance as he takes on the veteran spoiler Arvydas Trizno (14-18-2 1KO) in a six round welterweight battle. Vargas is fighting for the third time already in 2012, coming a huge 1st round stoppage over Manolis Plaitis to win the title in February and a 5th round TKO over Ferenc Zold only 3 weeks later.

Trizno, a true road warrior, has fought 18 times in the past 12 months against top notch opposition, going the distance in a tough battle with former WBC World Champion Junior Witter and dropping a disputed split decision to undefeated Rory Coveney.

Undefeated Cruiserweight prospect and former Canadian Amateur Champion Denton Daley (5-0, 2KO) of Kitchener, ON, moves up to his first scheduled eight-round bout versus the always dangerous former cruiserweight champion Frank White(7-6-2, 5KO).

Fan favorite Brandon Cook (5-0 2 KO) faces Zoltan Surman (12-8-1 6KO) in a six-round middleweight fight.

Steven Wilcox(1-0, 1 KO) a lightweight from Hamilton, Ontario who is the oldest of five fighting Wilcox brothers at their father’s Steeltown Boxing Club, meets David Aucoin (2-5 1 KO) in a scheduled four rounder.

Junior middleweight Junmar Emon, of Toronto, makes his pro debut in a four-rounder against Hamilton’s Daryl Peron (0-1), and Dillon Carman takes on Matt White in a 4 round Heavyweight contest. All fights and fighters are subject to change.

Tickets, starting at $30.00 are still available through Ticketmaster at (855) 985-5000 or ticketmaster.ca, and additional tickets allocated for walk-up traffic have just been released at the Hershey Centre Box Office.