Francis Lafreniere shook off six years of inactivity to defeat Francy Ntetu by unanimous decision on Saturday at La Nesra in Montreal.
Two judges scored the fight 97-92 and 96-93 for Lafreniere, while the third scorecard was not read by the ring announcer for the main event, which headlined a card on Triller TV.
The win set up an all-Quebec showdown between Lafreniere and former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, who met Lafreniere at center ring for a staredown after the decision was read. No date or venue was announced for that fight, though the bout had already been suggested in pre-fight press releases.
The 37-year-old Lafreniere, 21-7-2 (11 KOs), who had not fought since his fifth-round stoppage win over Francesco Cotroni in 2019, was stepping up two divisions to light heavyweight. Despite this, Lafreniere, a native of Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, appeared to be the stronger of the two fighters early on, rushing his opponent to the ropes, where he kept the 43-year-old Ntetu, 19-7 (4 KOs), pinned for most of the night. Although this approach meant Lafreniere was smothering most of his offense, limiting him to uppercuts and hooks to the body, it also meant the quicker Ntetu couldn’t get extension on his own shots.
The peril of giving Ntetu punching room became apparent in the fifth, when Ntetu created just enough separation to open up a combination punctuated by a left hook that sent Lafreniere to the canvas. The knockdown proved to be merely a scoring matter, as Lafreniere shook it off and went back to smothering Ntetu and scoring with short punches.
Despite posturing and taunting from Ntetu, he never was able to make as much of an impression again in the fight.
Pascal, who like Ntetu is 43, most recently fought in June, when he was stopped in four rounds by Michal Cieslak in a fight for the interim WBC cruiserweight title. Pascal’s record is now 37-8-1 (21 KOs).
After nearly two years away from the ring and 14 years after he turned pro, Steve Rolls has won his first-ever domestic championship.
The 41-year-old Rolls, 23-4 (12 KOs), ended a two-fight losing streak with a split decision win over Jan Michael Poulin to lift the Canadian junior middleweight championship. The scores were 97-93 and 98-92 for Rolls, while the third official had it 96-94 for Poulin.
The fight, which was Rolls’ first ever at 154lbs, nearly ended in a no-contest after a headbutt in the fourth round opened a serious cut near Rolls’ right eye. The cut continued to bother Toronto’s Rolls throughout the fight – and even in the moment, as he voiced his frustration with the roughhouse tactics of the aggressive southpaw Poulin – but it didn’t detract much from his skill.
Rolls did more to assert himself as the fight progressed, nearly dropping Poulin with a counter right hand in the seventh as the 42-year-old from Mascouche, Quebec, jumped in while squared up, leaving him vulnerable to the follow-up attack of Rolls. Poulin was warned twice for using his head on the side where Rolls was cut, but Rolls responded by stunning Poulin once more with a right that sent him to the ropes.
The loss is the second straight for Poulin, 10-3-3 (2 KOs), who dropped a unanimous decision to Mitch Louis-Charles in June.
Rolls, who jumped to the world level in 2019 with his 2019 knockout loss to Gennadiy Golovkin, had been knocked out in the first round in his most recent fight, against Steven Butler in March 2024.
In a battle of unbeaten fighters with a draw on their records, Guillaume Gosselin lived up to his “One Punch” nickname, blowing out Stephane Barthelemy in the first round of their scheduled four-round welterweight bout. The fight was stopped at the 2-minute, 24-second mark, with Gosselin improving to 3-0-1 (2 KOs) while Barthelemy dropped to 1-1-1.
After a slow first two minutes, Gosselin turned up the heat in the final minute, dropping Barthelemy with an overhand left. Barthelemy beat the count but was hurt once more with an overhand left and was rendered defenseless against the ropes, taking several more punches before the fight was waved off.
A knockdown in the second round proved to be the margin of victory for Hubert Poulin as he defeated Facson Perrine by unanimous decision in their four-round light heavyweight bout. Two judges scored the bout 38-37 while the third had it 40-35 – all for Poulin, 5-1 (1 KO), of Quebec City. The result sent the Mauritius native Perrine, 2-1 (2 KOs), to his first defeat.
Poulin, 36, had to battle through a serious cut in the third round. Drenched from head to toe in blood, he used clubbing overhand rights to push Perrine back consistently.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
