The Undercard Fighters, beyond the silence

The Prelim Fighters The Spotlight

               

by Brian Zelley

Looking back at most boxing cards, the

prelim fighters on the undercard are

often overlooked in the pre-fight  buzz

and seldom get the headlines in the

news.  Often they are deligated to 

a one or two lines in the pages of 

a newspaper, if at all.

However, a June 15th pro boxing card

in Moncton, New Brunswick was 

slightly different as is elevated the names of those

often forgotten boxers.  One of the boxers to 

break through the ice of silence was heavyweight

Julien Collette who boxed against Sandy Pembroke.

Another name that was mentioned on on-line stuff

was Jonah Arbuckle who competed against Eddie Gates.

* other boxers included:

Richard Arsenault, Travis Connors, Marcel Maillet,

Luke Noel, Brad Foulagi and Kevin Cormier.  

*for all ten of these boxers that fought, we may not know

their complete story, but we now know their names.  

Many of them are boxers from New Brunswick 

which may not be well known in such places as Vancouver

Island or Williams Lake, British Columbia or Red Deer Alberta.

But, we can now appreciate their combined effort that for some

would end up being a waiting game to get their purse and expenses

for a variety of reasons that could be taken out of the pages of 

a "comic opera".   

A Boxers tale:
Luke Noel  -  the 20 year old from Campbellton had his pro debut
a year ago with a victory over Chance Whalen at Shediac and
the referee was Frank Cormier.  In the Moncton bout, Steve would
face the more experienced Marcel Maillet jr.

Travis Conners - the Miramichi warrior was engaged in his 9th pro 

fight against PEI's Richard Arsenault.  The pro debut of Travis took
place in 2009 with a victory in Moncton.  Arsenault was engaged in
his second pro boxing bout.  His debut took place in 2012

Jonah Arbuckle - the Moncton middleweight was fighting in his 11th.
pro fight  and earned a victory over Eddie Gates.  Jonah began his
pro journey in 2006 against Scott King.  He also enganged in a bout
for the vacant Canadian  super middleweight  title.  Some of the
past champions included Adam Trupish, Kit Munro and Otis Grant. 
The consensus by many was Jonah demonstrated some good skills
in his comeback fight in Moncton.  

Kevin Cormier  - Was fighting in only his fourth pro fight.  His 
previous three bouts that ended in victories took place 2011
in Shediac, New Brunswick.

The next round: 
* This block was a spin-off of the Julien Collette story
of how one boxer fighting in one of the bouts in the .undercare
suddenly has become the star of the June 15th boxing card
due to his decision to stand up and be counted, but the
initial price he paid was to be suspended for one year.
In the words of a line in an old Moody Blues song:
"It can happen to us all, don't it make you feel small>"
However, across Canada, there a voices speaking out
about the need to reinstate, the one boxer that made
a difference.  One of the high profile names of Canadian
boxing to speak out for fairness is boxing legend
Nicky Furlano of Ontario.