Heavyweight Action in Canada: Spilt Decision in WBC World Title Clash
Today, boxing world title fights take place around the globe and are more accessible to watch than ever before. Sometimes, championship bouts do not receive as much attention and go underreported. Big Fight Weekend commits to writing about boxing news, previews, and recaps. As such, the site now has a recurring segment on championship bouts – from around the world from the past week.
The focus of these pieces will be on clashes ranging from atomweight to heavyweight that had the WBA, WBC, IBF, and/or WBO titles on the line. Today’s edition of “Title Fights From Around the World” consists of just one recap. The heavyweight championship of the world was on the line and it did not involve Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk.
Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse Defeats Abril Vidal
Recap of Heavyweight Action Between Joanisse and Vidal in Canada
Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) became the WBC heavyweight champion with a split decision win over Abril Vidal (10-2, 4 KOs). One judge had it 96-94 for Vidal, but the other two saw it 97-93 for Lepage-Joanisse. The clash took place on the undercard of Steven Butler’s first-round knockout of Steve Rolls on March 7 at the Casino de Montréal in Canada.
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The fight began aggressively, with both women not afraid to open up and trade with each other. Things slowed down in round two, and Lepage-Joanisse chose to box at range, a strategy she stuck to for a large portion of the fight. Vidal had moments of success, even causing blood to pour from the nose of her opponent from the third onwards. The final round saw both fighters slugging it out, but with Vidal having greater success as she came forward to land clean shots.
In the end, two of the judges saw Lepage-Joanisse do the better work over ten rounds. The win makes her the fifth woman to hold the WBC heavyweight title. This was the Canadian’s second attempt at the belt. In 2017, she lost via third-round technical knockout to Alejandra Jiménez. More than six years after that bout, the title is now in the hands of Lepage-Joanisse.
Currently writing out of Toronto, Canada, Saadeq first became a boxing fan while living in Doha, Qatar. Looking to become more involved in the sport, he began writing about boxing and has had work published in outlets such as Seconds Out and Boxing Social. He looks forward to continue covering boxing on Big Fight Weekend.
