Mrdjenovich Wins Rubber Match With Gerula By Devastating Knockout
Captures Vacant W.I.B.A.
Featherweight Championship
By Darren Hauck
©Photograph By Guhdar Photography
On Friday December 9th 2011, at the Shaw Conference in Edmonton, Alberta KO Boxing Promotions in association with Independent Jewellers held an action packed event titled “Fire & Ice”. The main event of this card was the highly anticipated third match between Jelena Mrdjenovich, now 26-8-1, 13KO’s of Edmonton who was taking on Olivia Gerula, 13-13-2, 3KO’s from Winnipeg, for the vacant W.I.B.A. World Featherweight Title. Both of these women really wanted this rematch and even though Gerula took the fight on short notice she came into the fight in tremendous shape. In addition, both women are former world champions and both have earned a victory over the other. This was the fight to settle the score.
In the end it was Mrdjenovich who finished things with a brutal ninth round knockout of Gerula, much like their first encounter in 2004 that saw Gerula face down on the canvas for several minutes after a Mrdjenovich left hook. This will unquestionably be a strong candidate for knockout of the year.
The fight started out fast with both women going toe to toe in the middle of the ring. Mrdjenovich had the reach advantage and used it, landing good jabs on Gerula. Gerula landed a nice overhand right in round one. The 5′ 7″ Mrdjenovich had a difficult time against the 5′ 3″ Gerula in the clinches resulting in Mrdjenovich holding Gerula’s head down a lot in the fight. In the second round Mrdjenovich was warned for this by referee Len Koivisto. However, Mrdjenovich landed 5 unanswered left shots to Gerula’s body but Gerula kept pressuring.
There were great exchanges in rounds three and four with Mrdjenovich landing good body shots and a nice left hook and Gerula countering with jabs and overhand rights. In round four, Mrdjenovich was warned by Koivisto for using her elbow to defend. This championship fight was also the first time the W.I.B.A. used the Open Scoring System meaning the scorecards were announced to everyone at the end of rounds four and eight. The score at the end of round 4 was 39-37 in Mrdjenovich’s favour.
Round five was fairly even between the two but round six went to Gerula. She landed a very nice right hook, showed great defence and movement which caused Mrdjenovich’s jabs and attempted body shots to miss. Round seven had Mrdjenovich and Gerula landing their jabs with very nice right hand shots as well. Gerula was warned by ref Koivisto for charging in with her head. In round eight both women exchanged jabs and Mrdjenovich started loading up on her punches often missing her target. The announced score at the end of round eight was 78-74 Mrdjenovich.
At the 23 second mark of round 9 after some close exchanges Mrdjenovich caught Gerula with a lethal left hook/uppercut that dropped Gerula flat on her face on the canvas.
Gerula did not move and remained in that position until the medical staff arrived in the ring. After taking precautionary measures, Gerula was raised to her feet and the crowd gave her a well deserved applause. Olivia Gerula gave everything she had on this night and was a very worthy challenger. Jelena Mrdjenovich left nothing for the judges to decide and is the new W.I.B.A World Featherweight Champion.
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Ramadan Wanted Nothing To Do With Franjic
The semi main event saw Steve Franjic of Orangeville, Ontario improve to 7-0, 4KO’s as he won by a second round disqualification over Abdallah Ramadan, 15-12 of Montreal. This fight started off with Ramadan landing some very good left hands to the body and head of Franjic. Franjic landed good stiff jabs and was walking Ramadan around the ring when Ramadan threw a few low blows. Ramadan was warned by referee Don Smart for this illegal act. Immediately after the action continued, both fighters went at it and Ramadan threw a few more punches that went south again. Referee Smart stopped the action and deducted a point from Ramadan.
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The fight remained ugly from Ramadan’s repeated low blows and referee Smart took away another point. Near the end of the opening round Ramadan could have been disqualified but Smart missed the shots from his ring perspective and the round ended with the jeers from the angry crowd. Almost immediately after round two began Franjic started mixing it up with Ramadan and Ramadan landed at least 4 more cheap shots below the belt so referee Smart waved the fight off and disqualified Ramadan at 1:25 of round two.
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MacKenzie Victorious In Pro Debut
Paul MacKenzie of Edmonton was victorious earning a 40-36, 40-36, 39-37 unanimous decision win in his highly anticipated pro debut against Gary Kopas, 2-3, 1KO of Saskatoon. This fight did not disappoint friends and fans of both fighters as both men brought their A game on this night in Edmonton.
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In round one, Kopas was trying to make it a short night but MacKenzie proved to be too slick as he moved like a seasoned pro with great head and body movement, Mackenzie avoided most of the bad intentioned punches that Kopas is known for. Round two saw Kopas still hunting down the slickster MacKenzie, but never really landing punches and MacKenzie sticking and moving.
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Round three was more of the same for both fighters with MacKenzie landing some good body shots and Kopas throwing his jab and looping shots. Mackenzie had Kopas against the ropes near the end of the round. In round four both fighters were winded but it did not deter them from their goal of victory as Kopas kept moving forward pressuring MacKenzie with narrowly missed punches on his constantly moving target. The crowd got into it at this point chanting P-Mac, P-Mac and both fighters were still standing at the end of this match up.
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It is not very often that you find a young man so dedicated to the sport he loves. Paul Mackenzie is that young man. He is good for boxing not just in Alberta, but Canada and beyond. Keep an eye out for him as we are sure he will be around boxing circles for a long time.
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Hague Makes Short Work Of Graham
In another pro debut match Edmonton’s Tim Hague knocked out Patrick Graham, 6-6-1 of Grand Prairie, Alberta at 1:31 of the second round. Hague the former 3 time UFC competitor and Graham who has not had a professional boxing match in over 10 years met each other this night in a scheduled 4 round fight. Hague from the beginning loaded up with looping shots and landed a overhand right that put Graham down to a knee for the 8 count from Ref Koivisto. In round two Hague landed a left hand right right combo that dropped Graham for the final time. With more Boxing 101, Hague should do well as a Heavyweight.
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Gladu Finally Gets His First Win
Edmonton’s Clayton Gladu, picked up his first pro boxing victory and moves to 1-5-1 as he stopped the debuting Mariusz Zastawny who is also from Edmonton at 1:27 of the second round. Gladu dedicated himself to the sweet science this time to put a victory in the win column. After starting his professional career in 2008, Gladu had some fights that could have went either way. With proper guidance from his crew at the Panther Gym in Edmonton (Benny Swanson, etc) Gladu came in faster, stronger and on a mission. From the outset Gladu showed good pressure against Zastawny landing good jabs and a body shot that put Zwastawny down for a 8 count. At the 1:27 mark of round two, Gladu landed a great right uppercut that dropped Zastawny for the final time. He was counted out by Ref Smart, giving Gladu a well deserved TKO victory.
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Bzdel Wins By Split Decision Over Campbell
Paul Bzdel of Saskatoon moves to 3-2-1 picking up a 39- 37 x 2 & 38-39 split decision win over the debuting Shane Campbell of Edmonton. This was a very good fight with Campbell showing he is more than just a one dimensional fighter. His boxing skills are continuously improving and he gave the Saskatchewan scrapper all he could handle. Bzdel is five fights into his pro career and has very good punching skills from all angles. There is never a boring fight with Bzdel. Campbell showed good skills on this night throwing well placed combo’s and uppercuts and Bzdel countered with well timed shots to the body and head of Campbell. In the exchanges throughout the fight, Bzdel was just 1 step ahead of Campbell and pulled out split decision victory.
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Dragich Stays Undefeated
In the opening fight of the card Nick Dragich of Edmonton remains undefeated at 3-0 as he stopped Bobby Kalmikoff, 0-2 of Edmonton. In this fight Kalmakoff exposed the MMA curse of rushing in and trying to KO his opponent from looping punches and a lucky shot. Dragich let Kalmakoff do his thing and then dropped him with a nice left hand. Kalmakoff could not continue and the fight was stopped at 1:06 of the first round.
