For the first time in her career, on June 20, Marie-Pier Houle will be the headliner in a boxing gala. Above all, she will be on a mission, she assured.
On the stage of the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal, Houle (10-1-1, 3 KOs) will do battle with Mexican Karla Ramos Zamora (11-10-1, 4 KOs) in a 10-round duel in the super-lightweight division, during the next Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) boxing evening.
“I know it’s going to be a big fight because I have a tough opponent. We know her, we’ve seen her here before. But I had a big training camp, where we had fun,” declared the pugilist from Terrebonne during a press conference held at the Casino on Wednesday morning.
“And as Sébastien [Gauthier, her trainer] often says, “she never fell, but until she fell for the first time!” », then launched Houle, sneering.
“My mission is to continue to climb the rankings, and on June 20, I will be the one with my arm in the air at the end of the fight, that’s for sure. I’m not leaving here without a victory. It’ll definitely happen,” added the 31-year-old.
Not only will Houle enter the arena with a much more eloquent record than that of her opponent, but she has also made gains in the rankings of world boxing organizations since her victory, by retirement in the third round, against Argentina Marisa Joana Portillo on April 4, at the Casino.
During the press conference, GYM president Yvon Michel clarified that Houle is ranked second in the WBA, although she was previously unranked. In the WBO, she went from fourth to third level.
However, the Boxrec website, which establishes independent rankings, places the 33-year-old Mexican fifth in the category while Houle’s name appears ninth.
For this reason, Michel pointed out, Boxrec has established Zamora as a 66% favorite to win the fight, based on the rivals she has fought with in the past.
“It’s a big challenge. We had a choice at the start of training camp; we make an easy fight, we box from afar, or we go into our territory, which is the fight, which is the war, which is really the nature of Marie-Pier,” said Gauthier.
“We’re going to war. That’s really the theme of training camp. We worked so hard. Everyone can go to the floor,” added the Houle coach.
Five other fights are expected to make up this early summer boxing evening, including one that will feature Derek Pomerleau (8-0-0, 6 KOs), a 24-year-old middleweight from Mercier, facing Leonel Castenon (5-4-1, 3 KOs), a Vancouver resident of Mexican origin, in an eight-round duel.
Pomerleau, whom Michel considers one of the “best boxing prospects in Quebec,” will be looking for a fifth victory in a row by knockout.
This will be his third fight in four months. Last March, Pomerleau defeated the Czech Milan Ganoska by retirement in the first attack. In April, he knocked down Mexican Carlos Rodriguez for a one-count in the second round.
