Mexican KO artist on show for Canada

Ricardo ' Magic Man' Salas, an aggressive 19-year old Mexican boxer with a 7-1 record, will fight for Canada tonight, in the seventh week of the Wray and Nephew Contender series, against Jamaican newcomer to the professional scene, Sceantonie 'Scrappy' Johnson.

The action at the Chinese Benevolent Association auditorium on Old Hope Road, starts at 8:30p.m. with two amateur bouts. The main bout over five rounds in the welterweight division is scheduled for 9:30p.m. and will be broadcast on TVJ.

Johnson will be making his professional debut after an exciting amateur career, and he will be going against an opponent who started boxing for pay in October 2016, and has had eight fights in Mexico and Canada. Salas was named as their No. 1-seeded boxer by Team Canada. Neither Salas nor his trainer speaks English, but they were able to make it clear that their intention is to make a good impression tonight.

Salas has won by technical knockout (TKO) or knockout in six of his seven fights, and numbered among his successes is a first-round TKO victory over Jamaica's Devon Moncriffe, who is also in the Contender series. He met Moncriffe in Canada last October, and went on the attack immediately. Moncriffe told The Gleaner then that he was caught by surprise when his opponent came at him with a furious early attack, and the referee called off the contest.

Quick onslaught

"He caught me by surprise and before I could settle down, he was all over me. I was not too sure what happened then" said Moncriffe.

He also said that he would like to meet Salas again, as he is now in much better condition, at welterweight. Salas is, however, coming off his first loss, which was a split decision points defeat at the hands of Abraham Juarez.

Johnson said yesterday that he has been training hard for his professional debut and hopes to have a good first fight.

"I have heard about my opponent, but I am going in there to give of my best", he said yesterday.

His trainer Robert Napier confirmed that he had put in a lot of hard work and would be in good physical condition. "He has had some good sparring sessions and should hold his own," said Napier.

The winner of the Contender series will take home the title belt and $2-million. The prize money for the runner-up is $500, 000, third place gets $250, 000 and fourth place $200,000.