The Western Canadian Middleweight title will be on the line when Aubrey “Bam Bam” Morrow steps into the ring
May 23 at the “Rumble at the Rink” in Nanaimo.
Morrow, who enters this fight on a two fight win streak (7-1 overall), will take on Paul Bzdel (5-6-1 overall) in what is scheduled to be an eight-round bout. The match between the two will be the main event on the card, which has been put together by Gloved Up Promotions.
“We’re very excited about this match,” coach Rich LeStage said. “Aubrey is coming off an impressive performance against Cameron Rivera, who was a highly touted fighter in the United States, where he made it look rather easy.”
“We know this is going to be a tougher fight for us. Paul has taken on a lot of the top names in the middleweight division and he’s had some great matches.”
After making his return back to the ring last year, Morrow was successful last summer at the Port Theater with a victory over Jonah Arbuckle.
He followed that up with another KO victory over Rivera last November, setting him up for a shot at the Western Canadian Middleweight title.
“Aubrey has been very impressive since his return,” LeStage said. “He’s matured a lot as a fighter, which is great to see. He’s had lots of injuries in the past and it was something that we had to worry about.”
“Now Aubrey is more focused, he’s more aware of what he can do and he’s more mature about the way he goes about his business.”
With the title fight being so close to home, Morrow will have the home-crowd advantage on his side. It’s something that LeStage knows will help fuel his fighter that much more but knows it comes with the potential to be damaging as well.
“It’s great that we get to be so close to home,” LeStage said. “Aubrey is used to fighting anywhere but here so it doesn’t really matter to us where the fight was going to be.”
“We’re happy it’s here though and for Aubrey to have the chance to fight for the title in front of family and friends, that’s something, that doesn’t happen all that often.”
“It’ll be a motivational factor but we can’t play it up too much, or it has that potential to backfire on you. But I know the kind of fighter Aubrey is and he’s going to give it his all no matter who he’s fighting and where the fight takes place.”
Morrow will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Mark “Machine Gun” Woolnough, who won multiple titles in his career. LeStage knew from day one that Morrow was “next.”
“I used to call him ‘Next’ when he first started,” LeStage said. “He’d come in to the gym and that’s what I’d call him, ‘Next.’ Aubrey didn’t know what I was talking about and I just said, ‘You’re next up to follow after these guys’.”