It was a rumble to say the least in the main event at the “Rumble at the Rink” this past weekend as Aubrey “Bam Bam” Morrow managed to stop Paul Bzdel in the seventh round to capture the Western Canadian middleweight title in Nanaimo.
Taking place at the Frank Crane Arena, Morrow had the support of the hometown fans and managed to come through, putting a stop to the fight in the seventh round of one heck of a battle between “Bam Bam” and a very tough Paul Bzdel.
With the win, Morrow now improves his record to 8-1, seven of his eight wins by knock out.
It’s a win that puts Morrow in the discussion for a shot at the Canadian Middleweight Title, which Bzdel challenged for and lost via unanimous decision in June of 2014.
“Paul’s a tough opponent” coach Rich LeStage said. “He’s a great kid who’s challenged for the Canadian title twice.
“Nobody has ever put Paul in a fight the way that Aubrey did and nobody has put Aubrey in a fight the way that Paul did. We knew what we were up against and they brought the fireworks.”
“Being able to stop Paul, I think Aubrey is going to get a shot at the Canadian middleweight title.”
“The way that Paul fought the Canadian champion, I think this is a tougher fight. No disrespect to the champion (Francis Lafreniere) but there’s not a lot of fighters out there like Paul Bzdel.”
Morrow looked steady through the fight, minus one round where Bzdel momentarily took over the fight and hit Morrow with some good shots.
Morrow, however, managed to shake it off and came back with a solid finish to the rest of the fight, ultimately putting an end to it in the seventh round.
“This is a fight that makes you better,” LeStage said. “Any title fight Aubrey’s in from now on, he’s going to be able to look back at this fight and bear down.”
“It was a tough fight, Paul’s a heck of a fighter and he tested Aubrey, but Aubrey was able to take some shots in this one and still powered through. I’m very proud of Aubrey, it was a great night for the boy.”
Morrow, who put on an impressive performance, was happy to get the win in front of the hometown crowd.
“It feels good,” Morrow said. “It’s a longtime coming, we had a good training camp and it all came together. I was able to get a second wind later on in the fight and with the crowd, they gave me an extra boost for sure.”
“I felt a little slow to start off and after that fifth round where I took a bit, I came back out in the sixth and was ready to go.”
“That second wind made all the difference for me.”
In other action
• Dashon “Flyboy” Johnson scored a unanimous decision victory over Chris Aucoin in the opening bout.
• Alisah McPhee earned a decision win over Peggy Maerz to capture the Western Canadian women’s title.
• Gordy Racette, who was attempting to make history as the first Canadian to fight in five decades, wasn’t cleared to fight on the card in his pre-fight medical test.