BoxRec

Oscar Rivas vs. Sylvera Louis in Play For March 16 in Quebec

romoter Yvon Michel of Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) is finally getting ready to stage a show in Canada.

According to Mathieu Boulay of the Montreal Journal, Michel will be able to stage a boxing gala on March 16 at the Hotel Plaza de Quebec.

Initially, this boxing night was scheduled for February 26 at the same location. However, Michel was only able to obtain this week all the necessary approvals from the Public Health of Quebec and the Regie.

The deadline was too short for the boxers to provide all their medical documents to the Regie.

Headlining the March card will be a heavyweight rematch between Oscar Rivas (26-1, 18 KOs) and Sylvera Louis (8-5, 4 KOs). The two already faced each other in 2012 and Rivas won by split decision.

Up to 120 spectators could attend the event, but they would not be stationed around the ring. In total, Michel has received authorization to present seven fights. If there is a fight that falls out for whatever reason after the date of March 2, Michel will not be able to replace it on his card.

The boxers and coaches must adhere to a 14-day quarantine before the event.

During this period, they will have to limit themselves to one bubble at home and another at the gym. These are the only two places they can be found. These clauses will also be part of their contracts.

However, due to a decree that has been passed in the last few weeks, boxers and coaches will not need to do a 10 day quarantine after the event.

Rivas has not stepped into the ring since his decision loss to Dillian Whyte in July 2019. A 19-month stint of inactivity which is notably due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Yvon Michel has some interesting plans for him in 2021. With a victory against Louis, his next fight would be presented at the end of May or the beginning of June - which may have the newly created WBC bridgerweight title at stake.

He's been away so long I haven't even thought about him.

Oscar Rivas to Face Sylvera Louis In Rematch on March 16th

The very first fight to be fought at the brand-new weight class, “bridgerweight” will take place on March 16 in Quebec, Canada. Oscar Rivas, last seeing action in a fight with Dillian Whyte back in May of 2019, has opted to move down to the new weight class – 200 to 224 pounds – and he is already ranked as the number-one WBC bridgerweight contender.

The fight, dubbed “The Homecoming,” will be scheduled for just eight rounds. Rivas, 26-1(18) defeated Louis, 8-5(4) when they met back in 2012, this via split decision over four rounds. The card will go out live on FITE PPV, the price $29.99.

Plenty of fight fans were aghast when yet another weight division was unleashed on a sport that already has far too many weight divisions, yet here we are, set for the inaugural fight at bridgerweight.

Whether the new weight division catches on and becomes universally accepted remains to be seen. Rivas, a good fighter who pushed Whyte pretty hard in losing the decision in a fight that contested the WBC interim heavyweight title, could have stayed where he was and campaigned for another big heavyweight fight, but instead, he has dropped down a few pounds.

In all honesty, though he may be battling ring-rust having been out for almost two full years, Rivas should have no real trouble defeating Louis. Louis has not fought since way back in September of 2016, when he was KO’d in a cruiserweight fight. Louis has been stopped four times in total.

The March 16 fight will see the man known as “Sly” move up a few pounds. Rivas is 33 years old and he needs to get his career moving again if he’s to have any real chance of winning a world title.

But even if Rivas did go on and win the WBC bridgerweight championship, how many fight fans would really and honesty care?

If there are no big names fighting at the new weight, where will the fan interest come from? Former WBC heavyweight ruler Deontay Wilder, looked at by many people as a relatively “small” heavyweight, in poundage, if not in height, has already said no thanks to the invite to fight at the new weight.

Rivas is one of the bigger, more recognisable names currently ranked at bridgerweight. Here is the current Top-10:

Champ – vacant.

1: Oscar Rivas
2: Kevin Lerena
3: Bryant Jennings
4: Dmitry Kudryashov
5: Evgeny Romanov
6: Artur Szpilka
7: Alen Babic
8: Shigabudin Aliev
9: Bilal Laggoune
10: Lukasz Rozanski

There is a fair to good chance a good number of fight fans will not have even heard of some of these fighters. A new weight class has to start somewhere and who knows, maybe the bridgerweight division will one day catch fire.

But there is a long, long way to go. One name that does interest this writer is Russian slugger Dmitriy Kudryashov, currently ranked at No.4.

Kudryashov is raw excitement each and every time he steps into the ring and even though the bearded banger has lost his biggest fights at cruiserweight (Yunier Dorticos taking him out in a couple of rounds in a WBA cruiserweight title fight, this back in 2017), he might be able to add some genuine excitement to the new weight division. Kudryashov, 24-3(23) gave us a thriller of a slugfest last time out, when he won a close one against Vaclav Pejsar in December of 2019.

It will be interesting to see who the 35 year old fights in his bridgerweight debut.

Tomorrow night.

Oscar, the greatest bridgerweight who ever lived. I will be watching

Not every day that you get to watch a GOAT live in action

some heavier guys might struggle tryin to fit into that new shit weight class for the sake of hypothetical 'better' opportunites.

rivas was around 250 couple of last times out. barely any fat, pure bulk.

for sure it won't do him any good to shed 20+ pounds for the weigh in and hydrate up to his fight weight.

but i got no clue how he prepared weightwise for his premiere in that nonsensical shit division.

he's a seasoned pro, guess he knows what he's doing.

just saw they weighed in at 203 and 221 for rivas. couldn't find a picture.

that fight makes zero sense for rivas.

lowest of his career! judging by that weight, he is obviously serious about being the bridgerweight goat


i think its just something that was easy to make since they are both in the same area and have fought before. to keep rivas active again.

0 interest in this fight.

Crazy weight in, Rivas looks in good shape at high 230s...Did he get sick? is that why his opponent is so trash? Has he decided bridger is shit and is moving his way to Cruiser?

bridger limit is 224 isnt it, so he's right near there


probably wasnt draining any weight at all before. he couldve slimmed down here ,or just sweated it out

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 19:19 bridger limit is 224 isnt it, so he's right near there


probably wasnt draining any weight at all before. he couldve slimmed down here ,or just sweated it out

Or one last crapola before weigh-in.

Any fighter that's going to compete as a Bridgerweight basically ceases to exist in my mind. It's a fake weight class, and they're a Heavyweight that has decided they don't wish to be relevant.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 18:20 lowest of his career! judging by that weight, he is obviously serious about being the bridgerweight goat


i think its just something that was easy to make since they are both in the same area and have fought before. to keep rivas active again.

ALI - hw
Holyfield - cw
Rivas - bw

The holy trinity of goats

gilgamesh wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 19:25 Any fighter that's going to compete as a Bridgerweight basically ceases to exist in my mind. It's a fake weight class, and they're a Heavyweight that has decided they don't wish to be relevant.

stop denying the mans greatness homie

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 19:53

gilgamesh wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 19:25 Any fighter that's going to compete as a Bridgerweight basically ceases to exist in my mind. It's a fake weight class, and they're a Heavyweight that has decided they don't wish to be relevant.

stop denying the mans greatness homie

He's a loser, and he has no integrity.

Oscar Rivas haters are growing, that's a sign he's doing something right

I don't hate him. He's irrelevant to me. Same as if he didn't exist at all.

You're saying he's a loser with no integrity, he living rent free in dat head mate

You'd be more effective at winding people up if you weren't so obvious about what you're trying to do.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 20:36

You'd be more effective at winding people up if you weren't so obvious about what you're trying to do.

Don't take that away from him, it's the only thing he's got.

adislav123 wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 18:01 some heavier guys might struggle tryin to fit into that new shit weight class for the sake of hypothetical 'better' opportunites.

rivas was around 250 couple of last times out. barely any fat, pure bulk.

for sure it won't do him any good to shed 20+ pounds for the weigh in and hydrate up to his fight weight.

but i got no clue how he prepared weightwise for his premiere in that nonsensical shit division.

A lot of fighters, such as Terence Crawford, Lamont Peterson and Jarret Hurd, claim their out-of-competition weight is about 30lbs heavier than the official limit of their respective weight class.

One week after his 143lbs catch-weight fight against Danny Garcia, Lamont Peterson rehydrated to a massive 182lbs.

Terence Crawford posted a tweet of his weighing scales illustrating the fact that he weighed 177lbs between training camps whilst competing at 140lbs.

Jarret Hurd immediately blew up to 190lbs six weeks after his 154lbs fight against Erislandy Lara.

For sure, these are extreme examples, but it’s not unusual for most fighters to lose 10lbs to 15lbs to make weight.

Oscar Rivas has weighed around the 234lbs mark for five of his last eight bouts. He clearly doesn’t have to lose much weight to make the official 224lbs bridgerweight limit.

And it’s a lot easier for a heavyweight to lose 10lbs than it would be for a welterweight, because it’s a significantly smaller percentage of their bodyweight.

Oscar Rivas won’t be adversely affected by having to shed 10lbs to 15lbs.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑15 Mar 2021, 19:25 Any fighter that's going to compete as a Bridgerweight basically ceases to exist in my mind. It's a fake weight class, and they're a Heavyweight that has decided they don't wish to be relevant.

for a close to the top heavy like rivas it's a weird decision for sure.

some other lower ranked dudes who don't see (or their promoters) any real chance to make an impact, one can't blame em, they have to make a living by any means.

still a nonsense shit division.