Poulard KO's Sjomkin: Mulling Froch, Shumenov Offers
by Richard Cloutier
A clear victory was achieved by Nicholson Poulard (19-3-0), who retained the NABA light heavyweight crown at the event, "Last Stand", presented at the Holiday Inn in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Poulard knocked out Anton Sjomkin (13-7-1) at 1:24 of the third round. And now he might be involved in a world title fight.
His promoter, Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger Management, has reported that he received two offers that are under consideration.
The most feasible offer is from WBA world champion Beibut Shumenov. Poulard has also been included on the list of potential opponents for Carl Froch, the IBF super middleweight champion. Froch is the one who inflicted the first defeat on the record of former champion Jean Pascal, who is the brother Nicholson Poulard. Froch is scheduled to announce his opponent on Monday.
In the main fight of the evening, Ghislain Maduma (10-0-0) got the best of Pedro Navarrete (28-16-3) of Mexico over ten rounds in a lightweight bout. The score was 100-89 on all three cards.
Once again involved in a war, welterweight Ahmad Cheikho (8-4-2) won an eight round unanimous decision over Christopher Legendre (9-5-0).
For his part, Baha Laham (10-0-1) also won a unanimous decision victory over eight rounds against Argentine boxer Jose Saez (21-14-6).
"I thought I could overcome him in the beginning of the fight. I'm glad I had the chance to get rounds. It was my first fight over eight rounds and I'm glad with how I worked in the ring. I worked very hard in training. I want to have another eight rounder and then I want to confront rivals such as Arash Usmanee," Laham said.