Result: Olivia Gerula TKO's Amanda Carriere

[Rick McLean]

Boxrec results say that Olivia Gerula TKO'ed Amanda Carriere in round 2 of 4 last night in Winnipeg Canada. There are no details posted yet but this can definitely be considered an upset, especially with Carriere's amateur background.

[Dee Williams]

The result is also mentioned in the Winnipeg Sun:

"In the lone women's boxing match, Winnipeg's Olivia Gerula beat Edmonton's Amanda Carriere by TKO at 1:55 of the second round in a spirited struggle that brought the crowd on its feet."

I'm not as surprised as Rick. Olivia Gerula was making her comeback in front of her home town fans and had a long career that matched her against much stronger pro opponents than Amanda Carriere. In 2004, Gerula was ranked as high as #3 at lightweight by WBAN, and she was ranked #8 when we dropped her from the rankings for inactivity after her loss to Mrdjenovich. Carriere's never been ranked higher than #8 and she'd been fighting at featherweight where she had her hands full with Elizabeth Villareal in her last two fights ... and had dropped to #13 in that division. Two of Carriere's pro wins came against BJ Felter, who's 1-8, and she had never fought a pro bout outside Alberta. So I saw this as Carriere's first big pro test, facing another well experienced boxer in her opponent's hometown. Gerula's record (6-8-2 coming into this fight) was a bit deceptive the other way ... if you don't reckon who some of her losses came to ... she went 10 rounds against Fredia Gibbs and Kathy Collins at their peaks. Experience against top quality pro opponents, home crowd, and motivation all favored Gerula in this one, despite her KO loss to Mrdjenovich two years ago. And although Carriere had 30 amateur fights, she was never placed higher than a bronze medal at her nationals. So I don't see this result as a big upset, just a learning experience for Carriere in her first really tough pro test.

[Rick McLean]

I should have written my response in a clearer fashion. Looking back at it, it does sound different to what my opinion is. I actually told the promoter that this was a great match and that I thought Olivia was going to win even though she had a long lay off. However I'll admit I was shocked that it was by TKO I thought it would go to a decision with some kind of controversy involved. I only meant it could be considered an upset because of how Olivia's last match ended and the long layoff. Plus Amanda's amateur background. Yes she only won a bronze but our amateur program here is extensive and excellent, not like in some state tournaments,ect. Its no accident that Canada has so many female world champions currently and formerly. Achieveing a brozne medal here is a big accomplishment due to competition level. However, Dee makes great points and I agree with all of them. Looking into the amateurs things have changed here, it is much more competitive now then 3 or 4 years ago. That is why its terrible that there isnt women's boxing in the Olympics, Canada would kick butt!! You wouldnt believe the talent Canada has that have not turned pro like Dunn and Spenser and thats just to name a few. Thats what I meant to say. Olivia is a really good boxer, Ive saw her last match and she was doing well in it just got hit with bombs by Jelena and couldnt rebound. I expect big things from Olivia in 2007 if she stays active, which I hope she does.

[Dee Williams]

Hi Rick, I also did not mean to suggest that winning amateur bronze in Canada isn't a good achievement ... I was just thinking that many of the Canadian boxers who have gone on to big pro careers WERE national champs. The Canadian amateur program led the way for women's amateur boxing on this continent, it was going before USA Boxing got its act together, and it's still a very strong one, with a gold, a silver and two bronzes at the last world championships (much better than Team USA which only managed one bronze last time). So I have great respect for the level of Canadian amateur competition, we've all seen the results - Margaret Sidoroff, Jeannine Garside, Lisa Brown, and the list goes on ...

But in fact it's now much more competitive in MANY countries that could send big teams to the Olympics, which will be great for the sport when it happens. Problems with men's boxing (and with other judged Olympic sports) helped to keep women's boxing out in 2008, and that's really disappointing. But let's hope we will win out for 2012 in London ... because I think if that gets known in good time there will be MANY countries whose women's teams could go there and "kick butt", in fact The Canadians would need to watch out for the Russians, Chinese and Koreans as well as the Swedes, Norwegians and (I hope) a resurgent USA! And we'd love to see that, eh?

Dee