Canadian Boxing News: Ford Retains Title, Kopas Wins Canadian Cruiserweight Title, Whittom In A Coma

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The Canadian boxing scene had some terrific moments, some bittersweet moments and some sad moments this weekend for three fighters.
Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford had a successful title defense in Singapore with a technical decision over Robert “The Butcher” Berridge. The bout appeared to be quite the test for Ford as he started off a bit slow against the southpaw Berridge. Both fighters were constantly on the attack, but it was Berridge who was more active in the first couple rounds until Ford started finding his groove. The fight quickly tightened up as both fighters began to land bombs. It didn’t take long for a headbutt to occur as is the case with a southpaw
and an orthodox fighter and said headbutt would end up causing the fight to be stopped later on. The judges saw the fight in Ford’s favor which neither fighter was happy with as they both wanted to fight until the final bell or until one fighter is knocked out but a win is a win and Ford passed this test to retain his UBO light heavyweight title.
Gary “Hokus Pokus” Kopas had a career defining night on May 27th as won the CPBC Canadian cruiserweight title with a victory over David Whittom. Why was this a career defining night for Kopas? For starters, he was viewed as just an opponent throughout his career, and his record is very misleading as he has been on the wrong end of the scorecards in fights that he had clearly won. But fighting in someone’s backyard means nothing if you do not get a stoppage victory, and that is what Kopas did. While the victory may be sweet for Kopas, the result may leave a trace of some bitterness.
Whittom and Kopas were involved in a back and forth war throughout the fight, and the scorecards could have gone in either direction but the referee decided to call a stop to the fight in the tenth and final round of their bout. It could have been a little too late for the stoppage, but sometimes one can never tell. Immediately after the fight, Whittom seemed fine but later was sweating and suffering from major headaches as well as other symptoms. Whittom was told to go to the doctor where it was discovered that he had a cerebral hemorrhage which had to be operated on and Whittom has since been in a coma. There is a risk that every fighter takes when they get in the ring, and no matter what happens leading up to a fight no one wishes for any serious damage to be inflicted on their opponent.
Hopefully, Whittom can recover, and the result does not effect Kopas and his future which seems to be finally going his way and Ford to continue getting the bigger fights he wants to elevate him to where he wants to be.