Over 3,000 people are expected to attend Fredericton’s first world-class boxing event in decades Saturday night.
The fight will see Canadian light-middleweight champion and Fredericton native Brandon Brewer take on Diego Marocchi from Argentina.
“I’m excited to fight in front of this many people at home,” said Brewer. “I’m looking forward to it because I like the pressure. Pressure brings out the best athlete in me.”
Brewer says the opportunity is a dream come true.
“I had this vision fighting in the Aitken Centre,” he said. “March 23, 2009, was my very first amateur fight, and consistent hard work has got me here.”
Brewer has played a key role in ensuring the event happened in his home city.
“Nobody has dared take it to this scale,” said Brewer’s coach, Aubrey MacLeod. “There are at least four or five fighters on this show who are world class guys.”
Several applications and approvals have been needed to get the go-ahead for the event. Brewer was at the forefront every step of the way.
“Once city councillors and everybody involved with giving permission to hold this in New Brunswick got to know who (Brewer) was as a person, they were on board,” said MacLeod.
Brewer has been training above and beyond to make sure the event goes off without a hitch.
“I really want it to be a spectacular evening for everyone from start to finish,” he said “I want everybody waking up Sunday morning saying, ‘Wow, I can’t wait ‘till the next one.’”
Enthusiasm for Saturday night’s event has been spreading all around the capital city.
“The last time they put 3,000 in any arena in New Brunswick for boxing was quite a long time ago,” said MacLeod. “It was for another genuine star, Jacques LeBlanc – a great fighter, a great guy.”
Brewer is trying to organize another world class boxing event in the city later in the year, and perhaps have multiple events in 2017.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore.
