WEST FORKS, Maine – After more than seven months on the shelf, Brandon “The Cannon” Berry is ready to resume his professional boxing career.
“It’s time,” said Berry, who is scheduled to fight in the main event of a card on July 18 at the Skowhegan Community Building.
Berry (8-1) since turning pro in May 2013, suffered a dislocated left shoulder during the first round of his last fight, a loss to undefeated Freddy Sanchez at the Portland Exposition Building on Nov. 15. Surgery followed two months later.
After undergoing rehabilitation, Berry has resumed training at Wyman’s Boxing Club in Stockton Springs, initially at a modest pace that led to a return to full sparring for the past four to five weeks.
“I felt great on the heavy bag for weeks and on the pads, and then I get in there sparring and there’s a swing and a miss and I think, ‘Oh boy,’ but there was never any pain. It felt good,” said Berry, who injured his shoulder on a missed punch.
“It’s something I had to take pretty seriously, I needed to make sure I was doing everything right and what the surgeon told me to do, but now I’m right back at it 100 percent doing everything I’ve ever done before plus more.”
Berry is set to headline a card that likely will feature three pro bouts and six amateur contests.
“I don’t want to backtrack. I don’t want to fight any guys who don’t belong in there,” said Berry, who fights at approximately 140 pounds. “I want a good, solid, tough opponent who’s coming here to win, who’s going to make me work so we’ll give the crowd a good show.
“I’d rather fight tough guys and lose than go in there and have a bunch of mismatches for the rest of my career.”
Berry and his trainer, Ken “Skeet” Wyman, are considering several possible opponents for the main event.
“It’s hard to get guys to come up to northern Maine to do this, but we’ve got 3 ½ weeks and we’ll know, I’m sure, within a few days,” said Berry.
Berry may be joined on the card by fighters from the Portland Boxing Club including Jason “The Fighting Fireman” Quirk (3-0) of South Portland and Casey Kramlich (3-0) of Raymond, whom Berry fought three times when both were amateurs.
Both Quirk and Kramlich are coming off victories Saturday on the Portland Boxing Show card at the Portland Exposition Building.
Berry looks forward to bringing boxing back to Somerset County. He made his pro debut on a card at Skowhegan Area High School, and drew a full house of about 1,000 fans to a show at Carrabec High School in North Anson in April 2014.
“I expect a similar atmosphere to what we had when we fought at Carrabec,” said Berry of the July show in Skowhegan. “My phone has not stopped, my Facebook account has not stopped since we announced this. A lot of people are just excited to get out and do something really fun, and I think boxing fits that for them.”
Lamour back on winning track
IBA North American middleweight champion Russell Lamour Jr. of Portland rediscovered his winning ways in the main event of Saturday’s boxing show at the Expo.
The Deering High School graduate improved his record to 12-1 with an eight-round unanimous decision over Derrick Findley of Gary, Indiana. Findley (21-16-1) was a replacement for Eric Mitchell of Vero Beach, Florida, who suffered an injury while training.
The 32-year-old Lamour, nicknamed “The Haitian Sensation,” was coming off an eight-round, unanimous-decision loss to Thomas Falowo for the USA New England middleweight crown in late January.
Other winners on the card included Portland bantamweight Jorge Abiague (9-1) by six-round unanimous decision over Jesus Gonzalez, Raymond super welterweight Casey Kramlich (3-0) by four-round unanimous decision over Robert Hunt, South Portland middleweight Jason Quirk (3-0) by four-round unanimous decision over Jesus Cintron, and Portland middleweight Jimmy Smith (3-2) by first-round technical knockout over Carlos Galindo.
Cruiserweight Buck “Knuckles” Pineau, an Ashland native who most recently competed in mixed martial arts, dropped his professional boxing debut in a four-round decision to Tracey Johnson.
