Early Results From Quebec: Dan Once Again Edges Bizier

By Jake Donovan

Quebec City, Canada -- Jo Jo Dan climbed off the canvas to score a repeat win over Kevin Bizier in their 12-round welterweight eliminator Friday evening at Colisee de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada.

The bout served as the chief support to World light heavyweight king Adonis Stevenson in a title defense versus Dmitry Sukhotsky. 

The 12 rounds of action was a reversal of what took place in this same ring last November. Dan jumped out to a quick start in the first fight, hanging on down the stretch to take a split decision.

This time around, it was Bizier sprinting out of the gate, building up an early lead and at one point appeared on his way to a rout. Dan refused to go quietly, but a 7th round body shot knockdown threatened to serve as the nail in the coffin. Dan refused to be denied, however, roaring back in that very same round and initiating two-way action in center ring. 

The sequence proved to be a pivotal point in the fight, as Bizier appeared to dramatically slow down over the second half of the fight. Dan took advantage, grinding away down the stretch, forcing a faster pace than Bizier - and his stamina - would have preferred. 

Bizier (23-2, 16KOs) managed a 114-113 margin on one card, but Dan prevailed in the eyes of the other two judges by scores of 115-112 and 114-113.

With the win, Dan (34-2, 18KOs) is now the mandatory challenger to unbeaten welterweight titlist Kell Brook.  

Andre Dirrell cruised to a 12-round decision over Derek Edwards in their super middleweight title eliminator. Scores were 120-108, 119-109 and 119-107. A full recap can be found

HERE

.

Dirrell is now the mandatory challenger to unified super middleweight titlist Carl Froch, the only man to beat the Michigan-based contender.

Artur Beterbiev survived the first knockdown of his young career, coming back to drop Jeff Page three times en route to a 2nd round stoppage. 

The bout served as the opening leg of a televised quadrupleheader, airing live on Showtime from Colisee de Quebec. 

Beterbiev suffered a brief scare late in round one, when Page squared up and nailed him with a perfectly timed straight right hand. The shot was flush, but Beterbiev was never in any real danger, quickly recovering and taking the fight to the visiting American boxer. 

Page (15-1, 10KOs) was decked three times in round two, the final knockdown prompting the referee to jump in and halt the contest.

The official time was 2:21 of round two. 

Beterbiev improves to 7-0 (7KOs) and is already eyeing a title fight in 2015. That would mean going through either Stevenson or Sergey Kovalev, which suggests that perhaps some more seasoning is in order. 

All bouts aired live on Showtime.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as the Records Keeper for the 

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