On Friday, February 14, Nackawic’s Brandon “L-Jack” Brewer (23-1-1, 11KOs) makes his much anticipated return against Josue Castaneda Perez (14-12-3, 5KOs) of Gomez Palacio, Mexico, for “Valentine’s Day Massacre” at the Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
The contest is slated for eight rounds or less in the middleweight division. Presented by Three Lions Promotions, Brewer-Perez is an exciting component of the undercard for Ryan Rozicki’s (11-0-0, 11KOs) WBC International Cruiserweight Championship defense against Vladimir Reznicek (9-2-2, 4KOs).
Earlier this month, Brewer stepped off a plane in Ontario, making his way to the TNT Boxing Academy in Guelph, beginning camp with trainer Stevie Bailey. “Training in Ontario has been the best thing I could have done for my boxing career,” explained Brewer. “When you’re training all by yourself 99 percent of time you have to become extremely self-aware of your abilities. You just have to. My eyes were the only ones on me. I had to hold myself accountable and push myself for the last 10 years in the dark while nobody was watching.”
“In Ontario,” continued Brewer, “I have arguably the best coach in Canada watching me throw each punch, so there is no room for error. I went from hoping to get any form of sparring once a month, to having high level sparring literally whenever I want. I feel like I’m on an even playing field with everyone now. That’s not only a huge benefit to my physical boxing, but mentally I now know that the odds aren’t stacked against me like they were prior to joining Stevie in Guelph.”
In his last outing, Brewer thrilled fans on DAZN, battling NABA champion Mark DeLuca for ten hard rounds, albeit in a losing effort. “My fight on DAZN was the best lesson I’ve received thus far in my boxing career. Mark was a great competitor and beat me fair and square. But considering he’s boxed since he was four with his dad, who owns a boxing gym, and racked up well over 100 amateur fights, enjoying all of the best resources a fighter could ask for, I felt like it was a win for me.”
Unlike DeLuca, Brewer came to boxing relatively late, entering the sport as an adult. “I started at 24, amassed nine amateur fights, and have been training alone for the majority of my career. I took the DeLuca fight on two weeks’ notice. I think that was a pretty damn good performance against the 9th ranked fighter in the world. But I’m not satisfied. It was a reality check on how close I am. It only woke me up and made me realize that I’m almost there, I just need to make the adjustments.”
Recently, Brewer signed with Three Lions Promotions, joining an impressive stable of boxers. “I’ve fought for a lot of different promotion companies across North America,” said Brewer. “Hell, I’ve promoted some of the best shows to ever be done in Canada and then jumped in the ring and fought for 30 minutes at the end.
“So I know a good promotion company when I see one. Three Lions is first class. Dan Otter has been absolutely outstanding with the way he treats his fighters, the fans, and his overall ambition to move his fighters onward and upward. I’m excited to be a part of that. When the right people start working together, incredible things can happen. The future is going to be very exciting for everyone involved.”
In other undercard action, Josh Prince of nearby Georges River making his professional debut against Adam Hazelton (1-0-0) of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in a four round, North Shore versus South Shore battle of provincial super middleweight prospects. At welterweight, undefeated fan favourite Jessie “Rock” Wilcox (14-0-2, 9KOs) of Hamilton, Ontario, meets the iron-chinned Luis Montelongo (12-7-0, 3KOs) of Mexico City over the eight round route.
Last but not least, New Brunswick native Carolyn Redmond (2-0-0, 1KOs) takes on Karina Rodriguez (3-1-1, 2KOs) of México over four rounds or less, looking to continue her march to a national championship.
