Clayton vies for first pro title against Tyner on Beterbiev-Prieto undercard

MONTREAL – Canadian 2012 Olympian Custio Clayton will fight for his first professional title when he takes on Lanardo Tyner in a 10-round bout for the North American Boxing Association welterweight belt on Dec. 23, promoter Yvon Michel announced Wednesday.

Clayton (10-0), of Dartmouth, N.S., will break into the top 15 in World Boxing Association rankings with a win, the first step toward earning a shot at a world title. He is coming off a knockout win over Mexican lefthander Ramses Agaton on Oct. 20.

Tyner (30-10-2) is known as a rugged opponent who has gone the distance with champions like Saul (Canelo) Alvarez and Lamont Peterson.

The bout is to be the co-feature on a card at the Lac Leamy Casino in Gatineau, Que. featuring a defence of the NABA light heavyweight title by Montreal-based Artur Beterbiev (10-0) against Isidro Ranoni Prieto (26-1-3).

Russian-born Beterbiev is among the world’s most promising light heavyweights. He is ranked in the top-5 by all four major fight sanctioning bodies and is listed fifth in his division by The Ring Magazine.

Other fights will feature three Ottawa-area boxers.

Vanessa Joanisse-Lepage (2-0-0) takes on Mexican Maria Jose Velis (1-1); Danyk Bertrand-Croteau (1-1) faces Alex Ebanks (1-2) of Toronto and Samer Barakat (5-2) will meet an opponent yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1) of Montreal will challenge Alexander Povetkin (30-1) on Saturday in Ekaterinberg, Russia for the interim WBC heavuweight title. Stiverne, who is based in Las Vegas, won the vacant title in 2014 with a victory over Chris Arreola but lost it in his next outing on Jan. 17, 2015 to Deontay Wilder.