Clayton faces French veteran Salmon in main event of casino fight card

MONTREAL – Custio Clayton is set to fight in the main event in a boxing series that spawned several world champions.

The Dartmouth, N.S. welterweight, off to a 5-0 start to his pro career, will face French veteran Stanislas Salmon (25-3-2) on Thursday night as boxing returns to the Montreal Casino.

“Salmon is a young veteran, a former French champion who fought for the European title,” said promoter Yvon Michel. “Custio has 10 rounds of experience.

“We needed a good main event and this will be a good fight, a good test.”

Coming off a strong amateur career that saw him come within a point of a medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, Clayton is being fast-tracked to title contention as a pro. Michel hopes he can reach the top 10 in world rankings by the end of the year.

Headlining a fight card is part of the learning curve.

“On this same show there’s a 20-year-old, Erik Bazinyan,” Michel said of the 10-0 super-middleweight from Laval, Que. who will face Michael Ludwiczak (12-2)of Poland. “We’ll take our time with him as a long-term project.

“Custio is more like (light heavyweight) Artur Beterbiev, who fought a former world champion in his fifth pro fight. I don’t say Custio is at that level but he’s on the fast track because of his ability. He’s already 28, so it’s time for him.”

Michel has revived a series aimed at developing young fighters that ran until 2012 at the casino. The series featured future world champions like Jean Pascal, Lucian Bute, David Lemieux and current World Boxing Council light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson.

“Without that series I don’t believe our company would still be functioning now,” said Michel. “It was at a time when we didn’t have boxers who were popular enough to fill the Bell Centre, so we developed those guys.

“I believe that four or five years from now we’ll say ‘I remember when Clayton and Bazinyan were there.’”

The non-title main event will be fought at a catch-weight of 150 pounds. Both made the weight limit.

The card also has Canadian heavyweight champion Dillon Carman (9-2-0) of Mississauga, Ont., against 38-year-old Eric (Boom) Barrak. Michel said it would have broke his budget to pay the sanctioning fee to make it a Canadian title bout, so they will fight a non-title eight rounder.

“It makes no difference,” said Carman. “If it was a title fight, I’d still bring the title home with me.”

The six-foot-five Carmen and the stocky Barrak, listed at five-foot-11, each fought 52-year-old Razor Ruddock last year. Barak lost a majority decision in May while Carman scored a third-round knockout in September.

“I’ve fought a few guys like that _stocky, scrapper type of guys,” said Carman. “It lets me showcase my talent a little more. It lets me move around, use my jab and my length more.”

Barrak, who doesn’t have a promoter and manages himself, has had only 11 fights since he turned pro in 2005. He is trained by Davey Hilton Jr., the former WBC champ whose career all-but ended after his conviction for sexual assault in 2001. Hilton spent six years in prison.

“This is a big fight for me,” said Barrak. “Fighting the Canadian champion, it was important for me to have someone with experience and background.

“Davey was Canadian champion and world champion and, despite the BS that surrounds him, when it comes to boxing, he knows what he’s talking about.”

There are two women’s bouts: welterweight Marie-Eve Dicaire (1-0-0) of Terebonne, Que., against Christina Barry (0-2-0) of Winnipeg and super-featherweight Lucia Larcinese (7-10-1) of Montreal versus Olivia Gerula (16-15-2) of Winnipeg.