First world title fight means first loss for Ajax fighter in Toronto

Perfect no more.

Ajax fighter Sukhdeep Singh’s unbeaten record ended Thursday night when he was outclassed in a super welterweight world championship bout against Uisma Lima of Portugal.

Lima (13-1), whose only professional loss came when he moved up to middleweight to take a short-notice fight against rising Irish star Aaron McKenna last year, was aggressive from the start and made it difficult for Singh – 19-0 going into the fight – to establish any kind of rhythm.

Singh had the crowd at Toronto’s Woodbine Casino in his corner at the beginning but as Lima began taking control in the middle of the ring the chants of “Lima, Lima” started getting louder from the small but vocal Portuguese fighter’s supporters.

Singh’s jab proved to be ineffective against his stronger opponent and every time the Ajax boxer got in a clean lick Lima would respond with two.

After an eighth round when Lima had Singh in some serious trouble the pride of Punjab and Ajax responded with his best round of the night – the only round all three judges agreed was his.

Lima came back with a strong finish in the 12-round fight – the first time either boxer had gone that long – and was pounding Singh on the ropes when the bell rang to end the bout.

Lima won a unanimous decision – two judges scored it 118-110 while the other had it at 119-109 – to win the vacant IBO Super Welterweight championship belt and was full of praise for his opponent afterwards.

“Amazing, amazing,” Lima said. Tough guy. Big respect.”

New IBO Super Welterweight champion Uisma Lima of Portugal

The hometown crowd did come away happy after the co-main event when Toronto’s Sara Bailey – already a world champ after just four professional bouts – won a ten round unanimous decision against former champ Anabel Ortiz of Mexico.

For a change Bailey was the bigger fighter and the defending WBA Light Flyweight (108 pounds) champ was able to fend off the attacks from the veteran Ortiz (34-7), who tried to turn the fight into a brawl.

Both fighters showed quick hands but it was Bailey who was able land enough hard shots to earn the decision.

Bailey, who is hoping promoter Tyler Buxton can line up a unification fight against either IBF and WBO champ Evelin Bermudez of Argentina (20-1) or WBC champ Lourdes Juarez of Mexico (37-4), called the scrap with Ortiz the “biggest test” so far in her young professional career.

“She’s a great fighter but I proved who’s the better fighter. This is boxing – not a street fight.”

“I wanted to make history and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Super welterweight Bradley Wilcox of Hamilton’s Wilcox clan – four brothers fight professionally, all trained by their father – improved his record to 13-0 with an eight-round unanimous decision over Fernando Pinto of Brazil (10-4-1).

‘The Truth’ was the busier of the two fighters but the Brazilian was able to dance out of trouble until Wilcox landed an overhand right at end of the final round that drove Pinto right out of the ring.

Doni Foreman of Brampton made his professional debut a winning one with a second round TKO over Domenik Taraska of Poland in a battle of heavyweights, while Jerome Ennis of Jamaica moved to 2-0 when a body shot floored Lukasz Wojtowicz less than two minutes into the opening round.

Sara Bailey of Toronto retained her WBA Light Flyweight title