Montreal's Otis Grant scores unanimous decision over American Wiggins
Canadian Press, Sunday, October 30, 2005

Otis (left) awaits announcement of his unanimous decision over American Boxer Donnell Wiggins

GATINEAU, Que. (CP) - It wasn't the style of boxing that Otis Grant likes or was accustomed to, but in the end he got the result he was after. The Montreal resident scored a unanimous decision over 25-year-old American Donnell Wiggins on Saturday afternoon at the Budweiser Boxing series event held at the Casino de Lac Leamy in Gatineau. Grant, 37, took his time and wore Wiggins down, taking control of the fight in the later rounds of the 10-round main event. Grant is the No.1 contender for the WBC belt and was approaching the fight as a chance to shake off the rust.

"I feel I was ready for a championship fight before this," Grant said following the fight. "A lot of people thought that when I got rated No. 1 by WBC that I shouldn't fight, I should just wait. I said that we got here by staying active and by working, so I said find me someone.

"They found me this guy and I did 10 rounds which is good. I stayed active and got the rust off a little bit."

Wiggins connected with an uppercut in the first round but that was really the only time he caught Grant. The crowd got on Grant's side in the seventh round and the fatigue on Wiggins became apparent.

"At the end of the day we won this fight and that was all we were looking for," said Grant.

Grant is the No. 1 contender as ranked by the World Boxing Council and could have waited for a shot a world championship, but instead he chose to fight Wiggins in the Budweiser Boxing Series at Casino du Lac Leamy. His No. 1 ranking, however, should make him the next mandatory challenger to face champion Markus Beyer of Germany.