Canadian lightweight Bahdi looks to extend unbeaten record at Toronto card

TORONTO - Canadian lightweight boxer (Prince) Lucas Bahdi has bet on himself from the get-go.

"When I turned professional I said to myself 'I'm going to do this the Mike Tyson route. I'm going to go fight as much as I can and knock out someone every month,'" said the 31-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ont. "And I was doing that up until COVID hit. I went nine straight months, nine wins, nine knockouts."

He took the 10th fight, in November 2020, against Alejandro Palmero Hernandez in the Mexican's hometown of Cuernavaca, despite an injured right hand. Bahdi's plan to knock him out with his left sounded good until he broke that hand in the first round.

"It was a nightmare," Bahdi recalled. "It wasn't going very well, because I couldn't do much in there, but I ended up knocking him out with the broken hands."

Today, Bahdi is 18-0-0 and signed to Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions (MVP).

Ranked seventh among WBA 135-pound contenders and eighth by the IBF, Bahdi takes on Filipino southpaw Ryan James (The Untouchable) Racaza (15-0-0) in the main event of MVP's first card in Canada — on Friday at the Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto next to the Woodbine Racetrack.

While Racaza is unbeaten, the 28-year-old has not fought since December 2023.

"He's a tough durable guy," said Bahdi. "It looks like he's a puncher, southpaw. My first time fighting a southpaw. I know he's out training in Vegas … I think he's going to be a lot tougher than people expect and I'm looking forward to a great fight."

Bahdi turned heads with his power last July after accepting a short-notice fight on the undercard of the Paul-Mike Perry card at the Amalie Arena in Tampa. Facing Ashton (H2) Sylve, then unbeaten and a top prospect in Paul's stable of fighters, Bahdi was having the worst of it until the sixth round when he caught the 20-year-old with a pair of rights sandwiched around a savage left hook.

Knocked unconscious, Sylve fell face first onto the canvas as the Bahdi corner celebrated.

"Gentlemen, before we announce our winner, we ask you to please extend your thoughts and prayers to H20 Sylve and may God restore him," ring announcer Joe Martinez said as Sylve received medical treatment.

Sylve eventually made his way onto a stool and walked out under his own steam.

"I was a massive underdog in that fight and no one really knew who I was," said Bahdi. "That put me on the map."

The knockout drew interest from promoters with Bahdi eventually choosing Paul's company. That led to a 10-round super-lightweight bout in November on the undercard of Paul's much-hyped fight with Tyson before a crowd of 72,300 at ATT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where Bahdi won a majority decision (95-95, 96-93, 98-92) over Italian Armando (La Furia del Quadraro) Casamonica, a late replacement for the injured Corey Marksman.

Despite the somewhat odd mix of judges' cards, Bahdi says the whole evening was memorable. Shown on Netflix, the main event maxed out at 65 million concurrent streams.

"I was honoured to be on that card … It's the biggest stage and that's where I feel I belong," said Bahdi. 

Bahdi has nothing but good things to say about Paul, a 28-year-old actor/social media influencer turned boxer and entrepreneur.

"He takes care of everyone that's around him," said Bahdi. "The guy's a genius, He's a marketing genius. He's also a very very talented fighter."

An entrepreneur himself and car enthusiast (especially vintage Jaguars), Bahdi has his own car dealership, Olympia Motors, in Niagara Falls.

Bahdi played hockey and soccer growing up but things changed after he walked into a boxing gym at 14. He got serious about the sport at 16, shedding the other sports.

He fought as an amateur from 2009 to 2019 and was an Olympic alternate in 2016. His nickname came out of the blue, from a ring announcer in 2013, but has stuck ever since.

Also Friday, Toronto's Sara Bailey (5-0-0) defends her WBA light-flyweight (109-pound) world title against Spain's Cristina (La Piccolina) Navarro (6-2-0) in the co-main event. Navarro is ranked fifth by the WBA at 105 pounds.

Also featured on the card are IBO Americas and Canadian super-lightweight (140-pound) champion (Marvellous) Mark Smither, former amateur world champion Tammara (Tamm) Thibeault, ranked seventh among WBA middleweight contenders, and unbeaten heavyweight Ricardo (Big 12) Brown, a former Jamaican Olympian now based in Canada.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2025.

Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version had Tammara Thibeault's first name spelled incorrectly in the final paragraph.