Boxer John-Michael Bianco Set to Make His Professional Debut

-Shane Mercer

Canadian boxer John-Michael Bianco is making his professional debut on Saturday.  He fights Hector Hurtado in a super middleweight bout at a Three Lions Promotions event in Hamilton, Ontario. 

MILLIONS is using the Personal Video feature to connect with our athletes and we asked Bianco about going pro, the fight, and his fans.  He responded using a short form ask me anything video that we used to create the video above.

Here’s the original video that he sent us along with a transcription of the questions and his answers.  

MILLIONS: Pro-debut! How jacked-up are you for this?

Bianco: Yeah, so basically I got my pro debut, March 19^th and yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It's been about two years, a little bit over two years now since I've been in the ring. So it's something that I'm pretty stoked about and it's been a while, so I've been itching to get back in. 

MILLIONS: It was supposed to be in Sydney, but that got cancelled. Now it's much closer to home, how does it feel knowing you'll have that home crowd behind you?

Bianco:  So the original show was for February 5^th but obviously that got postponed due to COVID and it was out in Sydney Nova Scotia and now it's going to be in here at home in Hamilton, which I'm really looking forward to because I got a lot of friends and family that obviously we want to see me box and having my pro debut close to home is great for myself and great for a lot of my friends, fans as well. 

MILLIONS: What do you know about your opponent, Hector Hurtado, and what kind of holes in his game do you think you'll be able to exploit? 

Bianco: So my opponent as far as I know is a pretty basic boxer. He's from Mexico. I saw a few of his fights. Obviously I’m not that intimidated. He's going to come out and he's going to want to brawl, he's going to want to fight. He's got a few things that do work for him but unfortunately I got a lot more things that are going to work for me for this fight and I do plan on putting them out early. 

MILLIONS: If you could send him a message what would you say to him? 

Bianco: If I could send a message to him, I would probably say just bring your game. If he doesn't bring his game, it's going to be a long night for him. And if he’s really not ready, it's going to be a very, very quick night. So either way I plan to come out with the wind and like I said hopefully I can put them out. 

MILLIONS: What about your fans, what kind of message do you have for them? 

Bianco: My message to my fans would be, I would just tell them just to come out, have some fun especially for a lot of folks who haven't actually experienced a live boxing event. It's going to be a really good card. There's a whole bunch of other great Canadian talent on there. Some guys will probably ended up being world champion one day, including myself, so I think it's going to be a really good experience just to kick back, have fun, watch your boy do his thing, and yeah boxing is back. It's been a while but I think it's been almost three years since I think yeah, almost three years since Hamilton's had like a live boxing event. So I think that's going to be -- I think it's going to be pretty wild, that's for sure. 

MILLIONS: Finally, what's your experience been like on the MILLIONS platform? 

Bianco: And my experience with Millions actually has been really good. They've made a new logo for me, which I'm going to be using throughout my pro career. They got a lot of merch that they're making for me as well, which is great because sometimes being myself being like the middleman or having somebody else as a middleman, it's just a bit harder. I got a full time job, I train and it makes things a lot easier just to have Millions on my back and promoting me and helping me push start my pro career. So I'm glad to be with millions, and I'm ready for March 19^th and I can't wait. 

You can ask Bianco anything and check out his merchandise too.  You can also follow his fight journey by keeping an eye on the MILLIONS blog.  

The release date for the Three Lions preview is not specified, however it can be purchased through the official website of John Michael Bianco and Hector Hurtado. The two creators were inspired to create the Three Lions preview by their love for the Three Lions series and their desire to give fans a sneak peek into the upcoming installment. The Three Lions preview will feature new and exclusive content for fans of the series, adding to the excitement and anticipation for the full release.