Saturday night's professional boxing card at CedarBridge, showed that there is very real potential for Bermuda to host higher profile fights, according to at least one promoter.

Millennium Promotions president Vlad Warton, while admitting that the weekend event that featured four pro bouts, including the historic WIBF Women's Bantamweight World Championship, could have been better attended, realised that the changes in dates and venues had probably conspired against them, yet was anxious for a return engagement.

"There's potential here . . . I really feel there's potential here," said Warton, who hails from Australia by way of his native Russia. "I think the most important thing is that, as always I have promised to deliver and believe I have delivered a great night of boxing entertainment for the fans and people of Bermuda. I believe that all of the people that were here will tell their friends that they enjoyed the night so much, we'll have a much greater turnout the next time.

"We have had a few hiccups in terms of change of date, change of venue. I don't know if it was a positive or a negative, but at the end of the day we needed to go ahead with the show and proceed with it."

A three-quarter full CedarBridge Gymnasium bore witness to the action, which also featured two amateur bouts involving Bermudians Jerome Caines and Freeman Smith against a pair of experienced Canadian fighters.

Most emerged satisfied with the show, one which saw Lisa Brown crowned new women's world champion, the first to be crowned such on local soil. Also brought to the fore were the talents of rising young stars (Slick) Willie Stewart of the United States and Ukraine's Oleksiy Trofimov. Stewart proved to swift and powerful for Jamaica's Anthony Osbourne, knocking him out in the third round, while Trofimov battered Canadian Joe Kaak into submission with a merciless assault, forcing referee Wayne Kelly to stop the bout in the 10th round.

"This wasn't a money-making venture, but it was certainly designed to progress the younger boxers to greater elevation and I feel that's what we achieved here tonight," added Warton, dapperly clad in a stunning cream suit, with gaudy gold accessories typical of boxing promoter genre.

"I think that at the end of the day all of the fights were of great value and great standard, very well matched, and we've seen some terrific tournaments tonight, and I truly hope that the people have enjoyed and appreciate what we've done.

"We certainly have made history with this event, and we look to make even more some time soon."