Yvon Durelle, the "fighting fisherman" from northeast New Brunswick fought his way out of obscurity in Baie-Ste-Anne to win the Canadian and British Empire titles. He came within an eyelash of the light heavyweight champion of the world when he challenged Archie Moore of San Diego for the title in 1958 at the Montreal forum. Moore was the favourite to win in only a couple of rounds but Durelle surprised everyone by knocking Moore down four times and taking the fight to eleven rounds before losing to Moore. Because of delays in the re-match a year later, Durelle lost again in three rounds.

Durelle, a long time friend of Sledge Hammer Spike was invited by Spike to be a special guest at a match between Spike and long time ring foe Wild Man Butcher Vachon for the Canadian Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship. Spike went on to win the match and the title. One of the defining moments in Spike's professional career was to have Yvon Durelle present him with the Heavyweight Champion trophy.