JOE WEBB, a Canadian boxing builder

JOE WEBB remembered:  by Brian Zelley

Joe Webb is remembered by some for his involvement in BC

 boxing in the seventies
and  Boxing Saskatchewan in the eighties.  I believe, the first time I remember Joe
was when he was one of the key builders behind our involvement with English boxing
teams such as those two shows in Vancouver and Victoria in 1976 .  Of course on the
mainland, the Gallagher family were involved to some degree along with
president Walter Boyce, official Bert Lowes and Island commissioner Howard Curling.

 It was about seven and one half years later when I received a letter from Joe
while he was in Saskatchewan.  Some of his chat was documented in the
January 1984 issue of the BC Amateur Boxing News

In the news, I mentioned that Joe had sent me some magazines and programs
of which some of the data would be used at a later date. But, on page 8 of the News I mentioned that  Joe was a life honorary member of the BC  Amateur Boxing
Association.,  Joe mentioned his recent trip to Germany in October 1983
along with Bert Lowes. 

In that same issue, there was that "Jabs, Hooks and Crosses" by Brian Zelley
ejovj outlined some common mistakes of the day.  Of course that was 1984, and we are now into 2013, so are the same old mistakes appearing into the performance
of boxers today.  Well these are the common  errors  of 1985, and do some of them crop up in todays ring wars.'

*dropping of gloves,  boxers tripping due to poor footwork, and
inexperienced boxers attempting to throw left hooks and uppercuts before they have
effectively learned how to execute proper straight punches through the target,
not at the target.  There are other issues mentioned, and much of the problemfalls on the back of the coaches. 

One of my comments in that January '84 column  made the following
important point:  It is not the duty of ring officials to teach boxers
 the proper methods of boxing during a contest, but in fairness to the boxer
and his competitor it is very important that a ring official issue cautions
and warnings.  A willingness of the boxers and the coaches to learn
from ring officials  will result in the long term improvement  of the boxers and the coaches. 

WHY BOXING?

In Search of the unknown former boxer with the words"  by brian zelley

" WHY BOXING":  author unknown
the following story appeared in various boxing programs and in boxing article over the
years, but there is no clear  indication of who this former boxer is as he laments about
the benefits of boxing and regret that he couldn't and did not have the words, opportunity
and time to teach the lessons they he learned to others.

Now the story from the unknown boxer from long ago:

WHY BOXING?
" As a former boxer and a parent, I wish I could give a simple 
answer, but I can't.  The question makes me think a little and here
is my answer."

" As a competitor boxing gave me many things.
First, it taught me many physical skills, but most important it
taught me to be tough mentally.  It gave me friends and taight
me the meaning of friendship.  It taught me loyalty, to my friends,
my club and to my community, and above all to myself and my
ideals.  It taught me the rewards of hard work, persistence, 
and physical sacrifice to attain the ultimate in physical fitness.
And, although I didb't realize or understand it at the time, 
boxing put me under the guidance of men who cared about 
boys as well as boxing - my coaches."


"...boxers... They  have learned the things that I wish, I could have
taught them myself, but I didn't  have the words, , the opportunity,
or  the time.    I know these boys will be better men because of  
what they have learned from boxing. "

Now, the story could of been written by many former boxers that
did not have the time or opportunity to coach or become officials,
but it is believed the story may have first appeared in a program or a report
about the Chicago Golden Gloves.  However, it may have years later appeared in
British Columbia in an old tournament program in British Columbia
sometime in the mid-seventies or earlier. 

The Search Is On:   

It would be nice if we could track down the original source of the story,
but that may be difficult without the body of old golen gloves programs from Chicago, or New York or the Pacific North West etc.  This story has been linked to an amateur and professional boxing site on facebook to see if we get any hits.  

Not sure if we will ever find the name of the unknown boxer that put this together.
Of interesting aside from all the positive things, he talks about the regret of not
having the opportunity or the time to be able to get involved on a direct level.
There is always some form of opportunity to get involved.  A person may not
be able to go to some club or gym to get invovled in the training, but there are
many other ways.  The writer proved that just by writing his version of  WHY BOXING.

October 2013 World Championships

THE FIVE CANADIANS and TEAM GB: by Brian Zelley

* Five members of the Canadian National A team will be
punching their way into contention in the World Championships.

                                 *part of the promotion of the championships

The boxers: 
Kenny Lally, Yves Ulysse, Custio Clayton, 
Brody Blair and Samir El-Mais have all got years of experience
and are expected to do well in the competition.  But, there are
no guarantees in international competition considering the
strong British and European team and others scattered around
the globe. 

Kenny Lally in an old photo with 
coach Bpb Pegues  has moved up
in weight classes over the past 
few years.

Samir El-Mais will be in action in 
the heavyweight division, and has
had a good run of it since returning
to boxing several years ago.








The coaching and support team consists of some well known names.
Coaches: Daniel Trepanier and Kevin Howard
Support:  Valerie Gauthier and Rob Schinke

The Canadian Boxing Team:  
* the original unedited photo from Boxing Canada site

In a September 2013 report by Raquel Ruiz for Boxing Canada
Boxing Canada president Pat Fiacco felt that the Canadian team
has improved a lot over the past year. 

The British team:
One of the members of the British team will be Freddy Evans of Wales.
It is unknown how the matches will go but some would like to see a 
rematch with Canadian Custio Clayton.  Another member of the
British tram expected to do well is Charlie Edwards.  There is 
also some expectations that the USA boxers will improve
their performance over some past years. 
(photo - as presented on the AIBA site for the tournament)

Action In The Ring - some early results:
* as expected Edwards
began in fine form, but
there are no guarantees
as the bouts move \closer to the finish line. 

Charlie Edwards
(photo by GB Boxing)

Edwards would drop the
decision in his second bout.







Josh Taylor wins in his prelim bout is the latest
buzz floating around on GB Boxing including
the following:

THE CANADIANS:
* Canada's Kenny Lally is expected to have his first bout October 17th.
Kenny is representing Canada in the featherweight division,
and at some pint if he remains in theat division will need to face
the likes of Justin Hocko and Rodolfo Velasquez to earn a shot 
on the 2014 National A-Team.
NOTE: on the actual fight list, Kenny was in the 
bantamweight division:  (See AIBA daily schedule)

* Yves Ulysse will see action in the light welterweight bout on
October with a bout against an Egyptian boxer with a good
possibility of advancing.

* Any expectation of an early bout between Custion Clayton 
and his nemesis Freddy Evans will not happen.  they are at 
opposite ends of the draw, and each received a bye for the
prelim rounds.  a much awaited CLAYTON vs EVANS  

may or may not happen.  It will require both
to blast their way past the those that they face
along the way.  But, for many some would like
that to be a final for the gold. \

* Canadian middleweight Brody Blair will get
no easy ride in this his first world championship.
He will see action in prelim action on October 17th.

* Canadian heavyweight Samir El-Mais received

a bye in the first round of heavyweight action
and will see action in a few days.

* First to see action for Canada will be Yves Ulysse.

* Canada's Yves Ulyssw leads the charge with
his first victory in the tournament:

* above photo of Yves Ulysse winning his first bout for Canada, photo from Boxing Canada

Team USA
Two USA boxers to win their prelim bouts were lightweight  Kenneth Sims
and light-welterweight Jose Alday.  But both boxers are expecting tougher
bouts in their second round of action.

Canada's Boxing Team gets it's first setback:
Kenny Lally has informed his facebook friends that he did
not get the decision in his first bout which was in the 
 We will need to think about the setback
to decide the contributing factors.  Was it the quality of the
opponent,  the decision to box in a different weight division, or
a combination of circumstances that make a difference in any bout. 

Boxer Kenny Lally photo parade from Boxing Canada: 

For Kenny Lally, he has had a good run since as early as 2008.
This prelim defeat does not effect what needs to happen next for him.
The next challenge will be to compete against the Canadian boxing
champions and other medalists to earn a shot in the bantamweight
or featherweight division for future action and a shot for the
2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.  



Samir El-Mais drops his first bout in a controversial decision according
to the claims of Canada's Daniel Trepanier.  However, Brody Blair wins
his opening bout and moves forward.  And word is Yves Ulysse has won
another bout.  In British boxing Charlie Edwards was eliminated in his
second bout.  But, in another flyweight bout the Irish boxer Paddy Barnes
moves forward. Also, the welsh boxer won a close bout.   The other welsh
boxer Evans is expected to see action following the prelim bye.

Canada's Brody Blair photos from Boxing Canada

THE ACTION CONTINUES:     BRODY BLAIR wins the second bout

and another positive step forwardand then there was an important victory
 number twofor .  Yves Ulysse jr. against a top quality opponent 

Yves Ulysse rocks on with win number two (source of photo Boxing Canada)

Custio Clayton of Canada wins in his first bout following his prelim bye.
Freddy Evans  of Wales  wins his first bout following his prelim bye.
There is no guarantee that the Clayton vs Evans bout will take place.
Based on his slow start in his frist bout, Evans will need to improve
his overall performance if he hopes to meet Clayton in a showdown. 

Scotland and Wales rocks forward

Andrew Selby
          and
Freddy Evans
from Wales
move into 
the quarter finals












    http://www.welshboxing.org/

                      Fred Evans, Wales, GB Boxing

2014 Nationals set for October 2013

                      2014 CANADIAN NATIONALS in REGINA: by brian zelley

                    Alex Torres Rynn in Action in his first bout of the tournament
                          (a Boxing Canada photo, edited for this site, to serve as the lead photo)

Well a new round of National championships begin for 

Boxing Canada at Regina October 21 to 26th, 2013. 
Some of the National team members will not bein the
tournament due to the World Championships action.
However, it will include Justin Hocko, Alex Rynn 
and Rodolfo Velasquez to name a few.  

Some of the boxers that competed in the 
2013 Canadian Golden Gloves are expected to see action
including BC's Jag Seehra.  Also, expected to see action
in the women's elite championship will be 2012 Olympian
Mary Spencer. 

Boxers from British Columbia:

Maple Ridge boxers with
coach Alex










* Connor Rankin, Jag Seehra, Jessie Brown, Tobe Ibediro,
Dylan Bishop, Sasan Highight-Joo and Jacob Varga.

Dylan Bishop, a boxing star in 2010.
Dylan has been in a number of 
Canadian National tournaments.

But, for 2014 Nationals that take place
in Regina starting October 21, the now
experienced warrior will be one of the
veterans.  So, with all the young ones
moving up from the youth category,
it will be interesting to see how they do
as senior elite boxers in tough 
competition.  No sure bets.

Boxer Kenny Lally on the National team will be engaged
in the world championship action so will not be ub Regina.

Boxing Canada begins the pre-tournament Buzz:
http://www.boxingcanada.org/
* One of the key committee volunteers in Regina is Melissa Fiacco.
marketing and communications. 

Women In Boxing: 
In addition to the many woman volunteers and builders, there
is expected to be some excellent women boxers touch gloves and 
come out fighting in Regina.  A sample of National team members
that should be rocking in the ring include:
Kim Klavel, Mandy Bujold, and Stephanie Walker.
But, there are many names scattered far and wide that hope to see action.
***  Katie Saull, River Tucker and Kandi Wyatt to name a few. ***

The Middleweights: Women In Boxing
*  With three registered woman boxers by Boxing Canada, this 
one division will prove to be of very high media attention due
to the following names: 
Mary Spencer, Melinda Watpool AND Ariane Fortin.
The big question will be which boxer gets the bye, and how will 
past events play into the results with a new form of scoring, anything
can happen and there are no sure bets. 

Names and Faces:

National Team member Alex Torres Rynn

should be some interesting moments in Regina.

Mens feather and lightweights have some heavy stars

In the 2013 Canadian Golden Gloves, the featherweight

and lightweight men's senior action was as good as it gets

full expectation the same will be true in Regina.

A Lightweight side story for the past and the future

Well now, this will be one tough division starting

with those two stars from the 2013 Canadian Golden Glove

Manitoba's Brad Katona and Quebec's David Gauthier

However, the heat will be turned on with the appearance

of National team member Alex Torres Rynn.

Then to add an interesting BC side story to the wars

we have the veteran Jag Seehra with the former youth

boxer Jessie Brown  thrown into the mix.

But, some great unknowns will be the likes of  Robbie Cusine.

The Featherweights

With at least nine boxer, feathers will fly in the action

Likely the top guns will be

(photo:  Justin Hocko)

Justin Hocko, Rodolpho Velasquez

Bradley Wilcox and Jason Downey

2013 Canadian Golden Gloves

revisited predictions

Now, the chances are that these two matches will not

be repeated in the finals of the Nationals

but there is a possibility that one or both

of these matches could take place in the

build-up to the finals.

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

Some names from Golden Gloves

From the list of entries for the Nationals

in Regina, we now know which of the

above boxers are expected to compete.

Kim Klavel, Mandy Bujold, Sara Highight-Joo

Sabrina Aubin and Kandi Wyatt

Rodolfo Velasquez, Brad Katona,

Jessie Wilcox and Vincent Thibaullt 

A - TEAM MEMBERS IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kenny Lally, Yves Ulysse, Custio Clayton,

Brody blair and Samir El-Mais

*  the real drama for 2014 Teams and Champions

will take place beyond October 2013

when the five National  A-team members 

will not be a 2014 National champion.

But, they are expected to challenge for the

right to keep their places on the A-team

and earn a shot for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games

RING OFFICIALS for THE NATIONAL

Often our ring officials do not get the

proper recognition for their contribution

but quickly become easy target when a 

controversial decision is renderd.  

Maybe, it is time we turned a new page 

and documented the efforts of the ring officials 

like we used to do in the eighties BC Amateur Boxing News. 

The Light-welterweights

The oldest member of the group is

Alberta's Gwyn Lewis followed by Dylan Bixhop

Of the young ones to watch would be 

Ontario's Zsolt Daranyi but we can't overlook 

Brendan Leaman

and

Tobe Ibediro  

(the BC surprise)

Then there are the Welterweights

and a good choice to do well is Jessie Wilcox

but no matter who wins gold and silverthey will

have their hands full when it is box-off time.

Host Club - Regina Boxing Club

The Regina Boxing Club is in the thick of 

the pre-tournament  buzz slated for the Orr Centre.

Two host club boxers are Ronald Deiter and Jayde Hayden.

BOXING CANADA STAFF

Robert Crete, Daniel Trepanier

Michelle Ethier and Lynn Levis

BOXING CANADA - Directors and  Staff

A List Of Recent Names of Interest

Boxing Saskatchewan

George Goff, Scott Hubic, Michelle Nelson,

Jordan St. Onge, Garth Gariepy, Karen Clouthier,

Robert Hattum, Brad Clarke,

Moses Alli and Sherry Hayden.

Staying Cool and Calm

in the final moments before the opening bell

*** a photo from Boxing Canada ***

Jessie Wilcox - Boxing Ontario

RING ACTION - Tuesday night

First to go will be the lightweights in the first three bouts

Opening bout:  Eric Taylor (Alberta) vs Calyn Downey (NS).

The winner will face BC's Jag Seehra

Also in the next two bouts will see  David Gauthier and Brad Katona

In the 64kg division:  BC's Dylan Bishop faces Ont. Zsolt Duranyi

In 69 kg action, one of the bouts will feature  Ontario boxers

Jessie Wilcox  vs  Michael Affaine

In middleweight action BC's Jacob Varga faces Julian Klima (Alb.) 

The first round of action 

Zsolt Duranyi over Dylan Bishop

Prelim Winners

Eric Taylor, David Gauthier, Brad Katona 

Tobe Ibediro, Brandon Leamon, Zsolt Duranyi, 

Arthur Blyarslanov, Jacob Landry, Josh Cameron,

Steven Butler, Michael Affaine, Chris Porteous,

Aaron MacLellan and Jacob Varga.

Lightweights next round

There will be some interesting tests

Eric Taylor vs Jag Seehra

Others include the likes of 

Justin Hocko, Alex Rynn

National A-team member Rynn's

first bout will be against Josh O'Reilly  

and next round will see Katona vs Gauthier

Eric Taylor could be the surprise  of the division.

Note: some of the boxers that were scheduled for one

division seem to now be in a different division

such as Justin Hocko who is now in the lightweight division

ACTION FOR WEDNESDAY - October 23rd.

For British Columbia, there is not much activity

so all eyes will be on boxer Connor Rankin

Two of the front runners would likely be

Rodolpho Velasquez and Bradley Wilcox

The Night Time Action

per schedule prepared by Boxing Canada

Two middleweights returing to action

will face each other in bout 46

west meets west

Aaron MacLennan vs Jacob Varga

The middleweight front runner is likely

VINCENT THIBAULT

Widnesday afternoon - day two

The action is over with some interesting  action

and a few surprises as to who would continue

one of the expected wins was by Rodolfo Velasquez

but for some  an upset when another member

of the Wilcox family did not earn the win.

Velasquez wins his firs bout

Other winners - men's 

Francois Pratte, Julio Escorta,  Mitch Hunt

For  night action, vicky pelletier earns the win in the opening bout.

BC's River Tucker did not make it  past  the first bout

NANCY  BEAUDOIN OF QUEBEC closes out the wins 

 with a victory over Hopkins of Ontario.

For the men, the lightweights wil take to the ring

with Naional A team member Alex Rynn ready

to face Josh O'Reilly of Ontario..

They will be followed by some important bouts.

For BC boxing  it will be Jag Seehra  vs Eric Taylor.

Winning and Moving Forware

Alex Rynn, Lucas Bahdi, Jag Seehra, David Gauthier

Devin Reti, Brian Samuel,  Steven Butler

Vincent Thibault, M. Poulin,  Clovis Drolet, Allen MacLellan

Day Three - No Time for Rest and Relaxation

The afternoon shift from Sara to Mitch

Winning bouts:  

Mackenzie Wright, Taveena Kum, Stephanie Walker

Sara Kali, Caroline Veyre, Maria-Eve DiCaire

And, the night time is the right time

for ring wars and high level tension

THE RESULTS

Good start for BC boxer Sara

In the next bout, Quebec takes the win

Vickie Pelletier earns a win over Gonzalez of Ontario.

Friday Afternoon, No Time for Fish and Chips

The Winning column:

Francois Pratta, Rodolfo Velasques,  Lucas Bradhi

David Gauthier,  David Reti, Steven Butler,

Jan-Michael Poulin, Clovis Drolet, Richard MacDonald,

Chevani Dixon, Paul Rasmussen, Chris. Bernier.

For National A team members, the big surprise

was the loss by Alex Rynn to Lucas Bradhi

who will face David Gauthier for the lightweight title.

For the middleweight division the victory by Pouliin

over Vincent Thibault was a shock to some

AND THEN FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS

The women middleweights

Unfinished Business for Two Stars

MARY SPENCER vs ARIANE FORTIN

Ariane Fortin wins gold 

the Canadian women's middleweight champ.

Saturday:  Men's Finals

We will see some new Champions

The Champions

Evan Gillard, Emilien Boucher

Francois Pratte, David Gauthier

Zsolt Duranyi, Steven Butler,  J. M. Poulin

Richard  MacDonald, Paul Rasmussen and 

Dawson Gibson