2011 ZELLEY ON BOXING REVISITED

LOOKING BACK TO THE 2011 STORIES:  By Brian Zelley
Although there were about 57 topics, the stories about individuals
were very rewarding to do with the help of those individuals and

others.


Summary of the key boxing stories of individuals:
*The Kenny Lally Boxing Story,
*The Alex Torres Rynn Story, 
*Tommy Paonessa, Boxing Pioneer,
*The Alan Brown Boxing Story,
*The Gordie Lawson Boxing Story
 - Finding The Golden Key,
*Lennie Walters - BC Boxing Legend,
*The Mike Kennedy Boxing Story,

*The Bert Lowes Boxing Story,
*The Tony Duffy Boxing Story,
*The Paul  "P-Mac" MacKenzie Story,
*The Roger Adolph Boxing Story, 
*The Mike Strange Boxing Story,.


THANKS TO THOSE THAT HELPED:
*Kenny Lally, Jamie "TNT" Taylor, Jaime Lynn Ward,
 Alex Torres Rynn, Paul MacKenzie, Marc Whelton, 
Kevin McDermott, John Paonessa, Steve Wood, Alan Brown,
Glenn McGee, Rick Fleck, Gordy Racette, 
Gordie Lawson, Monique, David Ius, Dale Walters,
Mike Kennedy, Roger Adolph, Marcus Hume, Adam Trupish,
Tony Duffy, Barry Krangle, Billy Irwin, Michael Strange, 
 Doug Bolianatz, Domenic Filane Figliomeni,
Graham MacIntosh, Scotty Olson and Vern Linklater.

THE TONY DUFFY BOXING STORY

THE TONY DUFFY BOXING JOURNEY:
  By Brian Zelley and Barry Krangle
(note part of the information was from the Vancouver Island
  Boxing News and the British Columbia Amateur Boxing News)




Introduction:
TONY DUFFY
1984 BC JUNIOR
GOLDEN BOY

In recent days, former boxer Tony Duffy of the 
Sunshine Boxing Club in Gibsons was nominated
in the JUNIOR/YOUTH BOXING CATEGORY
for the 2012 selection to the BRITISH COLUMBIA
AMATEUR BOXING HALL OF FAME.


I first watched Tony compete in boxing shows in the
early Eighties.  In the May 1984 issue of the 
BRITISH COLUMBIA AMATEUR BOXING NEWS
I featured him on page 4 with the photo of him with 
the 1984 Junior Golden Boy Award and remember
him in a special elimination bout with Victoria boxer
Paul DeLuca to determine which boxer would be 
selected for the BOXING BC team to compete in
the 1984 JUNIOR NATIONALS to be held at
the BC amateur boxing training centre in Burnaby.
In that bout, young Duffy won to join the BC team
that included:
Curtis Peterson,  Aaron Wolfe, John Turner,
Suraj Jaswal, Tony Francis, Manny Sobral,
Clint Dumais, and Willy Curry.


                 coached by BARRY KRANGLE
                          TONY DUFFY, 1984 
                   BC JUNIOR GOLDEN BOY


RING ACTION


MARCH 12, 1983 Campbell River Club Show
One of the many club shows that Tony participated in
took place in the spring of '83 was that 19 bout card 
hosted by the Campbell River Eagles Boxing Club.


In that bout, Tony faced home town boy CORY WILLCOX
in seventh bout of the night.  For tough Tony it turned out to
be lucky number 7 with a victory.  Some other well known 
boxers in action among the 38 boxers were Paul Deluca,
Lyle Jack, Mike Wood, Kit Munro, Jita Nagra, Gordy Jones,
Tim Cessford, Alan Brown, Gary Wood and Ron Young.
Host Club coaches were:  George Shiels, Jim Howie and 
Charles John.  Head official was Rick Brough, and other
officials were Joe Swift, Bernie Brisch, Bill Donnelly,
Bob Perry, Brian Zelley, Art Shiels, and Carson Samuels.
Medical official was Dr. John Ross and announcer was
T. Bently whie timekeeping duties by Jim Hardy.


EMERALD GLOVES CHAMPION -  November 1984
One of the post 1984 Junior National tournaments that
Duffy took part in was the 1984 Emerald Gloves that 
took place on November 17th. Tony would become one
on nine contested champions in junior open bouts.  In the
final Tony won the championship with a victory over
Victoria boxer Paul Deluca Jr.  in the featherweight 
(125C) division.  Other C division champions were
Mike Marrello, Suraj Jaswal and Manny Sobral.
For his efforts TONY DUFFY was the Emerald Boy
runner-up with B class boxer Troy Taylor as top boxer.
The Emerald Gloves was founded by Brother O'Grady
and the first Emerald Boy was Mel Jacobs of the 
St. Paul's Indian School in 1951.


JUNIOR GOLDEN GLOVES -  February 17,  1985
1984 Junior Golden Boy TONY DUFFY entered the
1985 Junior Golden Gloves in the lightweight division
and in the championship bout he defeated Bud Rellor
of Kelso.  Some of the other champions in the C class
were Curtis Peterson, Mike Marrello, John Allen, 
Kevin Lyons and Justin Migneault.  RING OFFICIALS:
Chief of Officials:  Bert Lowes, and officials:
Fred Fuller, Al Young, Jim Gallagher, Jack Mellor, 
Larry Carney, Rene Serriani, Bob Seckler, and 
Brian Zelley.  Others:  Dot Lowes, Dr. Sandhu,
Gordie Jones and Boyd Bayne.


There would be many other club shows and tournaments
and training under the capable hands of BARRY KRANGLE


April 1, 1985:  Maple Ridge Club show, and as reported
in the "BC Amateur Boxing News", two of the standouts
in the show were Gordie Jones and Tony Duffy.


1985 TONY DUFFY, CANADIAN CHAMPION

COACHES' CORNER -  The Golden Memories of Barry Krangle:


The early years - stepping into the Sunshine:

Following the 1984 and 1985 Nationals, Tony continued to engage in activity.
The following are some thoughts by coach Krangle about 1987 activity

BACK TO TRAINING:

1988 THE OLYMPIC YEAR, Tony's moments, through the eyes 
of the coach with a few words from Tony about some of the
 moments and the continued friendships with those he fought
 or trained with throughout the Eighties.

FAST FORWARD TO 2011 -  A Date With 2012
Tony was nominated in October 2011 in the Junior/Youth
category of the BRITISH COLUMBIA AMATEUR BOXING
HALL OF FAME for 2012.  The final decision will be made
by September 2012.  Looking through the many years of 
activity, Tony would be a worthy inductee. 

2012 Inductees video

 

The MANNY SOBRAL BOXING STORY

THE MANNY SOBRAL BOXING STORY:  By Brian Zelley

Introduction

I first met MANNY SOBRAL in the Eighties when he was a junior amateur boxer for the Shamrock Boxing Club in Vancouver, BC.   Recently, he has been recognized as a boxer inductee in the
BRITISH COLUMBIA AMATEUR BOXING HALL OF FAME and recently he has been recognized in the coaching area by the BURNABY SPORTS HALL OF FAME.

MANNY SOBRAL JUNIOR BC BOXER

(Photo: Manny training
with boxer Alan Brown
at Bob Decker's 
Shamrock Boxing club
at the Main Street gym.)















Step back in time to the early eighties in British Columbia amateur boxing and boxer
MANNY SOBRAL was one of the many amateur boxers that would be involved in open
competition and club shows.  A sample of others TONY DUFFY, TONY FRANCIS,
WILLY CURRY and many more.

1983 BC JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM

Coaches - WALLY HILL and JOHN KOVACS

Boxers -  Alan Brown, Willy Curry, Deep Butter, MANNY SOBRAL,
Paul Deluca, Aaron Wolfe, Mike Wood, Tony Francis, Scott Bannink.

1984 Junior Nationals Championships - Burnaby, BC -
British Columbia Amateur Boxing Association -  training centre - May 1984.

1985 - BC Amateur Boxing News - hot topics -
- editor brian zelley, president george armson
Special Award Winners:
the harry twist award - JOE PENDRY
the jimmy symes award - MANNY SOBRAL
the harold mann award - RUDY BIANCO

1988 Canadian Senior National Boxing

1988 Canadian Amateur Olympic Boxing Team

SOBRAL in the HERE and NOW

Manny Sobral is still involved in boxing on the Professional level 

and to some degree on the amateur level.  One of his main areas

of interest has been promoting fights which stems back to when

he helped organize and promote one of the BC Golden Gloves

tournaments a number of years back.

In the North Burnaby Boxing Club which used to be a key location

of the Boxing BC headquarters and location for Olympic team 

training for the 1984 and 1988 Canadian teams.  

Also, he was involved with boxer JUNIOR MOAR and was involved

with arranging the promotions of a couple of the title fights in

Richmond, BC.

In the near future, there will be another pro boxing card with

the headliner being ADAM "A-bomb" TRUPISH at River Rock.

And, a special guest being former world champ: Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
aka Edward Gregory, the multi-term golden gloves champion.

  

Vancouver Island Boxing 1984

VANCOUVER ISLAND BOXING - An Important Step Forward: By Brian W. Zelley

Of the many amateur boxing event on Vancouver Island from 1980 to 1985, one event
stands the test of time as being an important event that would lead to the revival of a
tournament that had not been seen since 1964 - the Vancouver Island Amateur Boxing
Championships.

It began with a club show in Ladysmith at the Sportsplex on January 28, 1984.
In the boxing show, ten bouts were held by the relatively new boxing club.

To recognize the boxers from Ladysmith, Gold River, Gibsons, Crofton,
Nanaimo, and Parksville the names of the boxers were:
Graham Henry, Raymond Barton, Robert Rice, Dean Townsend, Chris Wigard,
Tony Willis, Rowland Powel, Robin Murray, Paul Bottomley, Hank Sampson,
W, Hinchcliffe, Lee Dmani, Trent Storey, Dani Koughan, Craig Kelly,
Tony Duffy, Dano Everts, Bill Franklin, Russ Lyon, Tim Cessford.

Official In Charge - Rick Brough, Branch Executive Officer - Brian Zelley

Referees & Judges: Rick Brough, Brian Zelley,
Howard Curling, Frank Bowers and Roy Maycock
Timekeeper: Walter Brownlow, Announcer: Ian Allan,
Glovers - Garry Doherty and Harold Barton

Coaches in attendance:Bill Cox, Niel Garda, Alex Riley, Monty & Alan Brown,
Joe Preston, Art Smith and Brian Sacho, and Barry Krangle.

The important event in planning took place on Sunday, January 29, 1984
with a combined coaches and officials meeting under the direction of Rick Brough.
The purpose of the meeting was to review the progress of amateur boxing on
Vancouver Island and make plans for future shows in Parksville, Gold River
and Campbell River, and consider plans for the Island Championships in the
spirit of "BC Winter Games" of Participation & Competition.

BC AMATEUR BOXING NEWS

Photo: Alan Brown

BC AMATEUR BOXING NEWS (November 1983 to January 1986) - Editor, Brian W. Zelley, B. Com, C A

It all began following the production of two issues of the Vancouver Island Amateur Boxing News for the Spring and Fall of
1983, when I was elected to the Board of Directors of the British Columbia Amateur Boxing Association and served as the
newsletter editor. The first issue in November 1983, featured a variety of current stories, past events, and a few pictures
such as the pictures of past president Fred Fuller, Director of Referees & Judges and former coach of the South Hill and
the Vancouver Firefighters boxing clubs H A (Bert) Lowes and past president Walter T. Boyce.

But in reality, the boxing writing began in 1967 when I was a boxer with Nanaimo's Newcastle Boxing Club and took over
from founding coach George Nepper to write boxing reports for the "Nanaimo Times", that was a good introduction to
journalism which was much different than school essays. Later when I formed the Nanaimo Boxing Club along with
former Vancouver Firefighters boxing club member Dan Wright , we realized it was important to have effective and accurate news and contact with the News Media, so I quickly visited the sports editors of the Nanaimo Times and Nanaimo Daily Free Press.

Even after leaving the Nanaimo club to work on the revival of boxing in Victoria, I continued to communicate with the
the Nanaimo print media. But in Victoria, from about 1974 to 1981, I was in contact with members of the print media,
radio and CHECK TV to keep them aware of the boxing beat.

Another couple of important tests in sports reporting was having a report of a BC Bronze Gloves Tournament reported in
the bible of boxing "The Ring" magazine, and a piece in Lee Kerr's "Boxing Bull" column in "Boxing Illustrated".
A local Greater Victoria weekly sports newspaper called "The Sportcaster" was also an important avenue to spread
the word of amateur boxing in Victoria and other locations in Brtitish Columbia.

NOVEMBER 1983 "BC Amateur Boxing News"

The first issue of 1983/1984 included numerous photos of boxers, officials and coaches
such as Darryl Olson (Ladner Boxing Club), Fred Fuller (past BCABA president),
Richmond boxeer Lyle Hendrickson and Parksville boxer Dave Hendrickson,
1967 BC Diamond Boy Dave Wylie, former Canadian champion Fred Fuller Jr.,
Sample of top boxers at the junior level Cliff Ballendine, Chris Ius, David Ius, John Herman, and others.

JUNE 1985 "BC Amateur Boxing News":

"AT THE BELL" - By Brian Zelley

Remembering those members that supported the "Vancouver Island Boxing News" for the Spring and Fall of 1983:
Alex Riley and Niel Garda (Crofton Boxing Club), Dave Alton (Ladysmith), Art Smith & Brian Sacho (Parksville),
Island officials Rick Brough, Howard Curling and Bob Perry and on the Provincial scene Bert Lowes. (page 3)...

RING ROUND-UP:

1985 BC Golden Gloves - Golden Boy, RON PASKIE - Golden Boy Runner-up, GARY SERKO -
Best Intermediate, Scott Bannink.

Special Award Winners (page 5)
Best boxer Junior Provincials - TROY TAYLOR
Harold Mann award - RUDY BIANCO
Jimmy Syme award - MANNY SOBRAL
Harry Twist award - JOE PENDRY

Maple Ridge Club show - April 1, 1985 (page 6)
Maple Ridge coaches - Glynn Jones and Mike Allen
- two standout boxers on the card were: TONY DUFFY (lightweight) and GORDON JONES (Welterweight)

JUNE 1984:

Primary topic was the 1984 Junior Nationals with such champions as:
Norman Tynes, Corey Burton, Aaron Wolfe, Eric Grenier, Scotty Olson,
Mario Bergeron, Jeff Beliveau, Jaimie Sparks, John Walker, Stewart Hilton,
Tom Glesby, Mike Reuter, and Willy Curry,

Some other competitors from British Columbia -
Curtis Peterson, John Turner, Suraj Jaswal, Tony Francis,
Tony Duffy, Manny Sobral, and Clint Dumais.

An interesting bout was the final between Stewart Hilton and Ray Downey.