UPHOLDING THE SPIRIT OF THE GAMES

BC AMATEUR BOXING NEWS - MARCH 1985 - Editor brian zelley


with the commonwealth Games still happening, I look back at one of my messages from 198
concerning the spirit of the BC WINTERGAMES.  It does not matter the level of the games,
the important issue is the "Spirit of the Games"


the 1985 message:


"To uphold the spirit of the goals of the BC Winter Games - participation,
interest and development - members ov Vancouver Island amateur Boxing (zone 6) are plsnning to hold an Island tournament at Parkville on March 24."
The  rest of the story covered a brief history of Vancouver Island boxing and tripped through the 
Fifties, Sixties and Seventies.


The key paragraph that kicks of the Island story could with some changes in a few words
apply to many regions or zones in British columbia or other regions scattered across Canada.


"Island amateur boxing has a proud history of achievement in the Public Awareness, 
Acceptance, Growth, Education and Safety... Its present status in amateur boxing is
a large part due to the efforts and energy of those in the past.  Although it is important
for current members to carry the torch forward for GROWTH  and IMPROVEMENT, 
it is important to remember the past deeds of our active and retired members."


Another Flashback in the March 1984 issue covered the HASTINGS COMMUNITY CENTRE
BOXING CLUB from the early days with data on Pat O'Reilly back in the early Fifties to
some of the happenings in the Eighties including a score of names such as PETER HOGG,
MIKE O'CONNELL, steve and jason downie, glen quocksister and others. 


The Vancouvee Island boxing story was picked-up by the news media, and the publication 
that did a complete copy of the three decades leading up to the 1984 tournament was
"LEISURE TIMES" magazine in addition they published a photo taken in 1966 of 
various boxers and coaches that competed in a Port Alberni  boxing card and included 
the one and only BERT LOWES in the sea of faces.   That was cool for me because 
I was named the Best Fighter in that card.  The photo was supplied by JIM HILLS
of Port Alberni who was involved in training  a Port Alberni boxer that would represent 
Parksville in the 1984 Vancouver Island Amateur Boxing championships

Photo - Bert Lowes  - reproduced from a January 1968 Vancouver Firefighters Boxing Club program that would be the deciding factor in the BC Team for the Tacoma Golden Gloves.

THE FOUR NATIONS - 2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES BOXING

THE FOUR NATINS BOXING - N. E. W. S.

The boxers of Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland (NEWS)
are ready to make news with about 15 boxers in the semi-finals.

One of the divisions where they will win three is the middleweight division
it will be ANTHONY OGOGO, EAMONN O'KANE  and KEIRAN HARDING
to sort out the shade of the medal that each will get, but for all three it will be
a rehersal fo LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS, but there can be no guarantees that any of them will make the final 2012 teams for action and fame in East London.

In other weight divisions there is a good cross-section of boxers
such as PADDY BARNES, TOM STALKER, JOSH TAYLOR
and 2008 Olympic boxer BRADLEY SAUNDERS of Team England.

BOXING - Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon

BOXING THE OKANAGAN REGION OF BC - by brian zelley

Over the many decades of amateur boxing in British Columbia,
various clubs in Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon and other places
 have had their moments.  As of 2010, there are a number of
 organizations that are involved in boxing.

Some of the BOXING BC registered clubs in the region include
Counterpunch Boxing in Vernon, Kelowna Boxing Club,
Madkatz Boxing (Kelowna), Peachland Boxing Club, 
Rudy's Boxing in Kamloops, and Thistletown Boxing Club in 
Kelowna.

In the past boxing season, the various boxers competed
 in a number of club shows and tournaments. 


Clubs of the Past

The year was 1985, there were a number of boxing clubs 
such as the Kelowna Club under the direction of RON REITTER.
In Kamloops there was the Kamloops club with JIM STEVENSON,
and the Kamloops Lions with GARY OAKDEN. There was also a club
in Vernon with DON MCDONALD.

In the Eighties there were a number of local club shows that were held in the region
such as the 11 bout card held at Kelowna's Elks Hall on January 14, 1984.
The host coach was Ron Reiter while the head ring official was IAN GIBSON.
Some of the well known boxers were WAYNE WELSH, SHANE MORIN,
MIKE CLEARY  and GERRY PETERS.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010 - THE LIGHTWEIGHTS

PHOTO - Team England Photo - an ace team


THE QUARTER FINALS - 8 Still Standing: by brian zelley

By the end of Sunday, there will only be four to determine the shade of the medal that they will win.  For the other four it will be a bell too far, and one of the four
that will be eliminated will be Australian LUKE JACKSON or England's
TOM STALKER.

For BOXING CANADA one of the shining stars is ALEX RYNN from Calgary, 
Alberta.  To-date, Alex has defeated two opponents to earn a spot with the
select.  To make the medal round, ALEJANDRO (Alex) RYNN  needs to 
earn a win over MOALA of Tonga in quarter finals action. 

Not to be overlooked in the action will be JOSH TAYLOR of Scotland.
Fromhis initial bout, Josh impressed his team mates by being the first
to move forward to the next level with a victory over previous medal winner
DARREN EDWARDS of Wales. The Edwards loss was one of many for 
the Welsh team.  The latest from Wales to miss the semi-finals is 
ANDREW SELBY

THE FOUR LAST LIGHTWEIGHTS
The last four lightweights will compete in the semi-finals on the road to gold.
Four Nations - England, India, Scotland and Tonka will add medals to their
Commonwealth Games collection.

THE FOUR LIGHTWEIGHTS - the road to glory and fame
JAI BHAGWAN, LOMALITO MOALA, TOM STALKER & JOSH TAYLOR

For home based Indian boxer Jai Bhagwan, it is more than the shade of the medal.
As quoted in the "Indian Express" on 10\10\10.
"I would get fame and there would be financial benefits as well" - J. Bhagwan.  


Then there were two - STALKER vs TAYLOR  - The final showdown. 

2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES - BOXING

TEAM ENGLAND -  RED HOT

PHOTO GALLERY

TEAM ENGLAND PHOTO  -  Courtesy of IAIN WEAVER

TEAM WALES vs TEAM CANADA  and SCOTLAND

TOM STALKER - TEAM ENGLAND

Devon Boatswain - Team Guyana

(from the "Stabroek News - October 5 th.)

Photos - Team Canada & Team England

Photo - Luke Woods - Team Australia - 

by Melissa Adams, Canberra Times

Photo - 2010 Boxing Team - Northern Irelamd

Photo - PADDY BARNES -  Belfast

Photo - Callum Johnson - Team Scotland

(Retford Times - October 20, 2009)

Photo - Team Scotland

(Amateur Boxing Scotland - announcement)

Photos - Flag of Wales & Welsh Boxing Team

Photo - Andrew Selby - Team Wales

BANTAMWEIGHT BOXER

("Barry & District News" - July 22, 2010)

Photo - Fred Evans - Team Wales

ANDREW SELBY - TEAM WALES

THE 2010 BOXING JOURNEY BEGINS - 2010 Commonwealth Games - by brian zelley


For the various Boxing Teams from the Commonwealth Nations, we begin with the individual boxers in the last days of their preparation before leaving for Delhi to compete in the 2010 GAMES.


Action in the ring will take place at the "Talkatora Indoor Boxing Stadium".


We now know the names of the boxers, coaches and managers of many of the teams from 
Australia to Canada, England, India and the other places around the globe.


For the Canadian team (see photo of the names) we have the seniors such as DIDIER BENCE
and STEVE ROLLS to the young ones like ALEX RYNN  from Alberta.  They and their team mates
will be in competition with members of the Australian team such as lightweight LUKE JACKSON, 
and members of three boxers from Guyana - DEVON BOATSWAIN, DEXTER JORDAN and CLEVLON ROCK.

For ENGLAND (see photo) of team including Tommy Stubbs and Bradley Saunders

New Zealand boxers will include JOSEPH PARKER, NATHAN MCEWEN,  ANGUS DONALDSON,  REECE PAPURI and DAVID ALOUA of a five member team.


For SCOTLAND the team includes boxer CALLUM JOHNSON from England, but qualified for Scotland.

Over the next few weeks, we will follow the progress of the Commonwealth boxers as they compete
against the best at Delhi, India.

THE CREAAM OF THE CROP - LIGHTWEIGHTS JOSH TAYLOR and TOM STALKER


As the days passed, the most anticipated final would be a lightweight contest between
England's TOM STALKER  and Scotland's JOSH TAYLOR  To-date, each bocer has 
demonstratd excellence in their bouts.

RICK BROUGH - The Builder

THE RICK BROUGH STORY: by brian zelley


RICK BROUGH is one of 15 that has been selected for the
British Columbia Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame.  To understand his contribution to boxing in British Columbia one needs to step back to 1979

To understand Brough's  contribution in Canada, one needs to step back to 1960.

1979 -  In June 1979, the newly appointed Vancouver Island Amateur Boxing
Commissioner called a meeting for all Vancouver Island boxing clubs and available officials.  Some of those that attended were GEORGE SHIELS of
Campbell River, LOU BUJDOSO of the Victoria Jaycees, various members of the
Victoria Athletic Association, boxing official BOB PERRY and others.

BROUGH demonstrated his administrative skills from the opening bell of the Vancouver Island meeting in Victoria by evaluating the past season and to guide the plans for the 1979/1980 season and beyond.  At the time, the VAA boxing program was on the ropes with no facilities and only two active boxers.  However,
members of the Victoria Jaycees Boxing Club (also called the Lakehill Boxing Club) allowed the VAA coaches and the two boxers to train with the growing Jaycees club.

One of the hopes in the summer of 1979 was a major Provincial tournament
and that would come in 1980 with the revival of the BC Diamond Belt
tournament in Victoria which was last held in Vancouver in 1968.

Throughout much of the Eighties. BROUGH would be an important builder for boxing,
but when the British Columbia Amateur Boxing Association decided to
eliminate the Commissioner role and replace it with a coaches representative for the region, amateur boxing on Vancouver Island crashed until planning for the
1994 Commonwealth Games began in 1989.  In the first call for volunteers
in 1990, RICK BROUGH was one of the few to take that first step.
The Boxing Committe members included MIKE SARTORI and BRIAN ZELLEY

BC BOXERS - Ten of the best

in search of the best BC Boxers of all-time: by brian zelley

There are many yardsticks that can be used to measure achievements and performance.  Sometimes, we must rely on our own experiences and also
reliable sources such as sports reporters, the experiences and stories of others
and documentation from a wide variety of sources such as newspapers, books,
scrapbooks and even the many web sites.

In July, some former members of  boxing in BC started a journey to select
boxers and builders for a
 BRITISH COLUMBIA AMATEUR BOXING HALL OF FAME.

After various steps, ten boxers are being considered for permanent recognition
as the elite of BOXING in BRITISH COLUMBIA.

The select ten are:
FRED DESROSIERS, DICK FINDLAY, FREDDY FULLER,
EDDIE HADDAD, CHRIS IUS, HAROLD MANN, FRANK SCOTT,
MANNY SOBRAL, DALE WALTERS and JIMMY WALTERS.

This list of ten is an interesting mix of some of the best boxers that have competed in and for British Columbia in a variety of club shows, tournaments,
Golden Gloves tournaments in places like Tacoma, Portland
and Seattle, and of course International tournaments from the
1948 Olympic Games to the 1988 Olympic Games, and various other ones such as the British Empire Games, Commonwealth Games and Pan American
Games. 

in fairness to the many other boxers there are others that could be in a list of ten top boxers from one of the first Golden Gloves champions such as
KENNY LINDSAY, or 2000 Olympic boxer DONNIE ORR, or some of the many other Golden Boys such as Jack Straza, Alan Curtis, Bill (Curly) Adams, and many more.