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.

SCOTT, FULLER * FINDLAY

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.

SILVER GLOVES CHAMPIONSHIP - 1978

"SILVER GLOVES CHAMPIONSHIP" - By Brian Zelley, :The Sportcaster" - February 8, 1978

(Photo - 1975 Silver Gloves Champion Danny O'Sullivan & Brian Zelley)

HENRY HEGGELUND and MATT MONTGOMERY won championships
for Victoria Athletic Association in the 1978 Silver Gloves at
Vancouver Feb. 3 & 4.

Heggelund pounded out three victories in the tournament with a
combination of excellent boxing skill, punching power, durability
and conditioning. Heggelund won the senior novice welterweight
championship with wins over BRIAN WEST of Vancouver,
JAMES FIDDLER of Campbell River and BILL LEWIS of Nelson.

Henry also won a special award of senior silver boy runner-up.
The last Victorian to win a championship and the special award
was DANNY O'SULLIVAN in 1975.

Mat Montgomery earned the junior silver gloves championship
in the 95 lb. division when he stopped S Fettis of
Port Kells Boxing Club.

TOM TURNBULL was edged in the finals of the intermediate
novice light-middlewweight division by VERN KLASSEN of
of the NFA Boxing Club. Turnbull blasted his way into the finals
with a second round victory in an elimination bout.

(Note: Both Henry and Danny were two of the ex-boxers to attend the
2010 BC Golden Gloves tournament hosted by Boxing BC and
the Capitsal City Boxing Club.)

THE BUCKSKIN BOY - AMATEUR BOXING

BUCKSKIN BOY KO's THREE: By Brian Zelley
(from the "Sportcaster") - From March 1980

(Photo 1 - 1980 buckskin Gloves, Vernon)
(Photo 2 - series of photos of the author)

- (From 1974 to 1983, I was a regular contributor to the Sports paper
called "The Sportcaster", the following is portions from one of the 1980's articles)

VAA boxer CLIFF BALLENDINE added to his growing list of championships. special awards
and victories on March 8, (1980) when he defeated three opponents in the annual Lumi
BUCKSKIN BOXING TOURNAMENT.

In early bouts, Ballendine scored a pair of knockouts in the first and second rounds
in the featherweight division. In the championship bout, Ballendine scored a third
round KO over his opponent to win the championship and was selected BUCKSKIN BOY.

Ballendine is scheduled for more activity in Native Indian tournaments in coming weeks,
including the BC Buckskin Gloves in Vernon and the Native Indian Championships
in Langley. He will also see action in the BC Junior Golden Gloves in Kamloops.

Teammate GARY ROBINSON will see action in the BC GOLDEN GLOVES for open
intermediate and senior boxers on March 21 and 22 at Vancouver's PNE Gardens
Auditorium while junior boxer Cliff Ballendine is expected to be engaged
in a special bout in the Golden Gloves.