Lethbridge Boxing Club head coach Rick Duff with the mascot for the club, Rocco Balboa the bearded dragon on March 24, 2022.
Fight Night 15, an amateur boxing event at the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, featured talent from a local boxing gym.
Lethbridge Boxing Club had hometown fighter Kyle Oliver facing off against Brandon Peterson in the main event. Oliver walked away with the win over Peterson in the final fight of the night.
Rick Duff is the head coach at Lethbridge Boxing Club and says putting the event together faced some difficulties. Originally, plans with Z Promotions, the company behind Fight Night, included celebrity fights alongside the amateur boxing.
A date was originally set for December, but COVID shut things down again with a date being finally being set for March 26.
“The fight card turned into an all-amateur fight card from Boxing Alberta, Boxing B.C. and Boxing Saskatchewan,” Duff said.
Fighters from gyms in Cranbrook, Edmonton, Calgary, Taber, Medicine Hat, Lloydminster and Saskatoon took part in the event.
“I got people from different locations for some new boxing blood here. It’s going to be an exciting show,” Duff said.
Duff says they especially wanted to show off Oliver as a hometown favourite of the Lethbridge Boxing Club.
“[Oliver] started when he was 13. He’s been working for like seven, almost eight years. He’s growing up into a beautiful young man. He is respectful, humble and a good champion fighter,” Duff said.
Duff expressed the benefits amateur boxing provides not only to Oliver but a large part of the community.
“It really gets kids off the street. It gives them a commitment and they have to work really hard. Boxing is not an easy sport,” he said.
The event showcased some female boxing. Duff says it is important that women get their turn at a sport that has been male-dominated for many years.
“In 2023 [women] get weight classes for the Canada Winter Games and it was always a men’s tournament,” Duff said.
The fights on Saturday will be Olympic-style boxing which has more rules and more protection than professional boxing. The fighters will not be getting major payouts for the event but there are prizes to be had.
“We give them awards. Winners get a small trophy; the losers get a medal. And then there’s going to be the best fighter of the night getting a nice bigger trophy,” Duff said.
Apart from the trophies, he said that being able to fight in front of an audience will be a reward of its own. Duff said the venue will be the largest the club members have ever fought in.
“I’d really like to tell people to please come out and show support for young and amateur athletes,” Duff said.
