Twelve years had passed since Lyndon Creyke had fought a boxing match.
That 16-year-old who used to dream about what it would be like to be a world champion has grown up. Now, at 28, he’s the breadwinner in the family, with a wife, son and daughter to provide for.
But for six minutes in the ring Saturday at the Real Fights boxing card at the College of New Caledonia, Creyke was reminded what a rush it is to put up his dukes and try to punch the living daylights out of an opponent.
His 26-year-old main event opponent, George Spalding of Terrace, wasn’t about to let that happen. Making his boxing debut, the southpaw did what he could to hold off his more experienced opponent and had Creyke on the run for much of their three-round battle. Spalding had fitness on his side, was the aggressor for most of the fight, but couldn’t keep Creyke from slugging out a split decision victory.
“He caught me a few times, no real ringers, mostly I beat myself,” said Creyke. “I guess I wasn’t in as good of shape as I hoped to be. I work away at Red Chris mine near Dease Lake and I have a family to feed, so I don’t get to do 100 per cent boxing training like I’d hoped.
“My drive to fight has always been there. I got my daughter a pair of boxing gloves for Christmas because she started tae kwon-do and that night my son took a liking to them, put them on his hands and fell asleep with the boxing gloves. Ever since then I’ve had the desire to fight.”
Creyke is pushing 200 pounds and he was feeling it, trying to stay out of range of Spalding’s punches.
“I got a little bit tired, but I felt good, my hands were sharp,” said Creyke. “I know I hit hard and I used that to my advantage to make it a defensive fight. I wasn’t very busy through the fight and if I didn’t land those big power shots, I was doing nothing. He caught me with a few three-punch combinations but overall I kept the ring control.
“In a different point system, he might have won, but I made it look good.”
Creyke’s job commitments take him away from the city for two weeks at a time, then he trains for two weeks. He wasn’t in his best shape, but his five or six years of fight experience as a teenager was enough to carry him through.
“It was really a very close fight,” said Wayne Sponagle, Creyke’s Spruce Capital Warriors Boxing Club coach. "Lyndon landed enough clean shots each round just to eke out the round. He was typical Lyndon. He didn’t throw a lot of punches but he doesn’t get hit much. He picks his shots, and when he punches he usually lands clean and flush. He gives the judges something to score.”
Spalding accepted the judges’ decision but his coach from Terrace, Tony Rutledge, didn’t like it.
“It was a good fight, it just went the way it did. I’ll be a lot tougher for my next fight,” Spalding said. “He was moving around quite a bit the entire time and he got some good shots in. I know next time I’ll be a much higher calibre when I go to fight.”
Bilawchuk bombs way to victory
Colton Bilawchuk finally got to fight at home and what a night it was for the 22-year-old Spruce Capital Warrior. Blilawchuk shook off the disappointment of losing main event status when it was learned his opponent, 17-year-old Donovan Cridland, was too young to fight without headgear, and put on a clinic using his left hand to pound out a victory.
Cridland, a member of the Madkatz Boxing Club of Kelowna, left his right side exposed too often trying to land haymakers and Bilawchuk made him eat a smorgasbord of leather as punishment, cruising to a unanimous decision in their junior 150-pound fight.
“He had a good jab but once I figured out how to block the jab I was countering overtop of it with my right hand,” said Bilawchuk. “He was pretty sloppy and wide with his punches, every time he jabbed he kept his right hand down. He was open to the body so I started throwing the jab and he couldn’t stop it for the life of him. I must have hit him with 10 or 15 punches and that’s what kept him away.
“Give props to him, for a 17-year-old kid, he’s tough. He took a lot of good shots and he didn’t quit.”
Spruce Capital Warriors fighters were based in the red corner and for the first four fights, none of them had their hands raised in victory. Leif Carnegie of Revelstoke was a decisive winner over Keba Allan in their junior 140-pound bout to open the card. Two 13-year-old Warriors, Jacob Ross and Sbalyan Allan, had their moments of brilliance in their first-ever boxing matches but both lost split decisions. Nic Matheson of Terrace used his height and reach advantage to score the victory over Ross, while Cody Lam of Burnaby overcame a slow start and used his quickness to outpunch Allan the rest of the fight.
Jason Nahal was breathing heavy after going one round with Nik Shufletoski of Kamloops and by the end of it he was looking for a place to hide from Shufletoski’s relentless combinations. Nahal was handed two consecutive eight-counts in third round before referee Dale Walters stopped it with 10 seconds left.
Kyle Bank of Kelowna scored an impressive senior 140-pound win over Corey Mackey of Spruce Capital, teeing off on Mackey early and often until Sponagle threw in the towel 1:37 into the second round.
Marshal Cade of Spruce Capital looked good in the early going until he threw out his right shoulder in the first round, which left him a step behind Tyler Halvarson of Kamloops the rest of the way. Halvarson earned a split decision in their 175-pound senior bout.
