From tough to tougher.
That about describes the ring assignments Inner City Boxing Club bantamweight Kenny Lally has ahead of him over the next two weekends.
Lally, a veteran of 100 fights, will clash with Hector Rondon of Tacoma, Wash., in one of the feature bouts in Saturday's Night of the Champions fight card at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre.
Lally saw Rondon fight at the Tacoma Golden Gloves tournament in late January and knows he's drawn a bull. Lally normally fights at 56 kilograms but jumped to 60 kg to take the fight with Rondon, a body puncher who is bigger and stronger than Lally.
"It will be a tough fight, he's a straight-on fighter, he'll come straight at me, and I'll use my movement with him to break him down," said Lally." I'll give the crowd a show, maybe bang with him a bit, but I don't want to take any unnecessary damage. I want the toughest fight possible. The harder the fighter, the more it brings out in me."
Over the past five months Lally has fought internationally in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and, last month, in Serbia. The Night of the Champions card offers Lally, an aspiring 2016 Olympian, a rare chance to fight in front of a hometown crowd. The Northern Sport Centre was the venue the last time he did that, in March 2010, when he lost a decision to Joey Laviolette of Nova Scotia.
Since then, Lally has drawn formidable assignments representing Canada in international tournaments in Germany, Ecuador, Ajerbaijan, Brazil and Puerto Rico and says he's a changed fighter.
"I was a child back then," said Lally, who turns 24 in June. "When I fought Joey I had probably 70 fights and Saturday will be my 101st."
Once he tangles with Rondon, Lally is scheduled to travel to Regina next weekend for the Ken Goff Memorial Boxing Classic fight card, where he's matched with Freddy Ortiz of Puerto Rico, a bantamweight bronze medalist at the youth world championship in Armenia in December.
"I've sparred with him and he's a really technical fighter," said Lally, who sports an 87-13 record in 11 years as an amateur.
To retain his Boxing Canada A-team funding, which pays him $1,950 per month, Lally will have to finish in the top 10 at the 2013 world championships in Astana, Kazakhstan in October. He's scheduled to fight in Venezuela and Chile this summer, then will go to Germany to train for two weeks before the world event.
On Saturday, Lally's Inner City clubmate Jag Seehra, 24, is matched with Nick Jefferson of Tacoma in a 64 kg bout. Jefferson, who placed third at the U.S. national championships, scored a 4-1 decision over Seehra at the Tacoma Golden Gloves.
Since that loss, Seehra has strung together five straight wins.
In a much-anticipated match of the graybeards, 59-year-old Inner City coach Bob Pegues will try to shake off 38 years of rust when he squares off against 60-year-old Mickey Sims of Salmon Arm, the two-time 65 kg Ringside masters champion.
Thinking about his first boxing match since 1975 and the preparation that's gone into it, Pegues says his emotions have taken him on a roller-coaster ride the past couple months, ever since he agreed to fight Sims.
"It's been a bit of a stride because I went through a period of time when I was wondering what the heck have I done," said Pegues. "I had a couple injuries sparring and nothing was coming together and I was thinking, 'my goodness, I'm going to go in and get my ass kicked.' But I started thinking about [Sims] being undefeated and I had a mental change and started feeling really good about it.
"I feel great, I want to get at it. I'm going in there to win. He's undefeated, but back in my day, I fought a lot of those kind of guys and now I'm really looking forward to it."
n Jessy Brown of Mission, a 2011 Commonwealth Youth champion, is paired with Spencer Howard of Kelowna in a 69 kg bout. Brown's brother Cody, a three-time Canadian junior champion, fights A.J. Bopari of Kelowna at 64 kg.
Also in the undercard, Shaolin Boxing Club member Randall Graham takes on Dan Mott of Quesnel; Calvin Tedesco of Shaolin meets Lucas Gelinas of Quesnel; Alex Legault of Calgary, a former Inner City club member and national female champion, is matched with Sara Hajhight-Joo of Maple Ridge; youth national champion Devon Redi of Calgary fights Sassan Hajhight-Joo of Maple Ridge; and Kaiden Witso of Inner City will box Connor Ogilvie of Salmon Arm.
n Tickets are on sale at the NSC. Ringside seats are sold out and there are only a few floor seats left. The venue will hold about 1,900 people.
