The competitive season is now behind them, but members of Inner City Boxing PG won’t be going into relaxation mode as summer begins.
They can’t afford to chill out, because they’ve already got a major fight card on their minds – the B.C. Bronze Gloves, September 13-15 in Chilliwack.
“It’s a novice tournament and we’re looking to bring about 10 fighters there,” said Inner City coach Kenny Lally.
Lally and fellow coach Jag Seehra are former Inner City fighters who combined for dozens of provincial and national medals during their careers. They rebooted the Inner City club earlier this year, and ended the season with a roster of four competitive boxers. With several other fighters continuing to hone their skills, Lally said “everyone’s geared up” for the B.C. Bronze Gloves.
The four boxers who have already worn Inner City colours into battle are Joshua Greenwood, Thunder Innis, Cartel Niedermayer and Michael Brooks. Greenwood, Innis and Niedermayer were all in the ring last Saturday (June 15) in Quesnel for the Rumble 32 fight card, while Brooks had an exhibition match cancelled because his opponent was a no-show.
In Quesnel, Greenwood dropped the second close decision of his fledgling career. The 17-year-old traded punches with a boxer from White Rock. Lally said the fight unfolded like a chess match.
“He did amazing,” Lally said of Greenwood. “We won the third round. It’s cool to see that we made the adjustments, we just made them a little too late. So, we were on the right track.”
Greenwood was happy with how he performed, especially how he “kept pushing” until the end of the bout.
“I didn’t let fatigue get to me,” he said.
“It was a really hard fight and I got a lot of experience out of it. I need to work on my footwork a lot more, get more comfortable popping around the ring.”
Innis, meanwhile, took on a Quesnel fighter in a hugely entertaining exhibition match – one that included a little surprise for the 15-year-old Inner City member.
“In the beginning it was hard because I thought I was fighting an orthodox (opponent), and he came out southpaw,” said Innis, who was making his ring debut. “I had to adjust. It went good. It was exhibition, but I would say I lost the first round and won the last two. I felt that I adapted well to a southpaw, and a very long guy, too.”
Innis said he loved the whole experience.
“It felt awesome,” he said. “The crowd, everybody chanting my name, it really reminded me why I love this sport.”
Like Greenwood and Innis, the 17-year-old Niedermayer had a good night inside the ropes in his first taste of exhibition action.
“I’m so proud of all the guys,” Lally said. “They blew us away. Even their warmups, in between rounds the way that they were able to recover and catch their breath, it was fantastic. The biggest thing was how well they listened to us. They see the fight one way, through their eyes, but Jag’s on one side of the ring and I’m on the other – two pairs of eyes, looking. And so we see different stuff. And every one of the guys, they did their best to try and listen to our instructions. It’s hard in live action with the crowd, and you’re tired, but they did awesome.”
