Shourav Barua (left) and Jeremy Flores spar at the Beaver Boxing Club ahead of the upcoming Big Fight Night on April 19.
Jill Perry says it’s better than seeing a movie. If that’s the case, you’d better listen – or she’ll knock you out.
Beaver Boxing Club will hold the Big Fight Night In Little Italy April 19 to raise money for its Youth Boxing Program, an initiative to keep teens off the streets and get them into the ring. The card will feature 20 boxers of all ages and skill levels.
The club has been hosting fight nights since it opened in the 1940s. It slowed down in the early 2000s before moving to its new location on Spruce Street, when Perry realized the club needed to connect with its neighbours.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for the boxers to get to fight in their hometown, in front of their friends,” says Perry. “And again it just helps us to be part of this community . . . it’s just a great night out.”
According to Perry, a typical audience for a fight night at the club will range between 250 to 300 people. Which begs the question, is boxing that popular in Ottawa?
Eric Belanger, head coach at Final Round Boxing in Chinatown, says the sport is making a gradual comeback in the nation’s capital.
“I think it’s in a shift right now,” says Belanger. “It’s been in a lull due to mostly lack of professional athletes coming out of this area; I mean there’s literally been none since the ‘70s and ‘80s. And now we’ve been developing a decent amount of pros.
“The interest is slowly growing. Before, there was no local talent. Now we’ve got local talent like Andy Gardiner, Pascal Villeneuve, Tyson Fury.”
In years past, safety concerns may have discouraged people from entering the ring.
Perry is quick to refute the notion that boxing is a dangerous sport that kids shouldn’t try.
While she says professional boxing’s reputation as an easy way to get head injuries may be accurate, she is quick to defend amateur boxing, calling it one of the safest sports there is.
“They have very different outcomes,” Perry says. “Amateur boxing . . . we have a medical before every bout; we have a doctor that comes to the event and medicals every athlete that’s going to compete that night – and if they don’t pass the medical, they don’t box.”
Perry is a two-time Canadian amateur boxing champion despite having only started boxing at 28, an age at which most in the sport are headed toward retirement.
But she says the sport changed her life then, and it certainly is taking a major role in changing it now.
“I can only say for me as a competitor; the transferrable skills I gained physically and mentally as a person helped me to succeed in life,” says Perry. “I have a very successful career and I think a big part of that came from my boxing; my belief in myself, and just the ability to commit to something.”
One of Perry’s commitments was organizing the club’s fight nights.
This year, however, she had to take a step back from that role to deal with something far more important. Of course, she is using lessons she learned from boxing to do so.
“It taught me how to focus and commit and work hard towards things and achieve things,” Perry continues. “I do that in my career, I do that in my personal life – for myself right now, I was recently diagnosed with cancer – I’m using the skills that I gained as a boxer to battle my cancer. And I am very confident that I will beat this, and I can say that only because that’s what boxing has taught me.”
While Perry talks eagerly and enthusiastically about boxing, others speak of her the same way.
Seema Singh, who organized Fight Night, stresses how much of a positive presence Perry is at the club despite her role having been limited due to her illness.
“She is such an amazing person with a very powerful voice, just very high spirits all the time, everybody loves her,” says Singh.
“She’s one of those people that, she’s very friendly; she is the backbone of this gym," Singh continues."All the kids here, she loves everyone individually, she really takes everyone under her wing and takes this gym to heart; she takes it very seriously. She really wants everyone to be at their best.”
Still, Perry cannot stop talking about her favourite sport. And when she does you get the sense that, for Perry, it’s about more than just the sport.
“I can honestly tell you there is nothing more thrilling than boxing,” says Perry.
“Nothing is more exhilarating than getting in the ring and looking across at this other person who has the headgear on and a cup and big gloves, and know that when the bell rings you are going to hit each other," Perry adds. "It’s exhilarating; it’s scary and exhilarating.”
She repeats those words: scary and exhilarating, and for good reason.That is what her life is like right now.
For Perry, the Fight Night comes at a good time; though she couldn’t commit the time to organize the event, she knows she needs boxing now more than ever.