One of Canada’s oldest and most storied boxing clubs has added another chapter to its history book. The Beaver Boxing Club sent two fighters to the 2012 national elite championships that took place earlier this month in Cape Breton.
Erica Adjei and Fady Mahfouz made the trip to the East Coast to represent the local gym at Canada’s premier amateur competition.
Despite both fighters dropping their respective quarterfinal bouts, their appearance at the competition is a positive for Beaver Boxing.
Since opening its doors in 1943, the club has built a reputation for producing championship-calibre fighters such as Adjei and Mahfouz.
“Erica and Fady want to be the best, that’s what separates them from others,” says Greg Gayle, who has been coaching the 126-pound Adjei for two years.
“You need to be dedicated and you need to push yourself, and these two understand that.”
While Adjei will continue with her amateur career, the 165-pound Mahfouz is now looking to reach the professional ranks. He will travel to New York in the coming weeks to turn that dream into a reality.
“He’s got a meeting set up with someone down there, and if he likes what Fady can do then he’ll take him on,” says coach Kevin McNeil.
“He’ll have to cut weight though, because he’s going to fight at 147 pounds.”
Mahfouz will need to ramp up a training regimen that has him running 10 km every morning on top of his work in the ring.
Randy Ogden is confident his friend will be successful. The 20-year-old is the main sparring partner for Mahfouz and says he has all the tools to become a great fighter.
But there is one attribute that sticks out above the rest.
“He’s got a really tough chin, I’m convinced it’s made of iron,” Ogden says.
For both Adjei and Mahfouz, their development would have happened somewhere else if not for one man.
Without Canadian boxing legend Joe Sandulo, the gym at 145 Spruce St. would be empty.
There would be no trainers yelling out instructions, nor would there be any fighters punching the speed bag in perfect rhythm.
Sandulo, who represented Canada at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England, has been the president of the club since 1975.
While he no longer directly coaches the way he once did, his influence has not disappeared.
Many of the skills being taught to Beaver athletes today came from the 80-year-old himself.
A national champion, Gayle has been with the club since 1979.
He remembers the days when he used to train under Sandulo; there are numerous pictures on the walls of the gym’s office to prove it.
“I was only a kid when I came here,” Gayle says while staring at a photo he took with his mentor nearly three decades ago.
“Everything I learned came from Joe. He knows how to train fighters and he actually cares about them as people,” says Gayle.
Sarnia native Kaitlyn Clark has only been training at the club since September of last year.
The 19-year-old says she feels as much at home as anyone inside the gym.
On the advice of her hometown coach, Clark decided to attend Carleton University because it would allow her to train at the famous club.
It’s a decision she doesn’t regret.
“There are so many great coaches here, each one brings a unique viewpoint to the table, so you can take something from all of them and make yourself better in many different ways,” says Clark.
Like Gayle, Clark knows more Canadian boxing clubs need to gain support and publicity if the sport is to succeed on a large scale.
She says the growth of boxing in Ottawa and across the country is dependent upon Canadian youth.
“We need the next generation to come up and we need parents to consider getting their kids involved in the sport,” she says.
“I know it sounds crazy to say that, but this sport isn’t about violence. It’s about learning structure and growing as a person.”