RINGSIDE SEATS

With two local boxing clubs producing five national champions, Manitobans don’t have to go far to watch elite-level boxing.

Mike Warkentin
July 2009

Eastman coach Kirk Fleming (right), with national champions Kyle and Jessica Gross.

The Beijing Olympics marked a low point in the history of Canadian boxing.

A program that had produced medallists such as Lennox Lewis, Egerton Marcus, Mark Leduc and David Defiagbon sent only one competitor to the Olympic ring in 2008. Adam Trupish was eliminated by the eventual gold medallist in a lop-sided 20-1 first-round match, leading the media to decry the state of Canadian boxing.

Less than a year later, Manitoba produced five national boxing champions, several of whom are bent on qualifying for the Olympics and revitalizing the Canadian program.

Siblings Kyle and Jessica Gross of Beausejour both have Olympic dreams, though 15-year-old Jessica will have to wait for women’s boxing to be declared an official Olympic sport. That hasn’t stopped the 60-kilogram junior champion from training with her 17-year-old brother six times a week at the Eastman Boxing Club.

Eastman coach Kirk Fleming describes Jessica as an aggressive “ball of muscle” and actually had her sparring with males to ensure she had some competition.

“At first I wasn’t too comfortable with it,” Jessica says of playing with the boys. “At first I started sparring with older and bigger girls, but after a while they couldn’t really handle me, so Kirk threw me in there with my brothers and I ended up holding my own. I’ve always been able to walk through a punch, and I’ve only been stunned about two times. Working with the boys, I find it’s a lot better. The boys are able to hold their own, and I just get a lot more work out of it.”

While Kyle takes a typical older-brother stance toward Jessica’s presence at the club, he’s also tremendously proud of little sis.

Fleming provides Jessica Gross with some advice during a sparring session. Says Fleming of the siblings: "It's a coach's dream to get these two."

“There’s no other girls in the club that spar, so she beats up all the boys,” he says. “She just has this technique, and she just doesn’t have any pain. She just walks through.”

Jessica, of course, loves being around her brother, a strapping kid who stands six-foot-four and carries between 80 and 86 kilograms of weight. He plans to add some muscle to his frame in order to compete at over 91 kilograms in the super heavyweight division.

“I don’t know how much he likes me being around, but I love it because he’s so technical and everything he does, to me, is perfect,” Jessica says. “I want to be just like him. Everything about his stance and hit power, I want it. I love seeing him spar or work on bags so I can get an idea of what to do to get that good. He’s my idol.”

And Kyle is indeed very good. At nationals in February both fights were stopped by the referee before they went the distance, meaning Kyle was delivering the leather to his opponents with authority. Oddly enough, the older Gross has a losing record—but it was all part of Fleming’s plan.

“When he was at 10 fights, I’d match him up with guys who had 40,” the coach explains. “I knew he could hold his own. I knew he wouldn’t get hurt. But these guys were at a little higher skill than him, a little older than him a lot of the time...

“I’m sure he wasn’t happy about losing, but we never focused on winning or losing when it came to the local shows. As far as we were concerned, that was a stepping stone. It all came together when he got to the nationals, and now he’s fighting kids his age. There’s no 17-year-old kid that can match up with that guy.”

“The only time I fought someone my own age and weight and experience was at provincials,” Kyle says. “And going the whole year and fighting better guys and then going to provincials, I stopped the guy in 30 seconds.”

Kyle and Jessica also benefit from the support of their parents and six siblings, all of whom make for a large cheering section at every match. Coach Fleming says you can definitely tell when the Gross clan is in the gym, and he believes family support is an important part of the champs’ success.

“They’re comfortable with who they are,” Fleming says. “They don’t drink. They don’t smoke. No partying. They’re very disciplined that way. There are no little breaks in their lives to do stupid things. They’re very focused kids, good in school. It’s a coach’s dream to get these two.”

He adds: “Most coaches never get a national champion. To get two in the same year? These kids are for real.”

United Boxing Club coach J.T. Smith (left) with national champion Brandt Butt.

Winnipeg’s United Boxing Club boasts three national champions. Hanz Hasler is the 57-kilogram junior champ, Jonathan Quinit is the 48-kilogram champ, and Brandt Butt is the 64-kilogram title holder.

After his initial win in January, Butt defended his title at the Final Team Selection tournament in February and has since fought for the Canadian team in Regina against the German national squad. Butt lost a decision to the German champion 12-7 but was encouraged by the support he got from some friends who drove to Saskatchewan to watch the fights. He says it means a lot to have friends and family who believe in him.

My friends and family support me so much. They’re so proud of me,” Butt says. “My family loves (boxing). When I first started, my mom wasn’t so much into the fighting part, but now they see it’s a safe sport and it’s not just about going in there and fighting. It’s a thinking game just as much as it is physical. They love it now and they’re major boxing fans.”

While boxing’s popularity is sometimes questioned in light of the mixed-martial-arts craze that’s sweeping the sporting world, Butt isn’t tempted to trade the ring for the MMA octagon. For him, the new style of combat characterized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) just doesn’t have the same appeal as the Sweet Science.

“It (boxing) has been around for so long and developed over many years,” he explains. “I love the fact that it’s two guys and their hands. MMA is so fresh and it’s growing really fast, but I still find it’s very new. You’ll see guys on TV who have been training for one year turning pro. Boxing has been around for so long, and it’s developed so much, and there’s so much strategy involved. I just love the hand-to-hand combat.”

Butt also believes boxing is becoming more popular again.

“Amateur boxing is growing,” he says. “I’m seeing more and more people, younger people, coming into the gym to train. Once they start training, people think maybe they want to fight. They watch the local boxing that goes on, and that makes them want to get in there. These five national champions are helping amateur boxing grow. We’re getting more exposure. More people are hearing about it, so I just think you’re going to see it growing.”

That’s certainly good news for boxing fans, especially those who hope for a few medals when Canadian fighters step between the ropes in London in 2012.

“The past Olympics... we weren’t a strong country,” Butt says. “But I think this team, our senior team, is a young group of guys, and I think you’ll be seeing more guys qualifying. I think in 2012 we’re going to have a strong team of young guys who had four years to prepare and have good international experience. So I think in 2012 you’re going to see a stronger Canada than you’ve seen in past years.”

With the likes of the Gross siblings, Quinit, Hasler and Butt training hard for the future, you can bet on it.