The big event is coming up tomorrow night at the Weyburn Legion for the Soo Line Boxing Club as they celebrate 75 years in the community.
"It starts at 6 p.m. and the doors are open at 5. There will be pre-show sparring also around 5:30 if you want to come out and check out that it's just guys that are coming to spar because they don't have a bout, so we have people that will be available to get in there with them and do some work and get some experience," Head Coach Clint Ducharme said.
Admission for the event is $20 for adults and $15 for youth under 16. While the ringside tables are sold out, Ducharme said there will still be general admission tickets available at the door.
"We hope that we get the support from the community to come on out and check out this boxing card and we're bringing boxing back to Weyburn, trying to do it steady now with the club that we have. It seems to be growing every year and getting bigger and bigger."
The event will have boxers from Weyburn, Regina, Saskatoon, Leader, Winnipeg, and Medicine Hat. There are currently 14 bouts on the card.
"We're going to have boxers out of the card from even beginners introduction to boxing will have a sparring event before that 9 to 10 year old kids, and then Junior A kids 11 to12 Junior B, 13 to 14, Junior C 15 to 6, and then your youth, 17 to 18, and then elite, 19 plus, and then your masters is 40 years old and above. We will have fights from all spectrums. We have Junior A Junior B, Junior C, youth as well as a master fight also. So it's going to be a great event."
Ducharme said there will be a doctor at ringside, as well as Saskatchewan Boxing officials. The event will also feature a canteen and a cash bar, and those who purchase ringside tables will also receive a cold-cut platter and snacks.
"There are people that every fight is a level climb. You'll have people that are just starting out with zero bouts, and you have guys that are in the middle around five, and then you have open bouts. Novice goes from zero to 10 bouts and then open means you're 11 and up, and that means you could fight anybody, when you're open, except novice guys, if they have five fights or less than you. Novice, usually people try to match them up so it is a good bout. We don't want to have somebody in there that is way better than the next guy."
"Everybody is matched up with weight categories with age categories and experience. Everything is right across the board, fair level and equal so that everybody is getting a chance to display what they've learned at that level," he noted. "Some people advance faster than others, and if you are advanced and you're doing very well and you have six or seven fights, you're in that intermediate area. You can put a request into Boxing Saskatchewan to open up your boxer, and then you can get them opened up a lot earlier so that he could fight at a higher level."
"You'd be surprised at how everybody gets along at an event like this," Ducharme shared. "It's a competitive sport and there is blood but it's not people hating each other. People are competing at a high level and trying to do their best and the way I say it to a lot of people too is, 'tough guys get hurt in a boxing club'. If you're a tough guy and you think you're the strongest guy in the world, come to the club, you'll learn different because it's about thinking. Using your brain. There's a lot of skill to this. There's a lot of levels, and that's why there's so much respect."
"The people that you have fights with and the bouts that you have, they become your best friends and they become your biggest competitors. So you guys end up trying to better each other and you guys end up climbing up the ladder together and pushing each other and being happy for each other. It's an amazing community of positive atmosphere."
The club trains every Tuesday and Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the gym at TAGS Youth Centre, from September to mid-May. They keep their rates low enough to include as many people as possible, and the first class for anyone is always free.
An extended version of this article was originally published on March 24th.