Amateur boxing insiders are hitting a very positive note with respect to the sport’s growing popularity in this province.
“There are more shows than ever and our membership for participants doubled this year,” says Dave Allison, president of the British Columbia Combative Sports Association, otherwise known as Combsport.
Allison, a Langley resident who has been around the sport since the late 80s, says he has never seen boxing the way it is now. As an example, Allison says that B.C. used to look at Alberta as the “hot spot” for boxing in the west. However, the tables have turned, he explains. Compared to its neighbour, B.C. is averaging twice the number of shows now, about two dozen a year.
Allison expects to see around 30 events in 2016, with sizable crowds filling big venues.
“We’ve got [venues] now with a 1,000 people, 500 people. This is no longer usual.”
A good deal of the credit for the sport’s rising popularity in the province could go to Combsport itself. The organization makes a point of showcasing fighters whose style resembles that of professional boxers. There’s no headgear in the more experienced divisions and more punching on the inside – a style of fighting that’s more fan-friendly than traditional Olympic style boxing.
Local champion Ken Huber also speaks to the sport’s growing appeal.
Huber holds heavyweight and cruiserweight Combsport titles and is one of the biggest draws in the world of B.C. amateur boxing. Huber’s last fight, against Vancouver boxer Samuel Moses, was the main event at the 2015 Golden Gloves Championships. The event drew hundreds of fans to Langley’s Coast Hotel and Convention Centre.
But that wasn’t the case when Huber started competing about seven years ago.
At that time, “amateur boxing was dead”, says Huber, whose fights took place in school gymnasiums and abandoned churches, in front of maybe 60 people.
Huber operates the Kamloops Boxing Academy, which has also been flourishing in the close to three years since he bought it with his dad, Paul.
“I’ve seen nothing but an increase in quality and an increase in popularity.”
Boxing is a gentleman’s sport, and the quality of the shows, the quality of the competition, the quality of the fighters, and the general atmosphere is improving all the time, Huber emphasizes.
“If it peaks your interest at all, come and watch a show or come down to a gym and try it out and see what you think. Boxing brings out the beautiful people, I like to say that. It’s always a good time. People are working hard and getting it done. At the end of the day, it’s the fans that encourage us to work hard and keep fighting.”
