It took up and coming Parksville boxer Brandon Busby 15 seconds to take care of business last Saturday, and his new coach was duly pleased.
“It took us longer to walk to the ring,” longtime local trainer/manager Richard LeStage said.
In action in Richmond at the Harrisons Boxing Club on a nine-bout amateur boxing card last Saturday against Tyler Bate, 21, from Williams Lake in the Super Middleweight division, Busby, 20, followed the game plan to perfection. He stopped his opponent 15 seconds into the scheduled three-round fight.
Busby, who got started in the sweet science at Genesis Boxing in Parksville,” came and started training with us in January looking to polish some things up.”
Last weekend was LeStage’s first fight working Busby’s corner.
“I was surprised how relaxed Brandon was before the fight — he was very calm, very focused,” said LeStage, “and I think that’s a big part of what happened.”
“No matter if this fight went 15 seconds or the full three rounds, Brandon was going to win this fight. He was prepared.”
Busby, said LeStage, came out after the opening bell “and did exactly what I told him — he came out, circled off to his left with a couple double jabs, slipped the right hand, then countered with a jab. At that point his opponent leaned in to take a body shot, and Brandon countered him over the top with the right hand, and that was the fight.
“It would have been nice for him to get the full three rounds in — we want to see what he’s learning — but on the other hand you’re never going to complain about a stoppage.”
Though still early in the process, LeStage was quick to make the point Busby is a good fit for his club and can benefit from training with the likes of heavyweight ‘Shotgun’ Shane Andreesen, Aubrey ‘Bam Bam’ Morrow and former Canadian Super Middleweight Champion Mark ‘Machine Gun’ Woolnough.
“Brandon’s been a very good fit,” said LeStage, adding “he’s very respectful and he does whatever’s asked of him which is a quality I’m sure he learned at Genesis. He’s willing to put in the work.”
UP NEXT
Busby is back in action for another amateur bout March 17 in Kelowna.
