Thread: A Question for our Canadian members...

I have been to Canada to 2 name worthy fights...

Bute Vs Joppy..

Pascal Vs Nievas...

and a couple small shows with Bob Miller...

The crowds were great and really into it but how big is boxing in Canada really?

I mean in the US people are big fans and in the UK those guys are the best fans out there with the way they support their fighters.....

Is Canada a big boxing country (Regardless of Boxing Day lol)...Or is there just a big following for the fighters from home?....The Bute fights seem to draw huge crowds....Is it just him and others from Canada or do you guys pack it in for fights all the time...

Originally Posted by DaxxKahn

I have been to Canada to 2 name worthy fights...

Bute Vs Joppy..

Pascal Vs Nievas...

and a couple small shows with Bob Miller...

The crowds were great and really into it but how big is boxing in Canada really?

I mean in the US people are big fans and in the UK those guys are the best fans out there with the way they support their fighters.....

Is Canada a big boxing country (Regardless of Boxing Day lol)...Or is there just a big following for the fighters from home?....The Bute fights seem to draw huge crowds....Is it just him and others from Canada or do you guys pack it in for fights all the time...

First off, Canada is about hockey and little else. Always has been. But, a bit of history and insight...

It is very big in Quebec. The professional side, and as well the amateur side. The reasons are the draws, Bute, Pascal, Lemieux etc

In Ontario, the biggest province, as well as across Canada for years it very much fell to the wayside. Boxing gyms were closing and enrollments declining, and wthout a place for anyone to ever walk thru the door of to find out if they were any good, obv it only gets worse.

But lately, say the last 5 years or so, the sport has been rekindled. An example would be in my hometown, where 8 yrs ago there was no boxing club, now there are 2 and both doing well with attendance. This trend has
found its way across our province, and across the country as enrollment numbers in amateur had been said to be up as high as 500%. But as with all things, it will take time. We are young coming back into this sport. But the talent level is increasing in amateurs, especially in Quebec and Ontario, so you can expect to start seeing the young better propects finding their way into the higher levels of the sport, and hopefully in greater numbers also.

In our hometown, when we put on amateur fights, in either arenas or our club, especially our club, we fill the place to the rafters...mostly all in pre sold tickets. Numbers much higher then I've seen at any amateur shows any where else. And we are a town who once was likely the worst for all things hockey, forget anything else. But it is coming a long. When I first started fighting, and winning, no newspaper would even consider posting an article, and if so, was small and near the back pages. But now we are getting exposure, tv, newspapers, and with that comes fans, and also, and likely more importantly, others wanting to learn the sport.

So all in all, we are coming a long. Expect to hear things from Canada in the next 10 years, in the highest levels of amateur, and also too the highest of professional.

Atleast that is my take on it.

Originally Posted by Youngblood

Originally Posted by DaxxKahn

I have been to Canada to 2 name worthy fights...

Bute Vs Joppy..

Pascal Vs Nievas...

and a couple small shows with Bob Miller...

The crowds were great and really into it but how big is boxing in Canada really?

I mean in the US people are big fans and in the UK those guys are the best fans out there with the way they support their fighters.....

Is Canada a big boxing country (Regardless of Boxing Day lol)...Or is there just a big following for the fighters from home?....The Bute fights seem to draw huge crowds....Is it just him and others from Canada or do you guys pack it in for fights all the time...

First off, Canada is about hockey and little else. Always has been. But, a bit of history and insight...

It is very big in Quebec. The professional side, and as well the amateur side. The reasons are the draws, Bute, Pascal, Lemieux etc

In Ontario, the biggest province, as well as across Canada for years it very much fell to the wayside. Boxing gyms were closing and enrollments declining, and wthout a place for anyone to ever walk thru the door of to find out if they were any good, obv it only gets worse.

But lately, say the last 5 years or so, the sport has been rekindled. An example would be in my hometown, where 8 yrs ago there was no boxing club, now there are 2 and both doing well with attendance. This trend has
found its way across our province, and across the country as enrollment numbers in amateur had been said to be up as high as 500%. But as with all things, it will take time. We are young coming back into this sport. But the talent level is increasing in amateurs, especially in Quebec and Ontario, so you can expect to start seeing the young better propects finding their way into the higher levels of the sport, and hopefully in greater numbers also.

In our hometown, when we put on amateur fights, in either arenas or our club, especially our club, we fill the place to the rafters...mostly all in pre sold tickets. Numbers much higher then I've seen at any amateur shows any where else. And we are a town who once was likely the worst for all things hockey, forget anything else. But it is coming a long. When I first started fighting, and winning, no newspaper would even consider posting an article, and if so, was small and near the back pages. But now we are getting exposure, tv, newspapers, and with that comes fans, and also, and likely more importantly, others wanting to learn the sport.

So all in all, we are coming a long. Expect to hear things from Canada in the next 10 years, in the highest levels of amateur, and also too the highest of professional.

Atleast that is my take on it.

Interesting....I knew about how Hockey rated there its their equivalent to South America and how they follow Soccer

I mean it is easy to try and judge by seeing how many champions or contenders there are from a country on how popular it is but then again just because the country does not have a huge amount of fighters currently active there does not mean it is not a big fight fan area,,,,

Glad to hear it is gaining some momentum...Thanks for the reply

Youngblood's post resume the situation quite well: It is superbly alive in Quebec (the province, not only the city) in the amateur ranks and it starts to have huge huge repercussion at the professional level. Ontario starts to beat at the same pulse as Quebec though it,s still far behind in matter of amateur and professional championship but I think it'll come equal at some point. Stephane Ouellet in Quebec (the disgracied #1 contender who became a poet and who felt into drugs and alcohol big time) started the movement with the Company Interbox at the time but it is really Otis Grant and Eric Lukas who did lighted the sparks and the popularity of the sport, peoples knew Gatti but weren't into boxing that much still but then Lucas, Grant did put indirectly more spotlight on Gatti and people realized that though he was established in NJ, he was from here and bang, there we are with a couple more champions that has been created with Dorin, Molitor, Alcine, Pascal and Diaconu.
So now, Boxing is huge here, Bute can easily drag 20 000 peoples at the Bell Center for a huge showdown otherwise, selling 10-15000 seats for Pascal is not difficult at all neither but still, Hockey is THE sport over in Canada and by far but boxing is conquering more ground every days and it starts to be interestingly big over there.