
The new year brings new challenges for the fight team at Inner City Boxing PG.
Four members of the Inner City Wardogs – Audrey Edmunds, Josh Greenwood, Thunder Innis and Ben Ruttan – will be in the ring for the Alberta Silver Gloves this weekend. The tournament is Saturday and Sunday in Medicine Hat, and it’s for boxers who have had up to 10 fights.
Nobody on the Inner City team has had that many.
“This is a huge step up for the team,” said coach Kenny Lally. “In 2024, we surpassed our expectations as a first-year club. We’ve got our feet on the ground now and we’re going to come out of the gate.”
“The kids are working hard,” added fellow coach Jag Seehra. “They’ve been putting their bodies through hell and they’ve got to get something for it now. All this hard work has got to be for something.”
Edmunds, 12, enters the Silver Gloves with two exhibition fights under her belt. In Medicine Hat, she’ll be throwing punches in her first official bout, against a boxer who’s the same age and in the same weight class. Her opponent, at 54 kilograms, will be Evelyn Custer from Four Corners Boxing in North Battleford, Sask. They’ll square off on Saturday night.
“She’s going to do great,” Lally said of Edmunds. “This will be her coming-out party. She’s nervous, and she should be, but like I told her mom, for a 12-year-old, the strength of her mind is unparalleled. Don’t get me wrong – her boxing is fantastic, her cardio is elite, but how strong this kid’s mind is, the adversity she faces in the ring with these boys on the Inner City team, she’s unreal. They punch her, and she comes back and makes them bleed. It’s amazing.”
Even though her first two fights didn’t go down in the books as official, Edmunds was the clear winner in both, first at the B.C. Bronze Gloves last September in Chilliwack and then at Rumble 33 in Quesnel in December. As she gets closer to a big test at the Alberta Silver Gloves, she’s feeling good about her chances.
“I’ve been working really hard and it has given me a lot of confidence,” said Edmunds, the only female member of the Inner City fight team. “This will be my first real fight and I’m really excited.”
Greenwood, 17, is the most experienced member of the Wardogs. Between exhibition matches and actual bouts, he has six fights on his resumé so far. At the Silver Gloves, he’ll be in the 60- to 65kg weight class, which is one of the larger divisions in terms of entrants. Depending on the draw, he could have up to three fights.
He will open against Steven Carabali of Edmonton’s South Side Legion Boxing Club on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m expecting some hard fights but it’s going to be fun,” Greenwood said. “Some guys might have more experience than me, some might have less. I’ve been training way harder than I ever have before, and I’m just ready.”
The 16-year-old Innis will be tossing leather in the 85kg division. He heads to Medicine Hat with five fights to his credit, and he’s been untouchable in all of them. He already owns B.C. Bronze Gloves and Alberta Sub-Novice titles, the latter one coming in Calgary in November. He’ll be hunting for another championship this weekend. To reach his goal, he’ll first have to go through Rannoch Derkson-Gamble, who fights out of the Lethbridge Boxing Club. Their bout is on Saturday night.
“I’m really confident in my abilities, and I’m really excited to show my abilities to people,” Innis said. “I feel energized, I feel good, I feel proud, and I’m ready to represent.”
Ruttan, 17, has been a force of nature so far in his young career. Like Innis, he already has an Alberta Sub-Novice title to his credit. Ruttan also boxed his way to victory at Rumble 33 in Quesnel, and he’d like to continue his winning ways at the Alberta Silver Gloves. The biggest challenge, however, might be finding an opponent for him. The tall and athletic Ruttan fights at 90kg, which is a bit of an unusual weight class for a boxer his age. So, coaches Lally and Seehra are hoping to find a set match for him in Medicine Hat.
Ruttan himself is raring to go.
“Despite being off for a few weeks around Christmas, I came back and I’ve been training really hard ever since,” he said. “This is the best shape I’ve ever been in, the best I’ve been technically, the best I’ve been mentally. I’ve put a lot of work in for this fight, and I feel ready.”