As a boxer, Josh Greenwood brings some valuable weapons into the ring – fast hands, surprising power, excellent stamina and a high level of intelligence.
Along with these qualities, the 18-year-old member of Inner City Boxing PG has an insatiable desire to keep learning and keep getting better. This past weekend in Calgary, he brought all of these elements together and earned a championship title and some national recognition.
Greenwood was part of an Inner City Wardogs team that competed at Canada Cup 2025, a Boxing Canada-sanctioned event. In the 65-kilogram novice division, he won both his fights, including one for gold on Saturday night against Cash Littler of Ontario.
Greenwood’s victory not only gave him a shiny new souvenir for his collection, it made him Boxing Canada’s top-ranked novice fighter in his weight class.
Greenwood had his first-ever fight about a year ago. It ended in a loss. He also came up short in his second match, and then started to mix in some wins with more setbacks.
So, to be where he is today is rewarding indeed.
“The process was very hard,” he said. “I definitely had to keep pushing through at times. Like, I kept losing and losing, but you keep coming back to the gym and you just focus on the next fight, focus on the future – don’t look at the past in a bad way, just learn from your mistakes and keep improving.”
When the referee raised Greenwood’s hand on Saturday night, the young fighter revelled in the moment.
“It was awesome, and I had my whole team there for it,” he said. “They’re all happy for me, I’m happy. It was a very good experience.”
Against Littler, Greenwood narrowly dropped the first round, and was behind early in the second. But, then he took control. During a slight break in the action, he glanced to his corner and saw coaches Kenny Lally and Jag Seehra telling him to try to catch Littler with a straight right hand. Greenwood threw a straight right that just failed to connect but, a split second later, rocked his opponent with an upward-angled jab to the head. At that point, the referee stepped in and gave Littler an eight-count. When the fight resumed, Greenwood stayed on the attack and his aggressiveness resulted in another eight-count.
“It was something else, man,” Greenwood said. “I was so happy. I gave him the eight-counts, tied up the match, it was great. I was just pumping after that.”
In the third round, Greenwood relied on his superior fitness, kept up the pressure, and was announced as the winner.
At the Inner City gym, Lally and Seehra have been with Greenwood every step of the way, and they couldn’t be more proud of his latest and greatest accomplishment.
“I shed a tear when his hand was raised, for sure,” Lally said.
“He definitely has come a long way in a very short period of time. Eleven months ago is when we began our competition season with Josh. He lost his first two fights and then went to the B.C. Bronze Gloves and lost in the final. Then he got a win, and then he went on another two-fight losing streak but he never quit. That showed us so much character in this kid. Through the losses and all of that, it never fazed him. He just worked harder and harder.”
For Greenwood and his coaches, a turning point came after an opening-fight defeat at the Alberta Silver Gloves in January in Medicine Hat.
“After Medicine Hat, after that loss, Jag and I believed that it was up to us as coaches to identify what was going on, and to correct it,” Lally said.
After some analysis, Lally and Seehra decided that they needed to help Greenwood improve his balance. As part of making that correction, they had him start working with medicine balls to increase his strength and agility. This was in addition to his regular training, and Greenwood embraced it. It paid off in making him more stable on his feet, and more sure in his boxing stance.
“Everything came to fruition (at Canada Cup),” Lally said. “It’s like a Cinderella story for the kid.”
Lally and Seehra aren’t the only ones tipping their hats to Greenwood. His Inner City teammates are also thrilled for him. That includes Thunder Innis, who started training at Inner City around the same time.
“I’m really proud of him,” Innis said. “I’ve been to every single one of his fights. I’ve seen him lose and come back, I’ve seen him lose again and lose again, get the B.C. Bronze Gloves stripped from him, and I’ve seen him come back and try and try. Each time he comes back, and I really respect him for that. And now he’s a No. 1 novice fighter in Canada.”
At Canada Cup 2025, Inner City was also represented by Melissa O’Flynn in the 54kg female category. O’Flynn – who fights out of 2 Rivers Boxing in Quesnel but was doing extra work at Inner City in preparation for Canada Cup – faced current Canadian champion Scarlett Delgado in two separate bouts. The 29-year-old O’Flynn lost both times but left a lasting impression on everyone in attendance.
“Melissa did great,” Lally said of O’Flynn’s overall performance. “She did amazing in the first fight. Scarlett won an international tournament this year, and Melissa looked like she belonged in there with her, for sure. Then she got a walkover (default) win so she made it back to the finals, and she did her best. Scarlett, being an international champion, she adapted very well. They probably did some video analysis, found some holes, and they capitalized. Unfortunately, we got stopped in the last round but it was a great experience for her.”
Three other Inner City boxers – Innis, Ben Ruttan and Audrey Edmunds – were all hoping to get onto the fight card at Canada Cup but only got into sparring matches. Innis and Ruttan actually faced each other, while Edmunds stepped into the ring three times and showed the form that made her an Alberta Silver Gloves champion earlier this year.
“She sparred three elite open girls, and she did great,” Lally said. “The girls looked after her to make sure they didn’t hurt her, but they were keeping her honest, and Audrey got her shots in.”
With Greenwood’s title at Canada Cup, all four members of Inner City’s current fight team now have championships on their resumés in their first year of action.
“It’s a great feeling,” Lally said. “This is what we wanted to do. We wanted to bring champions back to Prince George and I think we’re doing a pretty good job so far.”
Inner City boxers now have a break in their schedule. The next confirmed fight card is in Quesnel in June.