Sometimes, there’s victory in defeat. That was the case for Canaan Woodrow at Rumble 35 on Saturday night in Quesnel.
The 17-year-old member of Inner City Boxing PG took on a physically bigger and heavier opponent in the form of Tanzeel Sait of Surrey’s Queensborough Boxing Club. While the judges awarded the win to Sait, Woodrow got stronger as the battle went along. And at the end of the 10-bout card, the Woodrow-Sait clash was picked as fight of the night.
After an exhausted Woodrow got a pep talk from coaches Jag Seehra and Kenny Lally between the second and third rounds, he came out in the third with renewed energy and purpose. Woodrow took away the momentum Sait had built, and spent more time going on the attack. Woodrow won the round, and by refusing to quit, turned the match into a true crowd-pleaser.
“It was the fight of the night, that’s for sure,” Seehra said. “The first round went to the other kid for sure – he was the bigger guy and was moving Canaan back, and Canaan wasn’t finding his groove yet. The last half of the second round, he started to find some shots and [Sait] was starting to get a little more tired. And in the third, Canaan was dialed in. He went in there and he fought the way we wanted him to fight the whole fight. He was rolling, catching him with shots, finishing the exchanges, and won that last round. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the decision, but he was doing a lot of the stuff that we had been working on in the gym. That in itself is a win.
“We’re super proud of him,” Seehra added. “After a brutal two rounds like that, backing up and getting hit with shots, and then coming back in the third round and winning the third round, that’s huge.”
Eighteen-year-old Ben Ruttan and 30-year-old Melissa O’Flynn of Inner City were also on the Rumble 35 card. Both had exhibition bouts against opponents with minimal experience, and both “boxed beautifully,” Seehra said.
“Ben was able to show his abilities and what he’s been working on,” Seehra added. “He’s been working on his boxing, his balance, and he showed immense control. There were times where he could have taken the guy out but it takes a real mature, veteran type of boxer to control himself in a situation like that.”
O’Flynn lives in Quesnel but has been training at Inner City for a little more than a year. Her opponent was making her ring debut, and her impressive level of intensity made the bout a little more active than fans might have anticipated.
“We told Melissa, ‘You’ve been training so hard, show Quesnel what you’ve been working on,’” Seehra said. “And that’s exactly what she did. She showed her skills. That girl she fought was going hard, so in cases like that, it’s hard to find your happy medium, but Melissa did great.”
Members of the Inner City fight team will now take a break from competition but will continue to train in preparation for fights in September.