Boxers Duke it Out

BY LAUREL MYERS

It was a battle of nations last week as amateur boxers from Italy matched blows with local athletes at the kickoff for the 36th annual Caruso Club Italian Festival.

The group of five boxers ventured to the hub of Sudbury's Italian culture, joining Sudbury's local athletes in the ring on July 2.

According to ONTC Top Glove Boxing Academy head coach, Gord Apolloni, though the turnout wasn't quite as high as expected, the boxing was top notch.

Since 2001, the Caruso Club has been bringing in an Italian boxing team to compete in the match, which is highlighted as the main event of the festival each year.

"We've gone from bringing in clubs from Quebec to the United States and now from Italy," Apolloni said. "They (the Italians) are very good boxers and they won both of their bouts.

"We're looking forward to having them back next year for an even better event."

He added next year's match at the Caruso Club Italian Festival will be the first bout on the team's circuit in Ontario, to avoid eliminating boxers from the match due to injury, as happened this year.

The boxers arrived in Greater Sudbury on June 29. Before battling it out at the Caruso Club, the team ventured to the CHIN Picnic (a festival held in Toronto) on July 1 to compete in a Boxing Ontario Club Show, which featured some of the province's best male and female amateur boxers, including provincial and national champions.

Unfortunately, two boxers returned with injuries - one with a dislocated thumb, the other with an enormous blister on the bottom of his foot - preventing them from competing in the Greater Sudbury match.

Bringing the Italians to Canada to spar offers a significant learning opportunity for the boxers on both sides of the ring. As Apolloni explained, there are major differences between the European and North American styles of boxing.

"Here, at the ONTC Boxing Club, I am a strong proponent of the European-style boxing," he said. "Usually, if you beat a European, the chances are that you'll win a medal at the Olympic games.

"It's a totally different style though," he continued. "In Canada and North America, it's more about coming straight forward and trying to hit as hard you can. In Europe, it's about playing from the outside, maintaining your opponent at arm's length and trying to draw your opponent in."

The North American, or pro-style, is to hurt the opponent, while amateur boxing centres around scoring as many points as possible.

"The person who throws the hardest punch in a round in pro wins the round," the coach said. "In amateur boxing, the boxer who throws more punches in that round wins the round. It's like fencing but with gloves on.

These are the tactics and strategies that we use at ONTC boxing."