Sudbury pugilist Amber Konikow may have come home with a bronze medal from her recent international bout, but she still feels nothing short of a gold medal winner.
"Regardless if it was gold, silver or bronze, I was so proud and happy of my performance and my positive attitude towards it that I felt like a gold winner," Konikow stated.
The two-time Canadian champion competed at the 10th annual Witch Cup in Hungary Sept. 4. Despite not bringing home the gold, Konikow said it was a great learning experience.
Konikow's coach, Gord Apolloni of ONTC Top Glove Boxing Academy, instilled in her and the rest of her Canadian teammates the importance of being positive.
"I think that helps and plays a major role of how you're going to compete," Konikow said about the importance of positive thinking.
Although Konikow also came home with a bronze medal from last year's Witch Cup, the boxer said she's much more mature and confident this time around and was extremely happy with her performance.
Konikow had the experience of competing against the current World Champion Maria Yavorskaya of Russia.
"Her competition was very good," Apolloni said about her bout against the World Champion. He noted that Konikow is a technical fighter and really opened up in the final round.
"She's got the tools of the Europeans. Very difficult to hit her. She's constantly moving and she's constantly counter punching," he said
"The first two rounds were a little touch and go against the Russian, but in the last round it was phenomenal," Apolloni said proudly, adding that Konikow really starting to exude confidence it that last round.
"It was almost like I had a release. It was like 'Okay stop giving that girl so much respect'," Konikow said, adding that at that point it was to show the World Champion what she had.
Konikow said one of the things she learned at the meet was not to give your opponent respect. She said if you give them too much respect, they are going to feed off that and use that against you.
Konikow added you have to take that and turn it around to show them that you are the one who is the best.
"That's one thing that I actually learned and actually accomplished," she said, adding that she was very happy about that because it's something that she can take to the next fight.
Konikow now has her eyes on the nationals next year, where she is hoping to retire as a three-time Canadian champion.
In the immediate future, Konikow will be fighting in the main event at the Live Boxing show presented by the ONTC Top Glove Boxing Academy Saturday evening at 7 p.m.
The event is a fundraising opportunity to raise money for the club and our Canadian athletes.
For more information, contact ONTC Top Glove at 674-2693.
