Cornwall Hosts Canadian Golden Gloves Championship

On Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20, Cornwall’s NavCenter hosted the Inaugural Canadian Golden Gloves Championship. Boxers, trainers and their families from all over Canada descended on Cornwall to participate in the first event of this kind for Boxing Canada. Better than that, the championship featured participants from Akwesasne! Isaac Benedict and Robbie Cook fought in the tournament representing Akwesasne fighting for Champs Eastside Boxing Club.

The tournament ran from July 16-July 20 with the final matches being held Friday and Saturday. Isaac Benedict won both of his matches to take the medal in the 44 Kilogram class. Benedict was a little underweight, but he moved up and fought bigger fighters because there was no one in his weight class, and he was willing. Winning a unanimous decision in his fight against Gerson Lobo, Benedict went on to win Saturday against Danny Giroux in a split decision. These are huge wins for Benedict who just turned twelve on Thursday.

Fellow Akwesasronon Robbie Cook was unsuccessful in her bid for a medal, losing to Kandi Wyatt on Thursday and Marie Eve Dicaire on Saturday.

The Canadian Golden Gloves Boxing Championship will be a yearly event, with at least one more year in Cornwall. As with anything, in their first year there were a lot of challenges, not the least of which was Friday’s weather, which delayed the start of the fight by more than an hour and might have affected attendance. Next year’s turnout will determine if the tournament will call Cornwall its home long term.