The Canadian national team triumphed over England's team twice-- once during the Ken Goff Memorial on May 6 and again at the Mayor's Cup in Regina two days later.
The memorial tournament is dedicated to Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame member Ken Goff. Goff was active in boxing tournaments until the age of 26 and he later established the Regina Boxing Inc. Club during his time as a coach. He was the manager of the Canadian Boxing Team in the 1948 and 1956 Olympic Games.
The Canadian men's national team had to regroup their team because some of their top boxers, such as AIBA World Championships quarterfinalist Mike Zewski, Steve Rolls, Colin Fish, and Panamerican Championships silver medalist Didier Bence, turned professional. Most of their remaining athletes have not had enough international experience to achieve top results yet.
For the first step of building up the new team, the Canadian boxers competed well at the second Panamerican Qualifications Tournament in Quito and won three weight classes. Natioanl Champion Sandra Bizier of the female lightweight, AIBA Women's World Championships competitor 24 year-old Mandy Bujold, and Brodie Blair of the men's event all performed well.
Canada's best middleweight boxers, young Brodie Blair, Benoit Fleury, Joey Laviolette and Jonathan Savard had to miss the friendly encounters, but despite their absence, Canada still sent a successful squad to Regina.
Panamerican Championships silver medalist, 22 year-old Kenny Lally, achieved two victories over England's National Championships silver medalist, Gareth Smith, with great agility during their flyweight contests in Regina.
England's National Championships bronze medalist Antonio Counihan fought two close contests against Canada's National Selection winner and Commonwealth Games member Alex Rynn in the lightweight class and won.
Canada's Panamerican Championships quarter-finalist, 23-year-old Yves Ulysse, defeated teenager Sam Bowen of England twice during their light welterweight contests while two-time Canadian National Champion, 23-year-old Custio Clayton, won his bouts in the same way at the welterweight division against Tommy Langford of England.
Canada's National Selection winner Vincent Thibault fought two one-sided contests against British Youth Champion 20-year-old Paulius Maciulevicius. The first bout was stopped by the referee, while the second contest also finished before the final bell when the English ringside abandoned the middleweight fight.
Mitch Hunt completed Canada's final victory at the Ken Goff Memorial Tournament when he triumphed over Matthew Neilson at the light heavyweight class. Nigerian-descent, veteran Emmanuel Izonritei, has been competing for England since 2009 and stopped Canada's Patrick Thibeault in their heavyweight fight.
Canada's best super heavyweight boxer, Didier Bence, turned professional earlier this year and so Simon Kean is Canada's best new hope in this weight class. The young Canadian athlete could compete only in the first bout because he got injured against England's Carl Spencer at the Ken Goff Memorial Tournament.
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