Haynes a knockout at Brampton Cup
Bobby Haynes made a golden debut at the recent Brampton Cup Boxing Tournament.
The Grade 12 student at Blessed Trinity opened the tournament by stopping his opponent in the second round of a 67-kilogram fight. He won his second fight when the ref stopped it in the first round. He captured his third bout by a 2-1 decision, helped out by a standing eight count against his opponent.
“I did go in with confidence but not arrogance,” the 17-year-old Smithville resident said. “I knew that I was a good fighter and I knew that I had worked really hard leading up to the tournament. I wanted to prove to myself how much the hard work translated to actually being good in the ring. I didn’t necessarily expect to win but I expected to do well.”
The first two wins were obvious but the last one was nerve-wracking for the St. Catharines Boxing Club member.
“Waiting for the decision when you don’t know and since it was such a close fight, I was super nervous. My stomach dropped, I had butterflies and it felt like I was waiting there for hours while the ref held both of our hands. I got a wink from my coach Bruce (Greenlaw) and that made me feel confident and told me that I was going to win. I got my hand raised, I heard my name, I saw the looks on my family’s and the coaches’ faces and it just felt amazing.”
Haynes never boxed growing up and played hockey from three to 15, eventually suiting up for the Grimsby AA travel program.
He started boxing March 23, 2023 at the St. Catharines club.
“I fell in love with it right away. The coaches here and all the other fighters are such great guys and I decided that I really wanted to fight. I wanted to get in the ring and see what I could do.”
He was motivated to do his best.
“I had never played an individual sport and I felt that when I played hockey I was a hard worker and I wanted to see how far I could take that hard work. I wanted to see how far I could go and how good I could get.”
His goal for next year is to compete at the provincial championships and he has already taken great strides in boxing.
“I came into the boxing club more of a bodybuilder. I was almost 170 pounds of muscle and not as lean. I realized that I was super strong but I wasn’t in boxing shape,” he said. “I lost a lot of weight by running and training hard and I do less weightlifting now and more boxing, running, cardio and stamina work. As a fighter, my main thing was to improve my speed and cardio and I needed to work on the basics like footwork and defence.”
There was one thing he didn’t need to work on.
“I already had pretty good power and I still have pretty good power for my weight class.”
He fought at the 147-pound weight class in Brampton and for his next fight he is thinking of dropping to the 139-pound division.
“At the Brampton Cup, I was weighing in at two kilograms under the weight. Since I made weight so easily, we are thinking that I am going to drop down to a lower class.”
He knows what he needs to do to take boxing to the next level.
“I need to work on my technical skills and fight IQ. I know I am fast, I know I am strong but there is always more to learn as well as cardio. Your cardio can always be better.”
Next up for Haynes is the St. Catharines Boxing Club’s Pre St. Patrick’s Day Boxing Card on Friday, March 15 at the Optimist Hall at 8 Napier Street in St. Catharines.
Other local boxers fighting on the card include Dylan Maisonneuve, Gavin Freel, Megan Reynolds, Ed Uronick, Pat Ryan, Alex Lindsay, Mark Ryan, Adam Congiu and Ashir Raja.
Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. For more information call 905-988-1244 or email stcatharinesboxingclub@yahoo.ca.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the boxing starts at 7:30 p.m.
