Pagendam becomes Canadian boxing hall of famer
Jamie Pagendam was more than willing to have a one-day delay going with his family to the Dominican Republic in late November.
The 59-year-old Thorold resident was sent an email Aug. 13 by Boxing Canada informing him of his induction into the Boxing Canada Hall of Fame but for some reason he overlooked it. Sonny Wong called him in October wondering what was going on because no one from Boxing Canada had heard back from Pagendam that he was accepting the honour.
“I was saying ‘Please don’t be on the same weekend as my vacation’ but it was on the same weekend.”
Pagendam ended up driving to the Nov. 23 ceremony in Sarnia with his brother, Steve, Mike Strange and Wong to be inducted in a 2024 class that included his 1988 Olympic teammates, Raymond Downey, Howard Grant and Egerton Marcus.
It was an event Pagendam did not want to miss.
“Obviously I was honoured for them to think of me like that and recognize the career that I had in Canadian boxing. I was a little blown away and knowing I was being inducted with my Olympic teammates who I hadn’t seen in 36 years was amazing,” he said. “We all got together and picked up right where we left off. It was a really exciting time because I travelled with these guys from the age of 16 to 22 and again after the Olympics. They are all doing well so I was pleased with that.”
During his acceptance speech, the first person Pagendam thanked was his wife, Fran.
“We have been together for 40 years and she had been with me through the ups and downs of boxing and life. She has always supported me and I thanked her and said ‘She is my hall of fame.’ That is how I feel about my wife.”
Pagendam had an amazing amateur record of 209-31 and won five Canadian titles but his boxing legacy will be forever tied to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
In Seoul, Pagendam should have won his opening fight versus Mongolian’s Tserendorj Amarjagal after giving his opponent two standing eight counts in the second round but the ref erred and let the fight continue. In the third round, the ref stopped the fight and awarded it to the Mongolian after he landed a punch to Pagendam’s head. Canada protested afterwards and Pagendam was awarded the win but he was not allowed to continue in the event for medical reasons. According to international boxing rules, boxers whose bouts are stopped because of head blows can’t fight again for 60 days.
“What happened to me in the Olympics was life changing. It was heart breaking to have something like that happen to you and no one understands exactly what I went through. It made it difficult to live.”
When he returned for Seoul, everyone sympathized with him, tried to built him up or buy him a beer.
“One thing led to another and my life started to become a train wreck. That was all in the book (The Olympian From Seoul to Salvation written by his nephew Jamie Pagendam). I emptied out my feelings.”
Pagendam forgot to thank his nephew during his acceptance speech but made sure to correct that in this interview. He also gave a shout out to his brother, Jeff, who was in the entertainment business, including being a jazz singer.
After the Olympics, Pagendam stopped boxing for five years before returning in 1993 to win his fifth Canadian title and represent Canada at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
“It was just eating me up about how they got the better of me. I made a comeback and it was about me stepping into the ring and out of the ring and then saying ‘That’s it’ and not letting somebody else making the decision for me,” he said. “It was a tough go. I was 40 pounds overweight. I was 180 pounds and I decided I was going to fight at 139 pounds. That was my goal.”
His main target was to win another Canadian championship.
“That was the championship that meant the most to me; winning the national championship and being the one to wear your country’s colours.”
He felt fulfilled after the Commonwealth Games,
“I was content because I never got to show my very best effort because of what happened to me in Seoul. The fight was just stopped and then all the big controversy came. They shipped me out of Seoul as fast as they could so I wouldn’t be a distraction to everybody else. I didn’t really get to live my Olympic dream properly.”
He lost his first Commonwealth Games fight to English fighter Peter Richardson, who would go on to win the gold medal.
“I went out there and I poured everything out of the tank. It’s the first time in a long time that I was able to let it all hang out. I thought I won the fight but it was very close. I didn’t get the decision because the scoring system was different. It was a point system and you didn’t get points for aggression or eight counts. I was in the wrong era again. If that was back in the 1980s, I would have won the fight no problem.”
Despite all the hardships, there were a lot of good times too, especially at his current job as a driver for Niagara Transit.
“I work with a lot of good people and I can go there and do my job and no one tries to get in my face. They accept me for who I am and let me do my job.”
At Niagara Transit, not many of his passengers know they are being driven around by a former Olympian.
“I don’t got out and advertise. Some of the guys from work will say ‘Do you know who this guy is?’ when a new driver comes in but I say ‘Please don’t.’ I get a little embarrassed by talking. I would rather them read my nephew Jamie’s book rather than explaining it to them. I don’t like to be front and centre.”
Nephew Jamie learned a lot about his uncle during the two-plus years it took to get the book to its final stage.
“There were a lot of things I didn’t know, especially what he went through after the Olympics. It was really hard to know that he went through that. When he talked about boxing, he didn’t talk much and I would have to drag details out of him but all the hard times seemed to pull out of him effortlessly. You could tell it was something he still thinks about but he has overcome. When he looks back at it, it is another fight he has won or battle he has overcome.”
Writing the book was tough for uncle and nephew.
“When Jamie would finish a chapter to the book, there were times when I would get emotional because he was catching my feelings and what I felt in my heart,” the uncle said.
Jamie, the nephew, describes his uncle as a very humble and gentle guy for someone who used to be a fighter.
“He is one of the kindest, most humble people I have ever been around. It is not about him. He likes to put the spotlight on other people.”
The elder Pagendam is not a big fan of the current state of boxing.
“I find that there’s not much boxing going on now not like the 1980s or 1990s,” he said, pointing to the recent Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight.
“They fooled a lot of people but they didn’t fool me. I knew it was a gimmick fight. I liked the ’80 and ‘90s when you had Leonard, Hearns, Duran, Hagler and all those guys. They were the Mecca of boxing and that is who I studied when I was fighting. Those are the fighters I would follow and watched,” he said. “If I were to give advice to any of these kids fighting nowadays, I would tell them to go back and look at those fights because that is when boxing was boxing.”
He would recommend boxing to anyone.
“I think it is great for discipline, self-esteem and confidence. I did it because none of my friends did it and I thought I would get some respect and be accepted into the group of friends.”
Pagendam list of most memorable bouts included fights against Vernon McGriff (nine bouts), Zennel Webster (eight), John Shaw (four), Brendan Lowe (three), Rob Fortuna (two), Billy Downey (five), Kelsey Banks (two), John John Molina (two) and Peter Richardson.
Among the teammates and sparring partners, Pagendam would like to acknowledge are Johnny Farinacci, Joe Corrigan, Bill Hardy, Pat Newman, Dave Morris, Guy Normandeau, Bill McFall, Rick Goulet, Scott Bowie, Sterling Reid, Keith Murphy, Asia Dar, Scotty Olson, Manny Sobrol, Howard Grant, Vernon McGriff, Zennel Webster, Billy Hackmer, Mike Strange, Billy Irwin, Mike Irwin, Mark Irwin, Don Gignac, Jimmy Krieger and Calvin Porter.
He also thanked coaches Hank Boone, Jimmy Neal, Sonny Wong, Tommy Wright, Rufus Johnson, Sylvan Smith, Rob D’Angelo, Adrian Teodorescu, Taylor Gordon, Ray Napper, Joe Corrigan, Vinny Ryan, Pat Kelly, Jim Strange and Russ Anber.
The Olympian From Seoul to Salvation is available on Amazon.
