Boxing returns to St. Catharines (more pictures added)

Live amateur boxing made its long-awaited return to St. Catharines Friday night with the St. Catharines Boxing Club’s Sixth Annual Murphy’s Gloves Fight for the Kids Christmas Show at the Merritton Community Centre.

It was the first fight card in Niagara since March 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 shut sports down.

“It was really great to have live boxing back in St. Catharines,” said the SCBC’s Joe Corrigan. “We miss it a lot because it gives the kids a chance to fight in front of their families and friends. Sometimes their families can’t make it to a show that is out of town but when it is here they can come and cheer them on. It also gives the kids some extra motivation to train harder.”

It would have been nice to forget about COVID for one night but that wasn’t the case when one fighter from the Border City Boxing Club tested positive which resulted in five fighters from the club not being available Friday night.

“Once before on a card, we had a team coming from Rochester but they got turned around at the border and that was four fights,” Corrigan said. “I was stressed about that but the night went off well and today was the same thing. At the end of the day, everything turned our fine and it was great.”

Health and safety measures were strictly enforced Friday to ensure no one got sick. After each fight, the ring was sanitized and all fans had to show their vaccine passports.

Corrigan gave a big shout out to Bill White of the Merritton Lions Club for his help in staging the card.

“If it wasn’t for him, we couldn’t do it. He comes in on Wednesday, he comes in on Thursday to open up for us so we can get stuff done and he comes in Friday to help,” he said. “You can see how much work needs to be done and it doesn’t just happen in one day. Bill is part of our team and he never takes any credit.”

Funds from the fight card will be used to support a number of initiatives, including the boxing club donating $100 Walmart gift cards to 10 Niagara families.

“We try to give back to the community and that’s what the Murphy’s Gloves is all about,” Corrigan said. “We are trying to help families plus the funds from tonight help bring our boxers to tournaments and help pay for all the rooms, tranportation and registrations into the tournaments.”

The club is hoping the COVID-19 pandemic will be under control enough to stage the Ray McGibbon Gloves in March 2022.

Among the local fighters who took part in the card Friday were Dylan Maisonneuve, Lucas Owens, Charlie Ryan, Riley Willis, Chris Hughes, Phoenix Young and Jeremy Cowan.

During the night, the bell that signals the end of rounds was rang 10 times to remember members of the boxing community who passed away in the last year. Among those recognized were Keith Murphy, Ron Gallen, Pat Kelly, Jim Strange Sr. and Bill Riley.