Dennis the ring menace
Dennis Steingart went into the Golden Gloves provincial boxing championships feeling comfortable.
“At past tournaments, the first fight I would kind of get the butterflies and nerves and be anxious. But this tournament was different,” the 29-year-old St. Catharines native said. “I just treated it like every fight was a sparring match and I felt calm, cool and collected.”
He was confident but not overconfident.
“I came in like I was the guy who they should be worried instead of vice versa and that was the biggest difference,” the St. Catharines Boxing Club member said. “When you are calm, you conserve your energy and you are thinking more clearly. Everyone was a good fighter , but I felt like I had this.”
That feeling wasn’t wrong as Steingart won three fights to win the elite open 75-kilogram division at the provincials Nov. 3-6 in Brampton. His wins included: 5-0 over Deniz Duran of Guelph MMA; 5-0 against Mohammed Al Rabeeah of the Border City Boxing Club; and, 4-1in the final against Mathew Bentley of the Destiny Boxing Club.
“Going into the fight, I felt like I had this guy. My coaches and I talked about the game plan and I went in there and I executed. I was pretty impressed that I stuck to the game plan and it all went smoothly. I never got stuck in a brawl. I just boxed him.”
It was an amazing moment for Steingart when his hand was raised in the air and he was declared the provincial champion.
“I was pretty pumped. It was like finally because this was my goal when I first started,” he said. “I saw Dan Ryan win (provincials) and that was my first tournament ever. I remember thinking that I could do that and I wanted that. Lo and behold, five or six years later, it finally happened.”
He has been boxing on and off for the past 10 or 11 years and won the Brampton Cup and the Ringside World Championships in Kansas as a novice. After capturing bronze at the elite open provincials in 2018, the industrial electrician apprentice with Collins Aerospace in Oakville believed he could be an open champion one day.
“That was the first time I stepped up to solid competition and realized that I could compete there.”
He never lost faith even as he started to approach his 30th birthday.
“Sometimes I forget I am 29 because all the guys I spar at the club are all 21. But I am in there with them and I can compete with them no problem. The only difference is I feel it the next day and they don’t,” he said. “I can go toe-to-toe and even the guys told me I had a chance of winning this thing. Jimbo (James Hughes) won nationals and he was constantly telling me that I could run through the division. I was believing it but the pieces just had to align.”
The pieces were anything but aligned earlier this year.
“I came back full force and I couldn’t get it going because of injuries. I kept getting hurt. I hurt my back, my hip and my knee and it was one thing after another. I kept trying to fight but every time I fought something would happen.”
He finally got a fight in July and then had about six more fights to prepare for Golden Gloves.
“The ball was rolling and that was a good thing. That was all that I was worried about. I was sparring well, my technique, strategy and approach were pretty solid so I thought I could do some damage.”
Next up for Steingart is nationals and a chance to earn a spot on the Canadian team but he isn’t thinking about that.
“I am thinking that I have to train my ass off for nationals and whatever happens after that. Nationals is the goal and I am not looking past that.”
He has no ultimate goal in mind.
“I am getting older and I was thinking that if I didn’t do well at this (provincials) I would probably retire,” Steingart said. “I am working in Oakville and I work a 10-hour day. I have an hour of drive time each way. I wake up at five, I come home at five and I come here for 5:30. It is 15- or 16-hour days every day and I have been grinding for the past three months like that. All I do is work and box.”
His motivation is simple.
“I just love it man. When I am in there, it is tranquility and serenity. That is my peace. It is figuring out the problem and you are just in the moment. That’s the beauty of it because nothing else matters. My only concern is right here, right now and my life is not like that. It is very busy and I am constantly getting pulled every which way.”
He also loves the atmosphere at the St. Catharines Boxing Club.
“This club is like a family and it blows me away.”
Also at the Golden Gloves: SCBC’s Dylan Maisonneueve lost his 75-kilogram open fight to Ahmed Aly of Ottawa Fight and Fitness; and, SCBC’s Omar Nori lost his 48-kilogram open fight to Ian Parina of the Atlas Boxing Club.
