Home sweet home for Lindsay
Alex Lindsay enjoys boxing at home.
“It’s great. I love fighting in front of the home crowd. I have lots of family and friends here that came to support me.”
The 14-year-old St. Catharines native made his debut last June in St. Catharines and not only won his fight he was named the card’s fighter of the night. On Friday night at the Optimist Hall in St. Catharines competing in the St. Patrick’s Day Boxing Show, he defeated Posteraro’s Owen Stretton in a 68-kilogram bout, thanks to a pair of standing eight counts.
“He fought here last year in his first bout and won fighter of the night which was a huge accomplishment,” St. Catharines Boxing Club coach Bruce Greenlaw said. “He has been training way harder in the last six months, he is very focused on his diet and running and he is a good listener. He listened tonight (Friday) and did a great job.”
Greenlaw feels Lindsay is a much different fighter than when he started.
“His endurance is a lot better, he’s not fighting the scale — he only had to lose a pound to make weight — and he is ready to fight at any time. He is good to go on a week’s notice and I think that went a long way tonight. He still had some fuel in the tank at the end.”
Lindsay agrees with his coach’s assessment.
“I locked into training a lot more and I started running outside of the club and came to the club every day that it was open,” he said. “I just kept getting better and better and I kept sparring.”
He was motivated by his initial experience in the ring.
“My first fight was pretty tough and I thought if I trained harder and kept coming consistently it would have been an easier fight.”
Lindsay started boxing during the COVID pandemic, training on a heavy bag in his family’s basement and then a few years later his family purchased a reflex bag. In the summer of 2022, he joined the St. Catharines Boxing Club.
“I was thinking about doing soccer but then I went to the first practice and decided that I didn’t really like it. I said to my mom ‘Maybe I should join the boxing club because I like boxing’ and she signed me up. Then I just fell in love with it,” the Grade 9 student at Saint Francis said. “I like taking my anger out on the bag and the atmosphere at this club is really good. Everyone was very welcoming and supportive of me when I first started.”
He is looking forward to the next step in his boxing career.
“I haven’t really thought too much about what is next but I will probably do a few more club shows and see where it takes me.”
Other results from St. Catharines fighters included: Gavin Freel beating Bluewater’s Noah Wyville in a 60-kilogram fight; Adam Congiu fighting to a draw with Kingsway’s Colin Brown in a 69-kilogram bout; Dylan Maisonneuve battling Steeltown’s Albin Liabjani to a draw in a 75-kilogram fight; and, Bobby Haynes defeating McGrory’s Dejaun Lawrence in a 69-kilogram bout.
