Kikino boxer wins second national silver medal

Page 20

Metis boxer Rocky Whitford, 16, continues to add to his collection of silver medals. The latest was won at the Canadian Intermediate Championships held in St. Catherines, Ont., Jan. 20 to 23.

Fighting for Team Alberta, Whitford beat the Ontario champion before losing to Quebec's Sebastian Gauthier in the title fight in the 112-lb. class.

In the gold medal fight, the computer scoring showed the two fighters tied at four points each after the regulation four rounds. The count back of each of the five judges' individual scoring showed Gauthier as the winner.

Last year when Whitford had his first taste of competition at the national level, he was happy with a silver medal in the junior class, though his coach and almost everyone in the crowd felt he was robbed by the judges. Whitford said he chalked the home-town judging decision up to experience.

This year Whitford was disappointed with the decision.

"I thought I won," he said. "But I guess you can't argue with the computer."

Whitford said he hurt the Quebec fighter in the opening round, but then Gauthier used his reach advantage to stay away.

"He wouldn't let me inside," Whitford said.

The disappointment was not shared by Team Alberta coach Doug Harder, who is looking more to the future for the young Kikino fighter. He noted that at 16, Whitford was a year younger than most of the provincial champions in the tournament for 16 and 17 year old fighters.

"It's only his first year as an intermediate fighter," said Harder. "He has shown a lot of improvement since last year in Montreal [at the junior nationals]. He's fighting a more defensive style, looking for the counter."

Harder said if Whitford sticks with it, he will be ranked as the fighter to beat in next year's national championships.

Whitford said he will definitely stick with it, and hopes to continue on to a pro career.

Whitford fights out of the Lac La Biche Boxing Club. The coach there, Ken Scullion, is confident Whitford has what it takes to forge a successful pro career once he has gone as far as amateur boxing can take him.

"Rocky definitely has a pro style," Scullion said. "He tends to want to open up and give the guy a licking. He can really hurt a guy when he goes to the body, or throws hooks," he added. The problem with that style is it generally does not score points with amateur judges using the computer scoring system.

When Rocky goes at an opponent in that style, "the guy comes back with a couple of pity pats," Scullion said. "He's got the bloody nose, but he also has two points [on computer scoring]."

Scullion said Rocky has been working on his defensive skills, and has been growing into computer scoring.

"Chris Murphy has been working with him and was instrumental in getting him ready for the nationals," said Scullion.

In Rocky's opening fight of the national tournament, after a first round bye, the pro style showed. He gave Ontario fighter Clayton Dales a standing eight count in the third round in a fight that ended in a 6-6 tie. On the count back Rocky came out on top.

Rocky will be defending his Alberta intermediate title at the provincials in Lethbridge in late March.