World champ still contributes inside and out of the ring

Though he’s now in his fifties, former Canadian boxing champion Wayne Bourque still likes to be in the middle of the action.

Bourque, who is Metis, opened up a gym called Centre Ring in Toronto 22 years ago. This facility offers Boxercise classes.

As its name implies, Boxercise is a combination of exercises that a typical boxer would use during training sessions. Workouts include skipping rope, push-ups, shadow boxing, as well as arm, leg and abdominal drills.
Centre Ring is open seven days a week. Classes are offered at different times throughout the day. And the facility has about 400 clients.

The age range of these clients is from 12 all the way up to people in their seventies.

“Most of my clients are women,” Bourque said. “I’d say 70- to 75 per cent are women, from corporate executives to nurses to girls who go to private schools.”

Over the years Bourque’s clients have also included about a dozen athletes who have played in the National Hockey League. He himself has a connection with a current NHLer. His cousin is Rene Bourque, a Calgary Flames’ forward.

Besides pro hockey players, over the years Bourque has also helped to train younger players. At times he’s worked with entire youth hockey teams. And for a few years he worked with the St. Michael’s Buzzers, a Toronto-based Junior A squad that competes in the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

Workouts last at least an hour—and closer to about 75 minutes—each. Bourque usually leads two sessions each day, except for Sundays, when he does not work.

“It’s what I do,” he said. “It’s what I love to do.”

Many years ago Bourque thought his ties to boxing were over. He had won a Canadian amateur boxing title in 1973. And a decade later he captured a bronze medal at the 1983 national championships. This meant he was a contender to represent Canada at the ’84 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. But a knee injury curtailed that dream. His knee injury sidelined him for the national trials, where the Canadian Olympic team was chosen.
Bourque gave up boxing in ’85.

“I thought that I was going to be a plumber,” he said, adding he took an apprenticeship and worked in the business for awhile.

“My father told me you have to be happy with whatever you do in your life. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being a plumber. But it just wasn’t for me.”

Bourque also worked in various sales and marketing jobs yet he still wasn’t content.

Bourque, 52, was born in Lac La Biche, Alta., but he spent most of his early years in another Alberta city, Fort McMurray. He’s now lived in Toronto for the past quarter century.

It was in the Ontario capital where he returned to his roots and opened up his gym.

“I have no regrets whatsoever,” he said of his job.
There are a few other things, however, that Bourque would still like to accomplish.

“What I want to do is start having a couple of franchises for Centre Ring,” he said.

Ideally, Bourque would like to open up a second Centre Ring location in Toronto. And he’s looking to expand and have a facility in Calgary and possibly open up yet another one somewhere in British Columbia.

The proposed western Canadian franchises would allow Bourque to travel a bit as he would be keen to frequent those facilities to oversee their operations.

Bourque is also eager to do another thing in the near future. He’d like to make a training video.

“I’ve got to make that soon before my body starts getting all wrinkly,” he joked.

Despite his age, Bourque can also call himself a world champion. That’s because he travelled to Kansas City, Missouri in October of 2009 to compete in the Ringside world masters championships.

Bourque won his one and only fight in the men’s 45-55 age grouping for those in the light heavyweight category. Though he had just one other rival in his division, Bourque’s victory meant he was also crowned a world champion.

The world masters meet is held annually. And when Bourque attended the championships two years ago there were participants who were in their seventies.
But he’s not sure whether he’ll go back and try to win another world title.

“I’ve got a bad knee,” he said. “I still love to fight. But I know it’s a young man’s game.”