Local boxer Brock Stumpf has grabbed the top spot at the Boxing Canada National Championships after three consecutive wins.
Stumpf, a 22-year-old boxer from Elora, walked away with a gold medal in his 91kg weight class after three “tough” matches between March 28 and April 2 in Quebec City.
His first match was against Adam Ayoubi, of Quebec.
“This guy comes out beating his chest, celebrating already and then he just tried to brawl so he was throwing like crazy over-the-top haymakers which were easy to see and I just out-boxed at out-worked him,” said Stumpf.
He added his second match, against Benjamin Alvarez of Alberta, was his toughest.
“He was frustrating me, he was boxing and moving nice, I was getting mad and trying to throw one punch at a time and then he gave me an eight-count,” Stumpf said.
After a pep-talk from his coach, it was like a switch clicked.
“My coach gave me a big slap and a good pep talk to get my head in the right spot, because it was tough, like ‘you’re losing the fight’ … and I come out and ended up dropping him with a left hook to the chin,” said Stumpf.
“[Then I was] just in his face … touch-touch-touch, letting bombs go, like it was all or nothing and I ended up giving him one more eight-count.”
After two more eight-counts, Stumpf got a technical knockout, securing his spot in the gold medal match against Jhevani Dixon.
“My last one, which I thought was going to be my toughest fight, I just stuck to the game plan, I was moving, boxing nice, stayed calm and secured a … victory,” he said.
He added that his last fight was the cleanest while the others were “very messy.”
Stumpf said his win didn’t sink in right away.
“It felt good; we worked hard for years, it really didn’t even kick in for a couple of days, like the actual how good it feels.”
Stumpf has been boxing since he was 16, training at TNT Boxing and Fitness Academy in Guelph.
“I just needed something to do,” he said.
He was training twice a day, plus running, for the nationals – and it paid off.
Stumpf, who is taking a well-deserved rest after the championships, now has his sights set on bigger goals, like the Pan-American games, or even the Olympics.
“I’ve always wanted to do that… I’m just taking it one fight at a time. I would like to go as far as I can,” he said.
Either way, he’s happy with his victory. “I never really even thought I would achieve this, I thought this was a pipe dream,” he said.
