Boxing club to host provincials in Swift Current
Boxing fans in southwest Saskatchewan can look forward to see boxers from across Saskatchewan compete for provincial honours in Swift Current.
The Counterpunch Boxing Academy in Swift Current will be hosting provincials on Dec. 8 and 9.
Nick Habscheid, the head coach at Counterpunch Boxing Academy, said the club is looking forward to present the event at the Lt. Colonel Clifton Centre.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” he noted. “We’re getting a lot of our fighters ready and a lot of people who haven’t even fought yet want in on this card and want to represent Swift Current as best they can. So it should be a good event.”
The club submitted a bid to the provincial boxing association to host the event and it was successful.
“We’re going to work really hard at this club to make it quite an event,” he said. “We'll get boxers from all over Saskatchewan and there will be great competition.”
He feels the scheduling of the tournament in the run-up to the festive season might help to attract local attention and support.
“We kind of want to throw it like a Christmas show, a Christmas party for other businesses to hopefully come and sponsor and help out with,” he said. “I’m expecting a big show and I’m going to try and put together the best card we possibly can in Swift Current.”
The boxing club in Swift Current previously hosted provincials about 10 years ago. It was not long after he joined the club and he helped out during that event.
“I was just selling water bottles at concession at the time, and now I’m putting the whole thing together 10 years later,” he said. “It’s kind of weird how everything comes around. ... Hopefully we can make it as big as the last time we hosted it.”
Habscheid spoke to the Prairie Post about hosting provincial at the Swift Current Fight Club's spar-a-thon and bake sale, which took place for the first time at their new downtown premises on June 16.
The Swift Current Fight Club includes the Counterpunch Boxing Academy and the Blacktide Muay Thai, which provides training in this combat sport from Thailand.
“We’ve done it in the past as a fundraiser,” he said about the spar-athon. “We decided to set a goal this year to fundraise to get mats for this place, because some people want to try out some wrestling and some other types of martial arts.”
Boxers had to complete one round of boxing for every $20 they raised for the event. The spar-a-thon and bake sale raised a total of $600.
The boxing club was previously known as the Vic-Tory Boxing Club and it was located at the Swift Current Friendship Centre, which closed down last year. Habscheid is happy with the new downtown training facility on Central Avenue.
“We have a bag area and a ring area, and they’re separate so you don’t get distracted from the sparring,” he said. “So it’s a different setup, but it’s a good setup and it works quite well.”
The Swift Current Fight Club is a busy place and there is training every night of the week. Boxing classes are on Monday and Wednesday evenings, the Muay Thai training is on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and it is an open gym night on Friday evenings, when everybody can work on strength and conditioning.
He is assisted by Chad Dafoe and Dustin Auseth to provide training for the different classes.
“We’ve balanced things pretty well so we’re not completely overrun and it’s been a great program so far,” Habscheid said. “We’ve had little kids too with our mini gloves program. It’s been really busy and it’s been awesome.”
The club's training concluded on June 20 for a summer break and activities will resume in the second week of September. For more information about the Swift Current Fight Club, contact Habscheid at 306-774-3036.