Boxing has never been as popular in Canada in the past century as it is today. Still, the increasing popularity of the sport doesn’t translate into world champions in the ring.
Yes, Canada has been the home of a few champions in the past decade, but the ratio of champion is insignificant compared to what we see in other countries where boxing is on the lips of all the citizens.
We could argue that the Quebec province has seen several world champions such as Lucian Bute, Adrian Diaconu, Leonard Dorin, Jean Pascal and Eric Lucas. However, it is important to specify that within this list, three of these champions were born and mostly created in Romania. All they needed once in Quebec was some polishing.
Indeed, Dorin was an Olympian for Romania at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, winning bronze twice. Diaconu represented the same country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
As for Bute, he was representing Romania at the 2003 World Championships in Bangkok and was a bronze medalist at the World Championships in 1999.
The Interbox group had money to attract those three Romanians and lift them to world titles, but they weren’t “made” by their new coaches. You do need a certain effort to make Pillsbury biscuits, but at the same time, once they get out of the oven, does that make you such a great cook?
How come Canada has so much difficulty turning talented boxers into world champions? There is talent in Canada, you can count on this. But just like in other sports, Canada seems unable to go grab the top awards as demonstrated by the lone gold medal attained at this summer's Olympic Games in London.
Andre Kulesza, a sports training icon, has his own explanation. Born in Poland, Kulesza owns a Ph.D. in sport science, strength conditioning and muscular power development from Varsovia University.
Kulesza confessed to La Presse, a local media from the Quebec Province:
When I arrived in America 25 years ago, I could tell you that you were 50 years behind Europe in term of sports knowledge. There are still professional trainers here who don’t have any training. We would never see that in Europe where there are schools for trainers...If there was a bureaucracy event at the Olympic Games, Canada would be the clear gold medal winner.
Kulesza, counsellor of Canadian Olympic teams in Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988), has been a private conditioning trainer for Canada Olympians such as Sylvie Fréchette and Bruny Surin. He had no intention to train boxers, but he admits that he couldn't say no anymore.
I didn’t want to work in boxing, but the sport is now so popular here.
Therefore Kulesza ended up training boxers such as Eric Lucas, Otis Grand, Lucian Bute, Leonard Dorin, Joachim Alcine, Hermann Ngoudjo and Adrian Diaconu. From this list, five ended up being champions. Via LaPresse.ca, Kulesza came up to the following conclusion.
Learning sport was mandatory from the start of school (in Poland). There’s no sports philosophy either (in Canada). Not even today. The true goal of sport is to create one champion, but to also allow thousand of other people to have benefits from this same training. Here, we focus on the best in our opinion. His parents will then pay money and we will give up on others.
Could this last declaration explain the fact that Canada can’t create several champions? They go all-in on a few fighters and forget the others?
Adonis Stevenson, from Quebec, Canada, was left to himself. He decided to leave the country and join Emmanuel Stewart and is now one of the most exciting super middleweights.
Joachim Alcine, another elite fighter from Quebec, also left for the USA.
Mikaël Zewski, 23 years old, although still training in Canada, is now fighting under Top Rank. He is undefeated in 16 fights (12 KOs) and will probably be given a title shot in the next few years.
Kulesza doesn’t stop there. He continues:
In America, the coaches are close to their protégée. They want to be their friend, to have a beer with him. I never do this. I make sure to keep a distance. If not, you will lose respect. In a relation with an athlete, I need to establish good communication, mutual respect and confidence.
Now, how many times have we seen a fighter not listening to their coach in the corner? We have seen this instance happen at several occasions with Interbox fighters, a major boxing group in Quebec, and their coaches Stephan Larouche and Pierre Bouchard.
Clearly, the problem isn’t only in boxing, but overall in Canada’s society. Based on Kuleszas’ comments, the Canadians need to develop a sports philosophy, improve training for coaches and reduce bureaucracy. As for coaches, they need to stop giving up on so many athletes and to gain respect from them.
Boxing might be popular in Canada, but it is not even close to being in the elite group in terms of development of athletes. Many things need to change in order for this country to be recognized as one of the strong players in term of boxing.
Popularity of boxing is decreasing in the USA. It’s time for Canadians to wake up and grab this opportunity!
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