Kit Munro began his amateur boxing journey in Saaanich, BC at the Victoria Jaycees Boxing Club and was active in the eighties * three of the coaches were Brian Zelley, Mike Sartori and Paul Deluca he would later turn pro, and would win a Canadian super middleweight title in 1997 and a month later, he was fighting in England for a WBO inter continental title.
2013 BOXING BC PROVINCIALS ISLAND INVASION By Brian Zelley
Breaking News: The Island Invasion *** "May Day Weekend" ***
*Some recent news is the 2013 BC Provincials Boxing Championships are planned for Vancouver Island in May. This will be one of the places that will document the build-up to "Boxing's May Day weekend of fistic action and participation". Expected to appear in the Provincials will be the recent 2013 Golden Boy from the recent tournament that took place in Cranbrook which was hosted by the Cranbrook Eagles Boxing Club.
Coach Mehran and 2013 Golden Boy Sasan Exoected not to participate will be Canadian champion Kenny Lally who is expected to compete in an International tournament in Saskatchewan. There is no confirmation on where coach Bob Pegues and boxer Jag Seehra will be, but Jag would be a welcome addition to the tournament which should have some effect of the selection of Provincial teams for the National competition in about October 2013.
Over the decades, the regular boxing cards from Victoria to Gold River
have been an important element in the growth and improvement of
the sport of boxing, it also becomes a good learning experience for
novice boxers and a good tune-up for boxers preparing for the
many tournaments that may be available for them.
Club Shows In The Sixties:
From 1964 to 1968 most of the club show would be held
on a regular basis in Victoria with some being held in
Port Alberni.
1964: "NanaimoBoxers Earn Split In Victoria Bouts"
The above was the headline in
the "Nanaimo Daily Free Press"
following one of the boxing cards
held in the early part of 1964.
The Nanaimo boxers in action were:
Leo Rock, Chris Balatti, Gilles Nepper,
Leon Nepper, Roger Nepper and Brian Zelley The opponents were: Norman Williams, Tom Kelley, Andy Ross, Charles Forscutt, Larry Hay and Pat Alwood. In other bouts boxers were: Gordon Harvey, Dave Way, Mike Miller, Jim Fenwick, Rich Uche and Bill Pepper. During the 1963/1964 season, there were many other club shows which would end with the Vancouver Island Amateur Boxing Championships. Two of the boxers on the club card would be two of the champions from Nanaimo in the later championships including Gilles Nepper and Brian Zelley. Fast forward from 1964 to 1968 and another all-star card hosted by Harry Morris and the London Boxing Club:
March 29, 1968: * a 15-bout which included some top names of boxers from British Columbia including Victoria's Gary Van Buskirk and Nanaimo's Tony James. James had made a great showing recently in the 1968 BC Golden Gloves but lost a controversial and disputed decision with 1967 Canadian champion Wayne Boyce. There would be other club shows after that all-star show but there was no major tournament on Vancouver Island until the Seventies would unleash many great shows in various locations including Nanaimo.
Eddie Haddad is also an inductee of the: *Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. *Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. * Canadian Military Sports Hall of Fame.
(Dale Walters fought for the Burnaby boxing club and Astoria in Vancouver
but was born in Port Alice so has a connection to Vancouver Isand)
* Campbell River Eagles Boxing Club and
* Nanaimo Boxing Club
\Vancouver Island folks were also involved
in the 1967 Centennial International
Diamond Belt tournament:
*** boxers were Billy Taylor, Brian Zelley, Ken Alexander and Les Vegas. *** After the 1966/67 season, Billy, Brian and Les moved to train at different clubs in Vancouver: Billy Taylor: Astoria Boxing Club Brian Zelley: Firefighters Boxing Club and Les Vegas: East Vancouver Optimists Boxing Club.
Beginning with action in the 1960 BC Golden Gloves tournament, Vancouver Island boxing would rock throughout the Sixties with activity in Esquimalt, Victoria, Chemainus, Nanaimo and Port Alberni with a ready supply of boxers including boxers from the armed forces stationed in Victoria and Esquimalt. In addition to the Golden Gloves, boxers from Vancouver Island would compete in various provincial tournaments from the Bronze Gloves to the 1967 Diamond Belt tournament and the BC Golden Gloves in 1967 and 1968. Boxers would also be involved in Island tournaments including the 1964 Vancouver Island Boxing Championships.
THE GOLDEN GLOVES:
Boxers from Victoria, Esquimalt, RCN, Nanaimo, and Chemainus would
compete in the tournaments in Vancouver with one of the standouts being
Alan Curtis, the 1960 BC Golden Boy.
Some of the golden gloves alumni in action during the Sixties were:
Alan Curtis, Billy Taylor, Brian Zelley, Bruce Baillie, Cal Osmond,
Danny Daniels, Danny McDonald, Gordie McGaw, Gordon Rabey,
Ken Alexander, Larry Cardinal, Les Vegas, Mike Caird, Skimp Williams,
Fred Desrosiers, Tommy Black and Tony James. BRONZE and EMERALD Gloves In the Sixties we had our share of champions such as Mike Lazare, Gary Van Buskirk, Ken Stant and Rick Johnson
Mike Lazare 1965 Emerald Gloves
1984 Vancouver Island
Amateur Boxing championships
* Beyond the various Vancouver Island Golden
Gloves tournaments from 1954 onwarde, it was
decided in the Olympc year to hav an Island
championships which would be hosted by the
London Boxing Club. At the end of the tournament there would be a number of champions, but this tournament would not take place again until it was revived in 1984. The Champions: Gilles Nepper, Howie Rabey, Brian Zelley, Tommy Black, Larry Williams, Ken Alexander, and Rifleman Walsh.
Nanaimo Boxers: Brian Zelley Roger Nepper Leo Rock Gilles Nepper
The 1964 Olympic Games:
Royal Canadian Navy boxer Fred Desrosiers,
would earn a victory in the Olympic Trials to represent Canada in the Olympics.
The revival of the BC Silver Gloves in 1968
It was an interesting year for Boxing in British Columbia, but beyond
the hopes and dreams of the senior open boxers there was a new door
for open junior boxers and novice seniors it the revival of the Silver Gloves
in Richmond. And, boxers from Vancouver Island would be part of the show. Silver Gloves before the revival in '68 In 1960 the British Columbia Silver Gloves would be directed by Burnaby boxing coach Harry Twist. That tournament would be held in the Burnaby high school. However, between 1961 and 1967, the tournament was not held. But, in 1968 the United Commercial Travellers would sponsor the show in Richmond's "Sea Island Hall" with boxers from different regions of the province. The Island connection: Vancouver Island boxers that would be involved in the finals would include boxers from Nanaimo and Port Alberni. Nanaimo boxers would be Rick Johnson (a former bronze gloves champion), Tony James and Bob Lewis. In the finals from Port Alberni was Bob Scharff.
The 1967 Diamond Belt revival in Vancouver:
In 1980, the Diamond Belt tournament was revived in Victoria
and hosted by the Victoria Jaycees Boxing Club with some assistance
by the Victoria Athletic Association. One of the important pre-show
news stories was looking back to the 1967 tournament by the reporter
from the "Times-Colonist" Max Low. In the article, he looked back
and remembered the participation of Victoria boxers Billy Taylor, Les Vegas
and Ken Alexander, and Nanaimo boxer Brian Zelley. But some of the
other names mentioned was guest referee Rocky Marcianoand Diamond Boy
Dave Wylie from the Vancouver Firefighters who had also been engaged
in club show in Victoria in the mid-sixties. But, there were some others mentioned such as Freddy Fuller.
