Jill Doucet is on the 11-fight amateur boxing card that’s featuring the Sooke Boxing Club at the Sooke Community Hall on Saturday night (Oct. 1) and there’s something fitting with that.
Eleven-year-old Doucet is slated for a three-round bout against Jordyn Tremblay of the Nanaimo Boxing Club.
This Saturday’s fight will be Doucet’s ninth and she’s clearly the future of the fledgling club that just moved into new digs on Sooke Road. The fight card, called Sooke Slam, is the club’s first sanctioned Boxing B.C. event and a fundraiser for local boxers to travel across B.C., Alberta and Washington State.
Doucet is the daughter of head coach Ellen Connor and has been around the boxing ring most of her life watching and following mom.
“I was always at the gym where she trained at and I watched her and wanted to be just like her,” she said.
Another Sooke boxer heading for the ring is Ryan Davey, 34.
Davey, who will box Joey McKerricher of Port Alberni’s Breakout Boxing, is competing in his first fight. He’s a former kickboxer.
When asked why he changed sports, his answer was succinct and logical.
“I can’t kick high enough. I tried to kickbox for over a year. I stretched as much as I could, but I could not get the head kicks up. So, I decided I would just use the arms instead,” Davey said, adding he’s in the best shape of his life.”
Connor, who is organizing Sooke Slam, said the club is excited about hosting fighters from Western Canada, since it’s been many years since Sooke has held a boxing event.
All Sooke fighters are considered novices – nine fights or less – but the card is attracting some top-notch talent, including a national champion.
“We’re pretty excited about it,” Connor said.
“All the boxers are excited, nervous, all those emotions of stepping into the ring in front of their home community. It’s nerve wracking. They want to perform well.”
Other bouts on the card include: Sooke’s Carson Campbell vs. Quesnel’s Emmet Emblau; Jared Oulette of Abbotsford vs. Scott Free of Sooke; Sooke’s Lincoln Connor vs. North Vancouver’s Parsa Eisheh; Quesnel’s Shawn Archer vs. Karn Mann of Edmonton; North Vancouver’s Joe Sigalet vs. Thomas Kippes of Abbotsford; Sooke’s Melanie Bishop vs. North Vancouver’s Simone Furer; Sooke’s Chris Berkely vs. Peter Kortas of Nanaimo; Tristan Burke vs. Colton Hubert of Abbotsford; Prince George’s Jag Seehra vs. Dennis Babich of Edmonton; and Sooke’s Spencer Logan vs. a boxer from Olson’s Gym in Langford.
Sooke Slam begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.
For further information, please contact Connor at 250-634-4941 or email ellenconnor@shaw.ca.