Kelowna amateur boxers ready to throw down at provincial tournament

Kelowna amateur boxers ready to throw down at provincial tournament

Published 1:51 pm Saturday, September 26, 2026

Kelowna’s Madkatz Boxing Club is bringing a host of young talent to the Bronze Gloves and BC Boxing Provincials.

The tournament is a three-day event being hosted by Boxing BC, the governing body for amateur boxing in the province, in Chilliwack from Sept. 25 to 27. The tournament is split into two parts; the Bronze Gloves fights for amateurs with 0 to nine bouts, and Boxing BC Provincials for fighters with over 10 bouts. Madkatz Boxing is sending around eight of its fighters to compete in the Bronze Gloves, and two of their top women’s fighters will be competing in the Provincials.

Black Press Media spoke with Madkatz’ head coach, Geoff Lawrence, as well as some of the fighters ahead of the tournament, who all expressed their eagerness for their bouts.

“They’re ready,” Lawrence said.

“This is a tough club, we don’t go light in sparring over here. We do a lot of drilling, so the guys get a lot of work before they ever get to a competition.”

Lawrence said Madkatz is in a transition period with its fight team. With many of the club’s athletes moving into professional careers or moving away from Kelowna, the club has found a number of new talent to start their amateur careers recently.

Dean Percival and Landon Keating are two of Madkatz’ new competitive fighters. Both are heading into their second amateur bouts this weekend. Keating and Percival said they feel suitably prepared for their upcoming fights, and added that gaining prior in-ring experience during their first fights has strengthened their mindsets.

“(My coach said) in basically six minutes of fighting, I learned more than the last six months of training. The aggression and everything just picks up so much after your first fight,” Percival said.

Phoenix Black, another one of Madkatz’ amateurs, is heading into his fifth amateur fight this weekend. Originally from Saskatchewan, Black recently moved to Kelowna and has started training at Madkatz. He said the move here has been a “gamechanger.”

“They prepare pros here,” Black said.

Black said the sport of boxing has helped him in his life. He said he started boxing in high school as an outlet for his negative emotions. As Black continued with the sport, he felt it came to him naturally.

“I just love the spirit aspect (of boxing). Boxing tells you to keep going when you’re down, get down and get back up. I like to apply that in everything else in my life.”

Oleg Ovsiannikov is another young boxer heading to the Bronze Gloves. Ovsiannikov is also heading into his fifth amateur fight this weekend. His main training partner, Mickey Fisher, said he has been training Ovsiannikov hard, utilizing a lot of cardio drills, longer sparring rounds and making him focus on inside-boxing.

Lawrence also made sure to shout out one of his top fighters, Miguel “Sugar Sheldon” Wood, who recently turned professional.

“(He’s) a sweet fighter, left handed, real dominant in the amateurs, we picked him some of the toughest fights we could and now we’re going pro, so if there’s anyone out there looking for a fight (we’re ready),” Lawrence said.