December 12th, 2023
What a weekend Contenders had! We hosted our first fight night since COVID times, and the night was a hit! …But boy was there a lot of stress that happened leading up to the event- for a second it looked like the officials wouldn’t make it in time to judge the fights, shipments of required gear came in late, and several fighters pulled out days before the night, but miraculously it worked out and all our fighters made weight on the day.
Not only did we host 6 fights and 2 exhibitions, with 3 of our members fighting (2 of who won), and 3 of our members in the exhibitions, but we utilized our members talents and hired Mark Bellew to DJ and stand up comedian Sam Tonning to announce. We even had people stick around for dancing after the fights while enjoying their pizza and drinks.
Now, let’s hear about our fighters…
1. Ernest Keung – Ernest joined our gym less than 6 months ago and had no prior boxing experience, but Ernest’s dedication gave us the trust he was ready for competition. He faced an opponent half a foot taller than him, with more boxing experience, but they went head to head both with a 0-0 record and Ernest came out on top.
2. Ryan Lee – Ryan has been sparring consistently but had given up on competing a year ago. That is until an opportunity came his way, and Ryan found himself back in the ring. Ryan brought out his accurate straight rights and left hooks to his opponents body and broke his opponents 3 fight winning streak.
3. Ashkan Alaie – There’s so much to be said about Ash. He was the true mastermind behind this event and it coming to fruition. He got the lighting, fog machines, and pay per view set up for the night. Ash was coming in with 0 fights and set to fight an opponent at his level, but when his opponent pulled out, Ash was keen to take whatever fight he could get, and that he did. He ended up fighting a guy with several fights on him, and 10 pounds heavier. Ash impressively held his own in the first and second rounds, but in the third round got clipped and the fight ended in a TKO for his opponent. Regardless, Ash stepped up to the plate and had a fighter mentality through it all and took a harder fight when he could’ve chosen to do an exhibition instead. We can’t wait to see him fight again. His opponent won’t know what’s coming!
4. Adrian Tam – Fighting in an exhibition, Adrian is one of our older fighters but hasn’t let that slow him down. He even competed in Hong Kong this past year, and is always looking to get in the ring. We love to see his eagerness to fight our young guys and he always holds his own.
5. Jafet Sorrocuz – Jafet has a long history with both boxing and kickboxing, and actually begun competing in his early teens over on the island. His exhibition was against Adrian Tam, also of Contenders and Jafet brought his all, with quick and technical shots. It seems like the fight also sparked something in him as he admitted to wanting a fight in the new year. We’ll look forward to finally having him compete with our gym.
6. Jasper Peloquin – It’s safe to say Jasper is good at boxing, with 0 losses and winning Silver Gloves in 2022. Despite standing over 6 feet and weighing close to 200, he is incredibly agile and fast which can make it hard for opponents to keep up with. His opponent for the exhibition was ‘Daz’ of Diaz Combat Sports and he was the challenge Jasper needed, with the two men getting a number of good hits on each other. We look forward to seeing another knockout from Jasper in the future though!
Until next fight night Contenders!
The night was generously sponsored by Amar Manuel Real Estate, Vancouver Mitsubishi, Company of Cars, Colin Lawrence Mortgage Group, and Davidson and Company. A big appreciation also goes to Ashkan Alaie and his brand Proper Dirty.
