Want to take a punch or two for charity?
The Red Deer and District Boxing Club is looking for white collar male and female boxers to get in the ring and put up their dukes for Rumble in Red Deer 4.
The annual event features inexperienced male and female boxers who will train with the club for three months to get in shape, then make their boxing debut on Nov. 16 at the Harvest Centre at Westerner Park.
The first half of the boxing card will feature white collar bouts and the remainder will feature competitive boxers from Red Deer.
Proceeds from the event go to Young Adult Cancer Canada and to the operations of the boxing club.
Colin Acheson, coach/official with the Red Deer and District Boxing Club, said they are recruiting business men or women or celebrities, hence “white collar” on the boxing card.
“It’s very entertaining for people,” said Acheson. “The white collar is very different from the other side. It’s a lot more fun and more entertaining when you get a couple of guys in there that aren’t quite as skilled as the competitive boxers.”
Training got underway on Monday night at the boxing club. Acheson said interested boxers are invited to check out the club while the training is underway over the next 12 weeks. The next training night is Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the club (4916 Ross St.).
“We put them in the gym for 12 weeks,” said Acheson. “We get them fit and teach them the basics of boxing. Then we put them in front of a big dinner crowd.”
Acheson said there has been a lot of interest from men in the city but they’d like to see more women on the card. The bouts follow the Olympic boxing rules, and fighters are matched according to weight, gender, age and boxing experience.
“Even though we may get 30 people in the gym to start with, some of them, due to work commitments, won’t be able to compete,” said Acheson. “Then if we can’t match them up properly, we have bit of a problem.”
New boxers must be registered with Boxing Canada ($100). There’s also a $75 gym fee for white collar boxers until the end of the year.
Details are still being sorted out on ticket prices. For more information, call 403-877-4391.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com