All-Manitoban final in the making at boxing nationals

Victor Cheung has the confidence — and the hands — to strike gold this week.

There is no shortage of belief in the 18-year-old’s corner as he prepares to fight adults for the first time in a competitive setting at the Boxing Canada national championships.

Cheung, who will fight in the men’s 50-kilogram class, is one of 18 Manitobans who will enter the ring at Sport Manitoba from Wednesday to Friday.

“It’s full confidence that I’m going to win, because I know what I’m capable of, and I train so hard, and I know nobody trains more than me,” Cheung said. “I know no one sacrifices more than me in this sport, in this country.”

Cheung has become one of the more interesting names to watch from the local scene. He won the 50kg weight class at the Youth National Championship in Quebec earlier this year, continuing his rapid ascension up the national ranks.

Cheung joined Pan Am Boxing Club three years ago after a decade in mixed martial arts, specializing in taekwondo. He logged over 100 matches in taekwondo, but lost the hunger to continue in the sport after the pandemic.

Despite no one in his family being experienced in boxing — beyond following Manny Pacquiao’s career — he turned to the ring.

Cheung has quickly skyrocketed into a respected fighter since then. His track record isn’t long, but the fights he’s logged have come against quality opponents, which has made his rise in the last three years all the more impressive.

The transition to boxing was seamless, Cheung said. He already had the mental makeup for the sport, so his focus has been on refining the technical aspects.

“The biggest thing would be his work ethic. I mean, he has the work ethic of a national team athlete, which is what he is,” said Dylan Martin, whose coached Cheung for more than a year at Pan Am Boxing Club.

Martin called Cheung a naturally gifted talent with the potential to be a high-level amateur fighter at minimum, and potentially, with enough refinement, an athlete who could qualify for the Olympics in the future.

“He shows up to compete, which would be his final trait… you need to be a little crazy to be a high-level boxer,” Martin added. “You need to be able to lie to yourself a little bit and put some of that fear and discomfort out again. There needs to be nerves, which I know he still gets some nerves, but when his mental game is very good, he’s very good at telling himself that he can do it. And he doesn’t just say it. He says it, and he believes it.”

While Cheung will face Montreal’s Alexis Montoya to begin the tournament, there is a strong belief that the gold medal matchup will almost certainly be all-Manitoban. The winner will face Isaiah Rock, who was given a bye to the championship bout.

Cheung and Rock, both listed at 5-6, are familiar with each other — they trained together at a national camp in Montreal last month — but they have never stepped in the ring together.

“Just how hard he trains. He’s just like any other boxer. Every boxer trains hard, and then after that, it’s just the mental part,” said Cheung, who quickly grew to respect Rock’s skill set while watching him.

“I’ve seen him compete in actual matches, too, and I respect his accomplishments, so me against him will be two of the best guys in the country, coming in to take each other’s heads off. And it’s going to be fireworks, man.”

Rock, a 22-year-old out of Power Boxing Club, won silver in the 55kg division at nationals last year but will drop a weight class this week. He’s also expecting to face Cheung for the championship, and he’s anticipating a good fight.

“I can see a lot. Yeah, he has a nice game,” Rock said of Cheung. “He’s really nice for what he does. What he does in the ring, that’s what’s good for him.”

Rock, who was introduced to boxing through a friend when he was 13, took to the sport at a critical juncture in his life, a time when he lacked real purpose and structure.

“At one point I was really — let’s say I was out of character,” he said. “And it took a few years to get back, not even to who I was (before), but to make myself a new person with it.”

It took Rock some time to fully dive into boxing — he struggled with committing to the training — but once he did, it became his North Star. He’s since travelled across North America for tournaments, learning from every win and taking every loss in stride.

“It taught me a lot,” he said. “It taught me discipline. It taught me to be thorough. It taught me that hard work really does pay off. It taught me that you need to work hard to get what you want, and if you really do put your mind towards something, you can achieve what you want.”

Like Cheung, Rock’s potential is unknown, but there’s a genuine buzz around his ability that would suggest he’s capable of big things if he maintains the current trajectory.

“You prepare to expect it not to be easy. You prepare to struggle in the fight. You prepare that both guys are going to have moments, and you prepare that everyone is there to win and that it’s not going to be a walk in the park,” said Rock.

“Last year, I learned that when I watched the first fight, when I was there, I was like, ‘Whoa.’ It was a different intensity, but you’re confident in yourself.”

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