Boxing won’t stop jabbing him

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This article was published 21/02/2023 (1126 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eli Serada dubs it “the call of the ring.”

It’s an imaginative, yet palpable phenomenon that’s continued to pull the 23-year-old Winnipegger back to boxing, even at the lowest moments when he’s tried to walk away.

Serada did just that during his senior year of high school, 13 years after he first strapped on the gloves at the age of five.

“I thought I didn’t really want to do it anymore,” Serada told the Free Press recently.

The fire no longer burned inside Serada and he thought it was time to find a new interest. His hiatus lasted two years, but as the months passed he came to the realization that boxing filled a gaping hole in his life — uderstandable, given the relationship he had cultivated with the sport.

Bullied as a youngster, Serada turned to mixed martial arts to defend himself. He enjoyed stints in karate, judo and Muay Thai along with boxing, but it was his time as a pugilist that stuck, which was fitting, given his family’s lineage of boxers that dates back four generations.

“At the end of the day, it’s something that I personally love doing. I came back to it because I missed it and from then on, that’s kind of my constant reminder that you tried to walk away but you couldn’t — there’s something more for you,” he said.

“It’s like that old saying: ‘Every great champion always believes he has one good fight left in him.’ And that was me. At some point, I just wanted to put my money where my mouth was.”

The past three years of training culminated earlier this month for the young boxer. Serada captured a silver medal at the Canadian national boxing championships in Brampton, Ont.

It was his third time competing on the national stage, his other two appearances coming at the junior championships, where he won silver while debuting as a 15-year-old. His second showing produced no hardware, just as boxing was beginning to lose its lustre.

This time, a rejuvenated Serada made his return to the big stage as an elite competitor in the 71-kilogram division.

The 5-foot-7 fighter showcased his lightning-quick hands in consecutive bouts, going 2-0 before putting up a spirited effort against the five-time reigning national champion, Quebec’s Junior Petanqui, who won by points in the finals.

“He’s a good listener, he is in shape — he trains hard — and he fights hard. And for a guy that does that, he will go a far way in boxing,” said Jerome Peters, a Boxing Manitoba coach.

“From what I (saw) with him the five days that I was there, I see a lot of skills and improvement that he has, that if he keeps that up he will be a good fighter. He might be a Canadian championship next year.”

Peters doesn’t usually train the athlete from Pan Am Boxing Club but was in his corner throughout the national championship,.

“Manitoba doesn’t have that (many) clubs or a lot of athletes,” Peters said. “Hopefully, with what Eli did this national championship, more fighters will want to be there and train hard to be someone who thinks they could be at nationals next year.

“We’re very poor numbers in boxing. We’re the only province that is low. Quebec, Ontario, B.C — all these places have very large boxing that goes on in those provinces. Now that we have a gold medalist (Mohammed Makhlouf won a national title in 2019), now we have a silver medalist, it’s good that (people) recognize in Manitoba, we are producing fighters to that calibre.”

Aside from Makhlouf’s gold medal in 2019, Manitoba’s low turnouts have prevented the province from remaining relevant in boxing across the country. That trend continued early on in this year’s tournament, as Manitobans were 0-3 before Serada went on his run to the championship bout.

Despite his loss, Serada never hung his head, adding he’s proud of what he was able to accomplish, being it was his first time competing since 2016.

“I was super confident, support excited because I am faster than I’ve ever been, stronger than I’ve ever been, more skilled and more motivated and determined than I’ve ever been,” Serada said. “I think it was a close fight. I think I could have won — I personally believe I really took it to the champion. At the end of the day, I stepped into the ring with the reigning champion and that’s not bad for a guy who’s basically doing it by himself with a heavy bag in his garage.

“It’s just a culmination of my rediscovered love of the sport on top of this drive to push myself and to be the best.”

It’s possible Serada will get a rematch one day soon. A win could carve out a spot for him on the Canadian national squad, putting him one step closer to his ultimate goal: representing the country in the Olympics.

Indeed, the boxing ring keeps calling.

“This was my first time back since 2016. Now that I have a general idea of what that information is and what to do with it, I’m very confident I can come back and win next time,” Serada said.

“I’m passionate about this. Let’s see how far my passion can take me.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter @jfreysam