One for all

Osborne Village

Winnipeg’s United Boxing Club has a special team of young boxers who were well-prepared for the 2026 youth boxing national championships in Calgary last month.

Several fighters came home with medals.

Liam Koppanyi, 16, won a silver in the U19 55-kilogram division. Benjamin Tibbs, a 15-year-old fighting in the U17 52-kilogram class, earned a bronze in his first national event; the only loss for the veteran of just 11 bouts came against someone with more than 40 fights. Kevin Thomas, 18, earned a bronze medal in the 80-kilogram U23 division.

Just 14, Hunter Gagne has quickly reached the national stage and registered a 1-1 record in Calgary. Teammate Sam Ebrahimi-Ich won a silver medal at the Canada Cup, a competition for fighters with less than 10 bouts of experience held concurrently to the youth nationals.

Success at United Boxing (located at 5-201 Scott St.) begins with a strong coaching foundation, led by international-level boxers Kent Brown and Ryan Savage. They are supported by fellow coach Gillian Reid-McLean and manager Phil Natividad.

“For all of them, it was their first time going to nationals, which is amazing,” Brown said of the United contingent. “It was an amazing trip.”

The team, which has trained together for years, provides a strong support system. While they’re alone in the ring during a bout, each team member knows they have teammates who understand their experience. They want to win not only for themselves, but their teammates, too.

Thomas was competing at 80 kilograms for the first time in his career, facing competitors more experienced and up to five years older. He still medalled.

“He made me very proud,” Brown said.

Brown described Tibbs as an aggressive boxer who fights well on the inside and has great head angles. In his one loss, he won the first two rounds but let the fight get away in the third. Gagne is “super-aggressive” and a great puncher, according to his coach. Both performed strongly and soundly beat opponents.

Brown said Koppanyi does everything well. Coming off a strong showing at the Brampton Cup, where he won three bouts with stoppages, Koppanyi displays a ring intelligence far beyond his age. His coach believes Koppanyi deserved a better fate in Calgary.

“We all thought he was robbed,” Brown said of the gold-medal loss against a fighter three years Koppanyi’s senior. “The poor kid was devastated. It happened to me in the Olympic trials. I told him it’s a good thing this happened now and not in a future Olympics. Don’t leave it in the judges’ hands.”

That advice is part of Brown’s individualized coaching approach. While many coaches teach the style they boxed, a superior instructor builds on his pupils’ natural abilities.

“They all have their own style,” Brown explained. “A really good coach exposes those strengths while giving them the tools to improve their weaker aspects.”

At a time when many are digitally distracted, Brown credits his students with intense focus. They train hard, eat the right foods, absorb advice and watch hours of film. All studiously record experiences good and bad in their journals, which also chart their goals for years in the future.

“You don’t see that very often,” Brown said.

While the five fighters all have bright ring futures, Brown knows the skills they are honing will benefit them wherever life leads.

“This prepared them for the rest of their lives,” Brown said. “When things get tough, they’ll know what to do.”