A whole new world of boxing is about to open up for Jag Seehra. Quite literally.
Seehra, a 21-year-old member of Prince George's Inner City Boxing Club, will step into the ring for his first-ever international fight later this month. Seehra will travel on March 22 with the Canadian national B team to Cumana, Venezuela, site of a qualifying tournament for the 2011 Pan American Games. The Pan Ams will be held Oct. 14-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In the last three years, Seehra has been more focused on his boxing career than ever before and he's thrilled his work has led him to this opportunity.
"This is what I needed for the next level -- to see where I am now in the world," he said. "This couldn't come at a better time than now. I'm ready for it, I feel, so I'm really looking forward to it."
Seehra has been boxing since the age of 13. He was introduced to the sport at the Shaolin Boxing Club and, after a short stint there, joined Inner City.
This season has been Seehra's best-ever. In December in Quebec City, in the 60-kilogram weight class, he punched his way to a silver medal at the senior national championships. Then came the national team box-offs in January. At that event, held in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., he advanced all the way to the final in his division and lost to two-time national champion Alex Rynn.
In Venezuela, boxers from the United States, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador will be tossing leather so the competition will be extremely tough.
"It's a little deeper than I would have hoped for him the first time out but he's up for it and he's really excited about it," said Inner City coach Bob Pegues.
If Seehra doesn't qualify for the Pan Ams at this tournament, he will have two more chances -- one in Ecuador in April and a second at a later date in the Dominican Republic.
"He is clearly the underdog [to qualify]," Pegues said. "He's the new guy on the [Canadian] team and he also has no international experience. But, at the end of the process, he will be an experienced international boxer."
