Kenny Lally has always loved the idea of boxing for his country.
He's done that several times before, fighting in such exotic locales as Kazakhstan, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico and Germany.
This August, Lally will get to wear the maple leaf in his home country. He's been picked for Canada's boxing team at the Pan American Games, Aug. 7-15 in Toronto.
Lally, 25, also learned this week there's also a spot for him on Canada's team at the Continental Elite championships in Bolivia in September. The event is qualifier for the world championships in Dubai.
If Lally gets that far in the 56-kilogram weight class and posts a top-10 finish at the world championships he would qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Lally, a six-time national champion, has the option not to enter to the Pan Am Games tournament, which is 19 days before the Continental championships, and still keep his spot for Bolivia and a potential shot at the Olympic team. But his Inner City coach Bob Pegues says Lally has always wanted to fight internationally on home soil and right now that is his highest priority.
"The reason Boxing Canada wants him to go to the Continentals and not the Pan Ams is the opportunity for injury," said Pegues. "Any boxer in Kenny's age group does not wear headgear. If he did get hurt it wouldn't rule [the Continental tournament] out, but it makes it highly difficult."
In June 2010 in Quito, Ecuador, Lally won a silver medal at the Elite Continental championships.
Unlike the 2013 world championship tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which drew 108 boxers in Lally's weight class, the 2015 world tournament will be limited to just 16 boxers in the 56 kg division.
"He has to win a medal at Continentals and should he place in the top 10 at the world championships he'll go to the Olympics," said Pegues. "Last Olympics, 32 amateur boxers from around the world would go in it. Now, they're allowing eight pros with less than 12 fights and the World Series of Boxing, the semi-pro league, would get eight of the spots, and amateurs would be left with 16 spots.
They've let the pros in, but they also limited the number of qualifiers to Continentals and the world's, so he actually has a better chance of qualifying for the Olympics."
Pegues, the Team B.C. head coach, said Jacob Varga of Victoria, who fights in the 81 kg class, is virtually assured of a spot on the Pan Am Games team.
