Kenny Lally's international fight agenda for 2011 is set.
And if all goes according to plan, by the time he's done with his opponents at the world boxing championships that start Sept. 18 in Baku, Azerbaijan, he can start thinking about representing Canada in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Lally received confirmation Wednesday he will be part of the five-member national A team for the world championships as one of seven carded boxing athletes in Canada.
"It feels good, we knew they were only going to send five of us and when I finally got in the mail it was a lot of weight off my shoulders, Lally said. "I'm pretty happy I got it."
Lally, 21, will start off his national team activity June 2-4 in Regina in a tournament against England. On June 29, he will be in Puerto Rico for a training camp and will be back there two weeks later for the Cheo Aponte Cup tournament.
In September, the national team will stage a training camp in Hungary, and from there Lally will head to Baku. He figures he will be overseas for nearly a month.
"There's going to be a whole bunch of countries there training, so I will get to see some of the competition," he said.
To lock up a berth on the Olympic team for 2012 in London, the 52-kilogram Canadian champion must finish in the top eight at the world championships. Failing that, Lally will have to place in the top eight at the elite continental championships in the May 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"It's been a long road since I started and I finally get to go to my first Olympic qualifier and I think it's very doable," Lally said. "There will be three groups (at world championships) and I have to win three fights and then you're in the quarterfinals."
Lally's 21-year-old Inner City Boxing clubmate Jag Seehra is also in for busy season of international travel, starting later this month when he fights in Venezuela. Lally, who has won five of his six international bouts, has been offering Seehra a few words of advice before he leaves on his first international trip.
"It's going to be hard warming up for the fight because nothing will be normal and you have to prepare yourself for that, and that's what I've been telling Jag," said Lally.
"Every night, I would think about the trip and how nervous I would be and I would let myself get nervous so when I actually do get there it's not a big surprise to feel that way."
Lally and Seehra will be fighting exhibition bouts on Saturday in Vernon, then will return to Prince George for the B.C. Silver Gloves championships next weekend at the Roll-A-Dome. Lally will fight up two weight classes to take on Rob Cousine of the Spruce Capital Boxing Club in a 60kg bout.
"We fought in 2007 at the [Western Canadian championships] when he was with Alberta and I stopped him in the third round, but that was four years ago," said Lally. "He's a very good technical fighter and when he was in Alberta he was very good with the computer scoring. It's going to be a very tough fight but I think I'm ready for it. I love fighting in Prince George."
