Kenny Lally is still feeling the effects of fighting in the Pan Am Games.
His head and one of his hands are hurting, the price he had to pay to win Pan Am bronze in Toronto, and that was enough to convince Lally not to enter this weekend's AMBC Continental boxing championships in Vargas, Venezuela.
After 13 years of fighting and hundreds of hours of training to try to make a name for himself on the international stage, the six-time national champ remains committed to trying to make Canada's Olympic team, but for now he just needs a break from the ring.
"My body is just not ready, I'm too tired," said Lally. "Pan Ams took so much out of me and to be thrown right back into that... I tried to go to the gym and just couldn't do it. I'm just burnt out.
"I'm going to keep training, but nothing too high-intensity. I talked to my Team Canada coach (Daniel Trpanier) and had a conference call with him and Bob (Pegues, Lally's Inner City Boxing Club coach) and we're all on the same page. They said just take time off and heal and once September or October comes I'll go back to the drawing board. I might fight in September but I'm enjoying my break now."
On July 22, in the Pan Am Games semifinal in Oshawa, Ont., Lally lost a 3-0 decision to Andy Cruz of Cuba, the eventual 56-kilogram gold medalist. Lally got hurt in the quarterfinal round two days before on his way to a 2-1 decision over Segundo Padilla of Ecuador.
"This whole year has been hectic with Pan Ams, especially with no headgear now, you take a lot more damage," he said. "I didn't come out of there not injured, and that's the risk you take when you go in the ring.
"With no headgear there's a lot of damage that happens and I don't want to be a tomato can by the time I'm 30. You have to know when to take a step back."
The International Boxing Association ruled in 2013 to ban the use of headgear for elite male amateur boxers to try to reduce the number of head injuries. The IBA decided the padded headgear reduced the peripheral vision of boxers and they weren't able to see punches coming from the side.
Lally admitted he has thought about retirement.
"It crossed my mind, but I just need to rest," he said.
The Continental tournament this weekend is a qualifier for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and Lally would have needed a top-two finish to lock up an Olympic berth. He'll get one more chance next April at the 2016 Continental championships.
Lally was 14 and weighed just 99 pounds when he first started boxing with the Inner City Club . Since then he figures he's had 119 fights, winning 104 of them. He began fighting internationally in 2009.
In October 2013, after representing Canada at the IABA world championships in Kazakhstan, he gave up his national team spot to take a break from boxing. Lally returned with renewed enthusiasm four months later, knowing he had the chance to fight at the Pan Am Games and in November won his sixth Canadian championship at the elite national tournament in Mississauga, Ont.
