Pan Am Games boxer Kenny Lally drew a bye Saturday and that means he didn't have to fight when the tournament opened later that night.
Instead, the 26-year-old from Prince George gets a couple extra days rest before he climbs into the ring in Oshawa, Ont., Monday at 4 p.m. PDT to face Padilla Segundo of Ecuador, 20, in a quarterfinal bout.
"I'm eager to fight and I'd love to fight (Saturday) because there's a lot of energy because it's the first day, but I can save it for Monday," said Lally. "I hear the guy from Ecuador is pretty good, but I'm great and it's my home. There are no easy fights here. Just the way my draw was set up, it feels right."
A win would put Lally into the semifinals Wednesday. The 56-kilogram final is set for Friday.
The two highest-ranked fighters in the class -- Francisco Martinez of the United States and Andy Cruz of Cuba, automatically received byes. The draw Saturday morning gave four of the other eight boxers a free pass into the quarterfinal round.
Lally is confident in his ability to make it all the way to the gold-medal match Friday. He figures Carlos Dos Santos Rocha of Brazil will defeat the Cuban on Monday. Assuming Lally wins his first bout that could potentially set him up against the Brazilian in the semifinal round Wednesday.
"I'm going to beat Cuba, and then in the finals I'm going to face that Dominican guy (Hector Garcia Moro) I lost to in Puerto Rico (at the Cheo Aponte Cup tournament)"
The nine-male, three-female Canadian team spent the two weeks leading up to the Games training at the River City Boxing Club in Oshawa. Lally, who has held six national titles, is the most experienced fighter on Team Canada.
Lally's Inner City Boxing clubmate Jag Seehra arrived in Toronto Saturday. Lally's mother Jas and father Ranbir from Prince George will join Seehra in the crowd at General Motors Centre in Oshawa later this week. Lally's dad has three sisters who live in the Toronto area and they could be bringing a sizable cheering section of friends and relatives with them to the sold-out boxing venue.
"It's hard to get tickets and they keep calling me asking me for tickets but it's not my problem, I have to focus on my fight," Lally said.
CIBC Team Next gave Lally two tickets for each day and he handed them to Seehra, who is staying in Toronto with two-time Olympic boxer Andrew Kooner.
Lally weighed in Saturday morning right on 56kg. Boxers are weighed each day they compete but Lally doesn't have to worry about having to sweat off weight at the last minute to avoid disqualification. Unlike a few years ago when he fought at 52kg and struggled to make his weight, there's no need for Lally to wear a sauna suit to sweat off pounds. But still he's being careful not to eat too much at the Athletes' Village in downtown Toronto, where the food choices are virtually limitless.
"The cafeteria in the village is unreal so you have to stay away from that," said Lally. "Luckily it's nice and hot and the humidity is 100 per cent so it's not too bad. I can eat throughout the day. I did three workouts (Friday) nice and easy and made my weight."
Lally was surprised when he met Prince George high jumper Alyx Treasure while he saw her waving at him while he was grabbing a cup of coffee in the cafeteria Saturday. Treasure jumps Wednesday at 7:15 a.m. PDT at the athletics field at York University.
One other Prince George athlete -- baseball player Amanda Asay -- begins her quest for Pan Am gold Monday at 4:05 p.m. PDT in Ajax, Ont., northeast of Toronto, where Team Canada faces Cuba in its opening game in the five-team tournament.
