Bob Pegues was like a kid at Christmas last week in Kansas City.
The head of the Inner City Boxing Club in Prince George woke up bright and early everyday to check on his fight opponent at the Ringside World Championship. With more than 20 boxers in the masters 165-pound weight class, Pegues said he was sure he'd be fighting each day.
"I went there Thursday with the expectations of boxing on Thursday, but no, my name wasn't on the list. Friday same thing," said Pegues. "Finally on Saturday I knew I had to fight then."
There was only one opponent with a similar number of bouts on his resume to Pegues, so the two were matched up in Saturday's middleweight final. The age range was between 45 and 73, but, Pegues said many of the fighters were relatively new to the boxing game and had limited experience in the ring.
"My mental game kind of got thrown off by the fact I was so excited with expectations the first two days," said Pegues. "But by the time I got there I really wanted it."
Pegues was matched up against Marvin Cordova. On the surface Cordova appeared to have the edge. Cordova was 54. Pegues was 59. Cordova was about six inches taller. Cordova had more than 40 fights as a youth. Pegues said his rival was noncommittal about his masters record, preferring to converse about grand kids instead.
"You could see when he was warming up he was pretty good," said Pegues. "So the strategy was to make more of a fight out of it than a boxing match. I tired him out and by the third round it was pretty much all mine. He was pretty exhausted.
"I just kind of got in close and didn't stop throwing punches," he added. "I knew I was in shape to do that. I pretty much just basically wore him down."
In the end it was a unanimous decision in Pegues favour.
"It was awesome," said Pegues. "It's kind of neat prize to win and it was really good."
Pegues was already thinking of defending his title next year in Missouri as he deplaned in Prince George on Sunday, but the next competition he takes part in will give his hands a rest. Pegues planned to take part in the 2013 B.C. Senior Summer Games in Kamloops, Aug. 20-24.
In a test of his sprinting abilities and endurance, Pegues said he'll compete in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m and five and 10 kilometre events.
"It was one of the other sports I did really well at," he said.
The next fight on the agenda for Inner City boxers has Kenny Lally heading to Montreal for a Team Canada training camp the week of Aug. 19 before he heads to Chile for his boxing match.
