Jag Seehra and Kenny Lally are provincial champions once again.
Both Inner City Boxing Club members retained their respective B.C. titles over the weekend at the Centennial Community Centre in New Westminster.
Lally, 24, didn't have to break a sweat to rein in his 10th provincial crown. He won the 56-kilogram in a walkover when nobody else entered his weight class. He went into the tournament expecting to face Connor Rankin of Kelowna, whom he'd defeated in a unanimous decision a month ago in Vernon.
"Connor came in a kilogram heavy to avoid that rematch from Vernon and landed in Jag's lap the first night and was soundly thrashed," said Inner City coach Bob Pegues. "Jag won that decision and that left Kenny with nobody."
Seehra, 24, went on to face A.J. Popari of Kelowna in the 60kg final Saturday night and stopped him in the third round to earn the ninth B.C. championship of his 12-year career.
"A.J. is a friend of ours, we've taken him on lots of trips, and he's made quit a lot of improvement and we thought it was going to be a little harder than it was," said Pegues. "Jag came out pretty cautiously at first and halfway through the first round he kind of broke A.J's will and he realized what he was in. After a couple of eight -counts, both in the third round, his coach finally tossed in the towel with about a minute to go."
Lally went on to fight an exhibition bout Saturday against Derek Wong of New Westminster.
Seehra and Lally now advance to the Western Canadian championships in Red Deer, Alta., June 7-8, following a training provincial team camp the week before in Kelowna. Pegues is head coach of the B.C. team.
The weight class champions from the Western Canadian tournament will move on to nationals in Toronto, Nov. 1-4. All national champions will qualify to compete for Canada in the Pan Am Games in Toronto, July 10-26, 2015.
