Jag Seehra has one last chance to punch his way onto the national stage.
"I'm going there to get something back that's mine," said the Prince George Inner City boxer about heading to St. Hyacinthe, Que., to defend his position on the Canadian national B team at the 2012 Junior/Youth Canadian Championship and Final Team Selections (FTS). "Last year, this was all new to me, now it's just a different focus; a different drive."
The 22 year old will battle five competitors in the 60-kilogram category, needing at least three wins to come out on top. Seehra's rivals including the Canadian Champion silver-medalist Josh O'Reilly from Ontario; Dylan Bishop of Maple Ridge; Chris Plaitis of Quebec; and Manitoba boxers Brad Katona and Ahmad Shukoori.
The competition in Quebec takes place Feb. 28 to March 3 but Seehra has already left Prince George to do some sparring in Vancouver this week at Griffins Boxing Club in North Vancouver. He'll spar with former Inner City boxer Andy Mavros and former Nigerian bantam weight champion Nester Boleum, under the watchful eye of Canadian national team coach Kevin Howard.
Bob Pegues, Seehra's Inner City coach, said both Mavros and Boleum are lefties, which will help prepare Seehra for his first bout in Quebec against southpaw Plaitis.
Seehra leaves for Ottawa on Friday to adjust to the time difference before heading to St. Hyachinthe on Monday.
He earned a spot on the National B team in 2011 after capturing the silver medal at the 2012 Elite National Championship, but Seehra was unable to repeat the magic last month in Nova Scotia and had to settle for bronze. Had Seehra made it to the gold-medal bout he would've maintained his B-team position without going through the FTS.
"I thought too far ahead and forgot about the task at hand," said Seehra about the loss. "It sucks that it happened at such a big stage, but I learned from it and I know what was happening."
It was O'Reilly who topped Seehra in Cape Breton.
"All year we were training to fight Alex Rynn," said Seehra about the national gold medalist. "He was fighting before me and I was watching him fight and thinking about how am I going to beat him and I totally looked past the guy I was fighting.
"[O'Reilly] just got the lead on me in the first round and I just never really got back into it," he added. "I'll redeem myself at the FTS for sure."
Seehra's teammate at Inner City, Kenny Lally, continues to prepare for the Continental Olympic Qualifier in Rio de Janeiro from May 1 to 13 and will head to Montreal for training with the USA National Team on March 9 and 10.
