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Young Yukon boxer fights to gold at Alberta championship

Whitehorse's Roan Evans-Ehricht doesn't look like someone who fought two boxing matches over the weekend. No cuts, no swelling. Then again, his two fights consisted of a total of just four rounds.
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Whitehorse’s Roan Evans-Ehricht doesn’t look like someone who fought two boxing matches over the weekend.

No cuts, no swelling.

Then again, his two fights consisted of a total of just four rounds.

Evans-Ehricht dominated in the ring to win gold in the 81-kilogram weight class at the Alberta Bronze Gloves in Stony Plain.

“I’ve been training for three and a half years for this opportunity and that moment,” said Evans-Ehricht. “I went out and I just could not see myself losing. I prepared so much for it, tried as hard as I could and ended up winning just like I thought.”

The provincial Bronze Gloves championships (for boxers with seven or fewer fights) were Evans-Ehricht’s first official fights of his career.

Both of his opponents had previous fight experience and were older than Evans-Ehricht, who is just 17 and is still in high school.

His first bout was against 26-year-old Joel Zolinsky from Nelson, B.C. Evans-Ehricht won by technical knockout in the third-round on Saturday.

Evans-Ehricht then beat Jarrett Gordon from the Sunshine Boxing Academy in Lethbridge by TKO in the first round on Sunday.

Gordon received a bye into the final and went into the gold medal bout fresh.

“In the first fight we noticed I wasn’t being aggressive enough starting the trades,” said Evans-Ehricht. “In the second fight I went in and was really aggressive and I was able to stop him in the first round.”

Evans-Ehricht says he’d like to be a counterpuncher in the ring, but that’s not where his strength lies. He’s better off making the first move, said Jess Staffen, who was Evans-Ehricht’s cornerman with his father Ted.

“He’s more of a striker with strong combinations,” said Staffen. “He’s got speed and power. Our technique with Roan is to get him to punch first instead of reacting to the other boxer. We want the other boxer reacting to him.”

“Something my coach stressed to me was, a good boxer is someone who does what his corner tells him,” he added. “Roan did exactly what we told him to do and we couldn’t have asked for any more from him.”

Having made such quick work of his opponents, Evans-Ehricht was named Best Boxer at the tournament.

He was nervous for his first fight - the first of his career after years of training - but was mentally calm before Sunday’s fight, he said.

“When I woke up (Saturday) morning I was really nervous,” said Evans-Ehricht. “I was just getting everything ready that I possibly could.

“Actually, I was using a couple techniques I was learning in Sports School down at F.H. Collins (Secondary). We’ve had lots of guest speakers come in and we’ve done a lot of training and I did some mental focus-breathing techniques. Sitting by myself, trying to relax, I ended up getting most of my nerves out of the way for the first fight.

“By the time the second fight came around I was completely in the zone, no nerves at all.”

Evans-Ehricht wasn’t the only Yukoner on the canvas at the Alberta championship.

Jarred Nolan, who now lives in Edmonton and trains at the Avenue Boxing Club, won silver in the super heavyweight division.

Nolan defeated Arjun Srikumar in the first round by TKO but lost in the gold medal bout to Paul Crosty by decision.

Evans-Ehricht is one of about 50 registered athletes with Yukon Boxing, which operates out of Peak Fitness in Riverdale. The organization holds classes Mondays and Wednesdays.

“We have a lot of people who have been coming for a few years just for the fitness aspect of it,” said Staffen, who is the head coach for Yukon Boxing. “It’s great to see their progression.

“And we have a few young guys like Roan ... that are regulars and are looking to bring out to our next competition.”

Staffen hopes to get Evans-Ehricht and some other young Yukoners back in the ring for bronze glove fights in the New Year.

“If not, we have a very good working relationship with Boxing Alberta, so we can probably organize a Yukon versus Alberta club card.”

Yukon Boxing can be found on Facebook.

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com