The afternoons of April 23 and 24 saw bouts from many fighters during the 2022 Alberta Golden Gloves. Boxers from all over the province stepped into the ring hosted at the Slovenian Canadian Association in Edmonton. Some of the most vicious fighters, though, are proven to be from Airdrie. 

Two Airdronian boxers fighting out of Humble Boxing Academy in Airdrie, Wade Hodgson and Zach Contos, won the 2022 Alberta Golden Gloves.  

Wade Hodgson is a 32-year-old who fought in the lightweight division at one-hundred-ninety pounds. He fought a hard battle between himself and a fighter from Quinit, Vancouver and ended up winning.  

Zach Contos is a 25-year-old who fought in the light heavyweight division. He won his fight at the Golden Gloves as well. 

Lucas George, the head coach for Humble Boxing Academy, says the boxers are currently focusing on training for the Diamond Belt at the end of May. Then, everyone will focus on an Airdrie event called Rumble at Humble.   

“All of our fighters want to compete. We actually had six entries into Golden Gloves, but quite a few of our fighters couldn't get matched up because of injuries. Guys in their weight class didn’t show up, so quite a few of our fighters couldn't get into a fight on that weekend.” says George. 

George says the Golden Gloves is a large prestigious event in the boxing community, both in Alberta and across America.   

“There were over 150 fighters who entered into the tournament. To say these two local Airdronians won Golden Gloves, it speaks for itself. They are some of the best fighters in this province.” says George.

The Golden Gloves are hosted every year at a new location, but not just anyone can jump into the ring and compete in the competition. All the fights and events are tournaments that are sanctioned by Boxing Alberta. In order to compete in any of the sanctioned events, the competitor has to be registered through Boxing Canada. 

According to George, winners are determined by a lot of things in amateur boxing. How many clean punches are landed, who had the most ring control, and boxing IQ are all taken into consideration when scoring a fight. 

In the ring.

Boxing Clubs from Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Kelowna, Cranbrook, and Saskatoon also participated in the Golden Gloves Tournament this year. 

On June 17, 2022. Humble Boxing Academy will host an event called Rumble at Humble. It is a children's event and all the money made from it will go back to the community of Airdrie, such as the Boys and Girls Club, Community Links, and the Airdrie Food Bank. 

“At the end of the day, the community is us, all of us,” says George. 

Anybody who comes from low-income or underprivileged families can get free training. Humble Boxing Academy has a program called the Knucklehead Program, which trains moms, dads, and kids who don't have the money for an extracurricular activity.  

“We require all of our athletes on our competitive team to do a minimum of one-hour community service a month to be a part of our club,” says George. 

The team.

Rumble at Humble will be hosted at the Airdrie Town and Country Centre.  

All of the competitors from Humble Boxing Academy will compete on the card and there will be gyms from across Alberta showing up too.

To check out Humble Boxing Academy visit their website.  

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