The Province - Fans trying to remember back when

It might come as a surprise to most of you, but professional boxing in B.C. has a pulse.

BY THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE

It might come as a surprise to most of you, but professional boxing in B.C. has a pulse.

Further, it's strong and is ready to start pumping out some pugilistic punchers with a future.

The best part is they're coming from all over ... such as the McLellan brothers, Stuart and Roberto, from Williams Lake and Mark Woolnough of Qualicum Beach, the clinical super middleweight headliner Saturday night at the Rumble at the Rock II, a six-bout pro card hosted by Great Canadian Gaming Corporation at the River Rock Casino in front of nearly 1,000 entertained boxing fans.

Those three as well as heavyweight Shane Andreesen of Qualicum Beach, on spit-pail duty for Woolnough Saturday, join a growing B.C. Lower Mainland fraternity led by cruiserweight Kevin Reynolds, who improved to 7-1 and Junior Moar, who battled rugged and entertaining showman Claudio Jose Ortiz of Surrey to earn a majority decision and his third win in five pro bouts.

An autopsy was never done, but pro boxing was thought to have flat-lined when former stars such as Gordy Racette, Dale Walters, Manny Sobral and Tony Pep retired and interest in mixed martial arts started. If the recovery isn't total, a few more well-matched cards produced by West Coast Boxing Promotions and hosted by Great Canadian will surely assure its revival.

There is also interest from the provincial hinterlands of Prince George and Kelowna in partnering with West Coast Boxing Promotions to reintroduce the pro game in those centres.

Former Canadian champions Bill and Jon Ager have gone as far as they can in the amateur game and their long-time trainer David Habib is interested in playing host to a pro card.

"Why not have your pro debut at home?" Habib wondered rhetorically. "We'd want Jon to go against Roberto (McLellan)."

Saturday, Roberto made his pro debut a winning one with a unanimous decision over mixed martial arts veteran Tyler Jackson of Langley.

"I'm disappointed I didn't knock him out," said the grimly determined older McLellan brother.

"I wasn't in good enough shape."

Sparing is a problem in places such as Williams Lake.

The McLellan brothers are trained and managed by their father Gary, who took over the club so his offspring and "a bunch of young kids" would have a place to box.

He is helped by fellow Nova Scotia native Wayne Sponagle of Prince George, who makes the 21/2-hour drive to lend a hand as often as is feasible.

Sponagle promoted and made his pro boxing debut at 52 on the last pro fight card in Prince George 10 years ago.

Habib says the last pro card in Kelowna was sometime in the 1980s when local fighter Lance Gray, who boxed as Lance Taylor, took the Canadian welterweight crown from Jimmy McMillan of Kamloops.

One of the difficulties has been having local boxers be the headliners, because they just don't have enough experience.

But Woolnough won his 16th in 21 bouts.

He looked solid in winning every round against a game but over-matched Kareem Chartrand of Winnipeg for the super middleweight (154-pound) Canadian, American, Mexican championship belt.

And Reynolds, whose trainer Jerry Veerasammy unselfishly turned him over to multi-world-championship trainer Jesse Reid of Las Vegas, looked tremendous in recovering from a fourth-round haymaker delivered by the very tough Frank While of Sarnia to win a majority decision.

Reynolds' expenses to train in Vegas are being picked up by Jarl Whist and Gary Peters, clients who are trained by Reynolds at his Contenders Gym.

Great Canadian vice-president Howard Blank, meanwhile, has suggested the parking lot of the Boulevard Casino could be the site for a temporary outdoor arena of a more ambitious summer card.

It's expected Rumble at the Rock III would be in January, following the Canadian (amateur) boxing championships and the trials Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

hkgilchrist@yahoo.com

RUMBLE ROCK RESULTS

Four-round welterweight

Stuart McLellan over Antonio Dos Santos

Four-round super middleweight

Junior Moar over Cladio Jose Ortiz

Four-round super middleweight

Roberto McLellan over Tyler Jackson

Semi main event

Eight-round heavyweight

Ross Purity over Carl Gathright

Six-round cruiserweight

Kevin Reynolds over Frank White

Main event

Eight-round super middleweight

Mark Woonough over Kareem Chartrand