Canaan Woodrow, left, Melissa O’Flynn and Ben Ruttan will all be in the ring for Rumble 35 on Saturday night in Quesnel.
When Canaan Woodrow is in the ring, he has that look about him. It’s the look of a street fighter. Someone you don’t want to mess with.
Everything about the 17-year-old Woodrow is intimidating. The cold, I-dare-you expression on his face, the confident, aggressive posture, the two gloved fists poised and ready to go to work as soon as the bell sounds – all of it makes him a scary presence for an opponent.
And for the past year or so, Woodrow has been adding to these innate qualities. As a member of Inner City Boxing PG, he has been working almost daily on blending skill, technique and knowledge with his back-alley ferocity.
On Saturday night in Quesnel, Woodrow will try to put it all together at the Rumble 35 fight card, hosted by 2 Rivers Boxing. He’ll take on Tanzeel Sait of the Queensborough Boxing Club in New Westminster and he’s ready to let the beast inside of him come out.
“Boxing is one of the hardest sports in the world when it comes to conditioning, when it comes to nerve management – it’s a lot, and you really have to be able to get into that zone,” Woodrow said. “You have to be tunnel-visioned – this is all that matters, this is life or death almost.
“We live in a very comfortable society, and being able to do a really hard thing and come out on top of it, you have to get into that zone.”
Woodrow will also be fired up because his last real bout was back in January at the Alberta Silver Gloves in Medicine Hat. He moved up a weight class to 63 kilograms while his opponent, Khalil Saghir of Chestermere, Alta., moved down. Saghir proved to be a bit stronger and perhaps a bit more skilled on his way to victory. Since then, Woodrow has steadily added to his own strength and skillset, and he’s excited about testing everything out on Saturday against Sait.
“Comparing January to now, I feel great,” he said. “I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in going into a fight, and I feel like I’m going to come out with a win. But my focus is going to be to put on the best performance I can. That’s pretty much all I can do. I can’t control the result, all I can control is my performance. I’m going to do my best, find my jab, keep moving. That’s the main thing, keep moving – I can’t stay stationary.”
At Inner City, Woodrow is coached by Jag Seehra and Kenny Lally. The two coaches have seen the fierce fighter in Woodrow from the beginning, and they’ve been working to make him the complete package when he’s in the ring.
“We know that he can fight, but now we wanted to really just take him away from the fight game and really work on his boxing,” Seehra said. “The last month we’ve had him on agility training where he’s really focusing on his footwork – quick feet, in and out – and all the work is done now. He’s ready to let the Canaan out of the cage.”
Woodrow will be joined at Rumble 35 by Inner City teammate Ben Ruttan, and also by Melissa O’Flynn, who represents 2 Rivers Boxing and Inner City. Both fighters are scheduled to have exhibition bouts.
The 18-year-old Ruttan checks in at an imposing six-foot-three and 210 pounds. Like Woodrow, he hasn’t fought since the Alberta Silver Gloves in January.
“That’s just what happens, especially guys my size, you’ve got to wait that long,” Ruttan said. “I lost that Silver Gloves fight so I kind of got down. I told myself I wasn’t going to, but then the past two-and-a-half, three months, I’ve been locked in.
“I’ve been working on keeping my hands up, my breathing, my technique, staying composed and actually just learning boxing. Before, I’d just brawl and just want to finish the guy but now it’s boxing – moving, slipping punches, footwork.”
For O’Flynn, 30, Saturday night will be a chance to fight in front of a hometown crowd. It will also mark a bit of a comeback for her.
O’Flynn lives in Quesnel and has grown her skills at 2 Rivers under the guidance of longtime coach Wally Doern. Intent on getting to a new level, she started doing extra training at Inner City a little over a year ago. Her dedication paid off when she landed a spot on Team B.C., but then she suffered an injury and had to take some time to heal.
O’Flynn is now ready to get back inside the ropes and is counting down the hours until she gets to do her thing in front of friends and family.
One of her brothers will be seeing her fight for the very first time.
“That’s super exciting,” O’Flynn said. “And then my mom, a couple of my other brothers, too – I love it when my family’s there.”
Even though O’Flynn might be tempted to land some crowd-pleasing bombs, she’s mindful that her opponent is brand new to the sport. That being the case, she sees the bout as an opportunity to work on her overall game.
“It’s going to be really good for me to just focus on my technical stuff, work on my defence, really slow it down, and also have fun,” she said.
Rumble 35 happens at Bouchie Lake Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m., with fights to follow.