Quiet, crowd-avoiding Salmon Arm father fights champ in boxing fundraiser

Kyle Regnier didn’t know he’d be going up against a champion amateur boxer until about five days before his first-ever fight at Saturday’s Hit2Fit Gala.

Another person had been scheduled to meet Regnier in the ring at the fundraising event, held April 25 at the SASCU Recreation Centre. Instead, the Salmon Arm man – this year’s only Hit2Fit Challenger to get in the ring – wound up being paired off against Prince George’s Kenny Lally, whose list of credentials includes numerous provincial and national titles, a spot on Team Canada, a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games and a silver at the 2010 Continental Championships.

By comparison, Regnier had six months of training – as is required of Hit2Fit challengers who are typically newcomers to the sport – at the Bulldogs Fitness and Boxing Centre, under the guidance of owner/coach Peggy Maerz, coach/manager Jordyn Konrad and coach Trea Fisher.

“I walked into the one class, and it was a week before the fight or so, and they said, ‘Should we tell Kyle?’ I was like ‘oh-oh’, and everyone kind of had a little smile on their face,” recalled Regnier. “I was like, ‘whaaat’, and Peggy said your opponent dropped out… but we have another opponent for you. So I was ‘OK, Good.’

“‘But he’s a very successful Olympic fighter, this and that,’ and I was kind of like, ‘ohh man,’ I think I kind of felt my heart drop a little bit there.”

But Regnier persisted and, come fight night, stayed on his feet for three, two-minute rounds of the Elite Novice demonstration bout, managing to connect with Lally in the ring and afterwards as peers.

“A couple of hours before the fight, during the medical check-ins, he came and talked to me, and said, ‘I’m not coming out there to kill ya! I’ve had a pretty successful career, so you don’t need to worry – but if I see you not breathing or if I see your hands down, I’m going to clock you,” said Regnier. “It was pretty good, and he was like, ‘I don’t really want to get hit either. I’m going to try and stay away from you…

“I don’t think I hit him very much, but I guess I got him with a good left hook. He said I rattled his bells pretty good and he saw the stars, and he’s like, ‘That’s when I started running away from you. I didn’t want to get hit again.’ We had some good laughs; it was a great experience.”

Bulldogs had seven fighters compete in this year’s Hit2Fit, including Jackson Mitchell, who won his Main Event bout against U19 Youth Open/Male competitor Josh Awousi of Calgary.

Standing in a boxing ring, let alone in an auditorium full of people, is arguably out of character for Regnier, who describes himself as a “very quiet person” who typically avoids big crowds. When not working as a technician with Solstice Auto Glass, the husband and father of four, with kids ages four, nine ,10 and 12 –keeps a pretty busy routine at home.

“I’ve always kind of wanted to join some sort of physical activity, a sport, I’d just been too shy to do it because I’ve always been not the most confident person…,” said Regnier, who found himself hooked on a Facebook post promoting this year’s Hit2Fit. “I think I looked at it probably four nights in a row, and it was probably about 10:30 at night, lying in bed, and I decided, you know what, I’m just going to sign up.

“If I make a fool of myself, at least I tried and can say I did it. Not many people would sign up for something like that.”

Regnier said his family was supportive of the decision, his kids providing words of encouragement throughout his training.

“My kids, they were ‘you’ve got this, dad…,’” said Regnier. “They were great. Every night coming back from training and that, they were ‘how’d you do, dad?’ and when I’d be going there they’d be, ‘make sure you do good, dad, don’t get hurt!’”

Things didn’t quite work out that way, though, as Regnier said his first try at sparring left him with a black eye and a bruised nose.

“The family ,they kind of laughed and said ‘Oh, did you have a good night?’” said Regnier. “Peggy was just like, remember, you’ve got to keep your hands up. You’re supposed to hit them back. I was like, ‘Oh, right!’

“I’m not used to swinging at people. It took me quite a while to remember I’m supposed to hit back at them. That was the hard part, too, because I made good friendships with everybody there… so it feels weird getting in the ring with them, and it’s OK, I’m supposed to hate you now.”

Despite the bruising and late change in opponent, Regnier said he kept “shockingly pretty calm with everything,” including the fight itself, mostly. He said his nerves kicked up a bit in the ring “because I definitely ran out of gas really fast – I wasn’t expecting that.”

Though not entirely satisfied with his performance in the ring, thinking “I should have done a lot more,” Regnier is happy about the overall experience and plans to continue training at Bulldogs.

“It just makes you feel happy, and once you notice you’re getting in better shape, your shirts aren’t as tight anymore – just seeing the transformation, you just feel healthy and really good about yourself,” said Regnier. “It’s definitely something I want to keep doing.

“I’m going to continue going there, and hopefully I can get in the ring again for next year’s Hit2Fit. I’m not going to do the six-month challenge thing because the kids definitely want me home at night. It was a lot of work going there five times a week.”

For this year’s Hit2Fit charities, Regnier had hoped to help raise funds for Parkinson Society BC, as his stepfather has the disease, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, this year’s fundraising recipients were the Shuswap Children’s Association, which will receive $10,260, and U Grow Girl, which is getting $6,267.

“The two we did end up picking, I think, are really good ones – I’m really happy with that,” said Regnier.

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