Gold winning boxer sets sights on Olympics

Though he only took up boxing a few months ago, Wyatt Brill can already boast about being a provincial champion.

The 16-year-old Métis, who lives in Slave Lake, captured a gold medal in his category at the recent Alberta Winter Games, which were jointly hosted by Banff and Canmore from Feb. 6-9.

Brill arrived at the boxing competition, held in Banff, not knowing how many competitors would be in his 75-kilogram class. As it turned out there was just one other participant, Brendon Donald from Calgary, in his division, featuring athletes aged 14-16.

The original plan was to have Brill and his lone rival square off in a best-of-three competition. Brill won the first fight and then the next day before the pair was set to duke it out again, Donald withdrew from the competition due to illness.

Brill, a Grade 10 student at Slave Lake’s Roland Michener Secondary School, was then awarded the gold medal and crowned a provincial champ.

That’s a rather significant feat for Brill, who had only two fights and a 1-1 record, before entering the AWG.

Ideally though he would have preferred to have had more bouts in Banff.

“Even if I had lost them it would have given me more experience,” he said. “But I won gold so I can’t complain. And it’s a big accomplishment because I want to go a lot further in my boxing career.”The AWG attracted about 2,200 athletes and coaches, who were representing eight zones from across the province.

Brill was on the Zone 8 team.

The games traditionally feature numerous Aboriginal athletes. But organizers have no way of determining the athletes’ ancestry since they are not required to list it on registration forms.

Kris Hansen, a coach at the Slave Lake Boxing Club, also served as a coach for the Zone 8 boxing team.

He believes the fact Brill returned home with a gold medal will provide his fighter with an additional boost.

“He had no clue what he was up against going there,” Hansen said. “But this is huge for his confidence.”

Based on Donald’s 6-1 record and three years in the ring, Donald would have been the favourite heading into his bout against Brill.  However, Brill registered a unanimous decision in the three-round bout.

“He boxed really well and he listened to his corner very well,” Hansen said.

Hansen also believes Brill is capable of achieving a lot more in the sport.

“If he sticks with it, he’s got a promising boxing future ahead of him,” he said.

Brill, who only took up boxing last October, does indeed plan to continue on in the sport.

In fact, he’s hoping to become a professional boxer. But before he does that he has set his sights on representing the country in the Olympics.

Though an appearance at the 2020 Olympics might be a more realistic goal to aim for, Brill is not discounting an appearance at the next Summer Olympics, set for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Brill is currently a two-sport athlete. He is also a member of his school’s wrestling team.

He has managed to juggle his boxing and wrestling careers even though his training sessions for both sports are held on the same days.

“It’s pretty hard doing two intense workouts a day,” said Brill, who also keeps in shape by running daily.

“Next year I think I’m going to just stick with boxing.”

Photo caption: Competing in boxing at the Alberta Winter Games were (from left) Cody Gauthier, coach Kris Hansen, and Wyatt Brill. Gauthier earned silver in the 50-kg class, while Brill took gold in the 75-kg class.