Tourney could lead to Games

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George Bull, a 21 year old boxer from Goodfish Lake First Nation, will wear the Team Alberta colors at the senior national boxing tournament in Sudbury, Ont. from Jan. 21 to 24.

Bull won the Alberta senior light heavyweight (178 lbs.) title in Red Deer in early December. He beat Brad Lachowich of Edmonton 10-9 on the computer scoring system in the five-round title bout.

Bull has been training and fighting out of the Lac La Biche Boxing Club for five years. This is the same club that produced Canadian cruiser weight professional champion Willard Lewis.

The one word boxing coach Ken Scullion uses to describe Bull's style could just as easily apply to Lewis. That one word is "warrior."

Scullion points to the 1997 national championships in Calgary to show what kind of character Bull brings to the boxing ring.

It was Bull's first year at the senior level, and he finished in the number two spot in the Alberta championships. The top Alberta fighter had broken his hand in the provincial title bout against Bull, and when it did not heal properly Bull got a last minute call to represent Alberta at the nationals.

He didn't have time to get into fighting shape, but he sure came to fight, Scullion said. He was winning the fight that would have sent him to the gold medal match when he was disqualified by the referee for too many warnings. The disqualification was highly controversial.

With two more years experience under his belt, Bull has an excellent chance of making it to the medal round in the Sudbury tournament.

"It all depends on the draw," Scullion said.

The Nationals are always full of surprises. Boxers never know who they are going to face, and at least one weight class always has someone "come totally out of the woods." This year it could be big George Bull, raging out of the woods of northeastern Alberta.

Bull said he is looking forward to the Sudbury tournament, and is "excited about going; really happy."

He has been training on his own and at the Lac La Biche club's facility, and goes to the provincial team's camp in Lodgepole for five days before flying to Sudbury.

Winners in Sudbury will be on the Canadian team for this summer's Pan American Games in Winnipeg.