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Burnaby boxer perseveres in B.C. final

When it comes to facing hurdles, Burnaby’s Tyson Papalia has endured his share and then some. Whether they were natural occurrences or self-created, the 31-year-old has tackled most head-on, and wore his bruises well.

When it comes to facing hurdles, Burnaby’s Tyson Papalia has endured his share and then some.

Whether they were natural occurrences or self-created, the 31-year-old has tackled most head-on, and wore his bruises well.

After last month’s provincial boxing championships in Richmond, Papalia emerged both victorious and battered. Victorious is the key.

In his second fight in two days, the North Burnaby Boxing Club member defeated Jeremy Kouwenhaven of Los Gatos Locos in a three-round decision, earning him the B.C. title in the novice male 91+ KG elite division.

“I was just in my element man, nothing was going to stop me that night. Everyone was worried, saying ‘You better watch out for this big guy.’ I was like I’m just going to do my thing in there,” said Papalia.

Granted, his opponent stood about four inches taller and weighed nearly 100-pounds heavier (more than 136kg heavier). And Papalia did suffer a near-debilitating injury during the first round.

None of that knocked him off his feet, although Kouwenhaven tried.

But as the saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

“He hits hard. Anything he hits you with you’re going to feel it. At 300 pounds, he’s pretty heavy. I weighed in at 216, 218 maybe?

“I gave him a standing eight count in the first round – maybe the first time we really engaged, at about a minute in. We were trying to feel each other out and then I gave him three –piece combo, hit him with three hooks, and the ref called a standing eight-count,” recalled Papalia.

The boxers would reconvene and exchange punches again, and just before the bell, the Burnaby fighter felt a jarring pain in his right shoulder, after his arm got caught up with his Kelowna rival.

“I hurt my shoulder at the end of the first round – I tore my bicep tendon at the end of the round. So I go to (coach Manny Sobral) at the end of the first round and say ‘Manny, my right shoulder’s messed up.’ He says, ‘Use your left.’ That’s the last thing I thought he’d say,” noted Papalia.

The former junior A hockey player and one-time Seattle Thunderbirds bantam draft pick would trudge through the second round, protecting his pained shoulder while also trying to mask the injury.

“Super-difficult. I was trying to switch up my stance for a southpaw to see if that would work out better for me. The second round was more of a feel-out round to see what I had to do the rest of the fight. … “At the end of the second I said, ‘Is that it?’ and Manny said ‘No, there’s one more round.’ I had to come over some adversity for sure, but I learned a lot from that fight.”

It was his second fight in as many days.

Papalia, who has been a boxing fan all his life but only seriously took up the sport recently, the results are not so surprising considering the effort he’s put into it. It was part of a life-change for the one-time Burnaby North student, who admits previous personal problems stalled him from following a smart path.

“I kind of got into some other stuff and lost my way, with drugs and alcohol,” he said of a period in his 20s. “I had to get better and when I got better I said let’s go back to the gym. I’ve been running with it ever since.”

Once the shoulder is fully recovered, Papalia hopes to keep climbing the ladder, with an eye on competing for Canada.

“You know what? I didn’t think it was really going to get to this, but it would be nice to fight for Canada one day. I need to get the shoulder back to 100 per cent and get some fights under my belt. Get more comfortable being in the ring, under the fire zone then go on and maybe fight something bigger.”

A longshoreman by trade, Papalia said his evolution from hockey tough guy into dedicated boxer was a long but well-worth-it journey.

 “It’s all up to you. (Manny) tells you what you should do but it’s all up to the individual.”

Papalia’s win was coupled with two other North Burnaby decisions at the event. Nathan Dizon topped the elite open men’s 57kg division, besting Island Boxing Club’s Masato Ohashi, while Cody Lam was unchallenged in his 60kg junior novice division.