Quick on his feet, Burnaby’s Robert Couzens entered the gym carrying a gym bag and sporting a tan gained from a week’s holiday in Mexico.
He had to scramble to get his medal for a scheduled photo shoot.
It was nearly a month ago, but Couzens hasn’t forgotten the route to winning the Canadian welterweight (75-kilogram) division title, besting three boxing rivals to exit the square ring with his arm raised.
“It’s an eternity. You’re like ‘Just hurry up, let’s hurry up, let’s go,’” Couzens recalled of the moment after the bout while waiting for the judges’ decision. In a final where he got his share of hits in but also took some in return, the anticipation of knowing whether he’d become a Canadian titleholder again seemed to drag on.
“I thought I had it, I thought I had the fight, but you never know what will happen in the boxing game. Things can go weird right away. … I had confidence in my fight and my abilities that I did enough at least to win. They lifted my arm and right away it consolidated what I was thinking.”
His opponent, Quebec champion Hamza Khabbaz, pulled his arm away from the referee after Couzens’ win was announced, showing his disappointment, to state it mildly, with the decision.
But the judges, who scored the final 3-2 for the Burnaby North secondary alum, had kept a running tally. The score was correct, in Couzens’ eyes.
“The first round was on the slow side,” recalled Couzens of the Edmonton-hosted fight on April 1. “You can tell about in the middle of the round who is winning, or at least most fighters can, and I kind of had a thought process where I was like, ‘it’s kind of close, I think I better do a few more things in this match.’ I picked it up and threw a few more jabs and started popping his head back, which right away gets you points from the judges.
“I knew I did enough to win the first round, and it (gave me) confidence for the second round to start off clean.”
That second round provided him with a first – not one you usually celebrate, either. Midway through stepping back from one of Khabbaz’s swings, Couzens stumbled and took a hit that sent him to the ground. In all his fights over the years, this was the first time he went down – even for a few short seconds.
“I stumbled back three or four steps and I missed a left hook, which put me off-balance as he touched me. I did a little stutter-step back and I landed on my butt. I just laughed, I looked at him and he ran up to my face. I gave him a good ol’ laugh and went ‘What are you doing?’ I got back up and shook it off,” said Couzens.
Although the Quebec boxer was penalized for unsportsmanlike behaviour, the hit counted against Couzens. That made the third-and-final round all the more crucial.
The fall may have actually provided Couzens with a shot of adrenalin and a reminder of what was at stake, as he held sway over the final round to come away victorious. His previous two fights at the competition were 5-0 wins over tough Alberta rivals.
Winning the title on a split decision was sweet, he said. Especially with the memory of last year’s championship still on his mind. Then, he was contending but butted heads with his opponent, gashing his ear and requiring stitches. The judges ruled him ineligible for the next round and awarded him a bronze.
“I used (last year) as motivation,” he said. “I had a good game plan. I knew what I had to do going in and just as my coach said, ‘Just go in and be the fighter you’ve trained to be. We have no other option than to leave with gold because of what you’ve gone through.’”
A three-time junior national champion, Couzens has made an impressive march over the past few years after stepping back from the ring. Growing up and learning the ropes under the tutelage of Manny Sobral and Rob Bortolazzo at the North Burnaby Boxing Club, he had pounded his way through a lot of heavy bags, ropes and rivals. It was seemingly all he knew, but he momentarily craved a change.
The time off saw him put on some weight and turn to weightlifting to stay in shape, but boxing coach Mihai Afloarei drew him back to the sport he loved.
“When I met Robert six years ago, I thought he’d be a great boxer. … He’s a very good boxer, very good listener. I told him after provincials that if he listened to my program, he’d be a Canadian champion,” said Afloarei, who used to box and coach in Romania before immigrating to Canada.
Reinvigorated about the ring, the training regimen became the focus. Afloarei pushed him, and Couzens pushed himself, until he dropped 30 pounds to fit into the welterweight division.
“The first thing I tell people, that at my age now and the time I’ve been (boxing), it’s all I know. I know the routine, my body has adapted to the training and everything you have to do. My body just loves it. I feel like even one, two weeks without and my body will literally feel weird. I’ve got to get back into it.”
As a Canadian champion, Couzens now qualifies for possible international bouts. As a three-time junior champion from 2008 to 2010, he got prime experience fighting opponents from Poland, Lithuania and Puerto Rico, as well as Americans. That is a benefit of being the last man standing at the nationals.
Other big opportunities, like fighting his way onto the Olympic team, seem within reach for the 26-year-old pugilist. But right now his days start and end at East Vancouver’s Core Studio, where owner Rocco Dipopolo has created a space for Couzens and Afloarei to work out.
It’s become a way of life for him.
“If I can pinpoint one thing, it’s the adrenalin you get from achieving something great. The winning feels great, but the losing, you learn life lessons and you learn how to be a good person,” noted Couzens.
