Small boxers with high hopes

By?Adam?Richardson
The News
STELLARTON - Ask Zack Ward about his goals in boxing, and it's a pretty short response.
"I want to be champion of the world," Ward responds with a slight smile. "Doesn't everybody?"
Sure they do. But Ward, at all of 11 years old, believes he'll do it. He lists confidence as his strongest asset - undoubtedly one most good fighters possess - and thinks nothing can stop him if he puts his mind to it.
Of course, the 85-pound Westville resident is still just three bouts into his young career, but every journey to the gold must begin with a single jab, right?
Ward and other young scrappers will continue that quest on Saturday night, when the Westville Academy of Boxing hosts an amateur card at the Nova Scotia Community College's Stellarton campus gymnasium.
Ward's been training for about two years to hit the big time, and will be in the opening bout of the card against Kyle Hudson of Kentville, who will be making his debut inside the ring.
Ward won't be the only young fighter from the Westville Academy of Boxing on the card. Dallas Greene, a 95-pound combatant from New Glasgow, will make his debut against Trent Guibault. The two fighters are both first-timers, so Greene doesn't know exactly what to expect.
"I've been training hard, and it's exciting to finally get a fight," said Greene. "I don't think about getting nervous, or being in front of the crowd and how it will affect me."
The club has several pre-teen boxers currently training, a pleasant sign for the future of boxing in Pictou?County. Generally, head coach and manager Tom?Davis says fighters don't walk through the doors until they're teenagers, so getting a chance to mould the pint-sized athletes from scratch is an added benefit for the boxer's future. For some, like Greene, boxing is a family tradition - his brother, sister, uncle, aunt and cousins all gave the sport a try. For others, they're looking for a way to have some after school fun.
"It seems like right now, all of the clubs around the province have a few guys or girls at the smaller weight classes," Davis said. "It gives them a much better chance to develop, getting that first in-ring experience as an 11-year-old, as opposed to a 14-year-old."
The card won't just feature the little guys, either. There will be at least one female bout on the card, and things will heat up with two six-foot-seven senior fighters battling in an exhibition bout. In that one, Westville's Duke Davis squares off against Paul?Glancey, a novice superheavyweight out of New Waterford.
The Academy's Travis Leil will fight Sydney's Austin?MacKinnon again, just one week after
MacKinnon earned a split decision over Leil at Casino?Nova Scotia in Sydney. MacKinnon is a member of the Canada Games core team.
Another Canada Games core team member, Cyrus Taylor of the Pegasus Amateur Boxing Club in Middleton, will meet the Academy's Mike McGrath at 66 kilograms in the main event. Taylor defeated McGrath by unanimous decision last weekend.
Another match of note will feature James Dowe of Fredericton against Adam Black of Saint John in a match of experienced foes.