Canada has produced many boxing greats in the past but overall Canada seems to be slightly over looked in the world of boxing today.
A hungry Canadian fighter is a risky contract for a well known American champion. I think it’s safe to say, a lot of the world title holders are duckin’ us, eh. After all, we do train in igloos so we slip and slide punches, and we can knock you out cold! Anyways, enough of the corny Canadian jokes, because a joke? We are not.
History has proven that we do produce some in of the toughest boxers in the history of the sport. Guys like the late former world champion Arturo Gatti, George Chuvalo who was a very very tough fighter who took everything Muhammad Ali had to give em’.
Lennox Lewis represented Canada in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. To name a few, some were born on different soil, but ultimately were Canadian. Those names are etched into boxing history forever.
Now, Let’s zoom into a special part of Canada that possesses the most historically significant boxing history in the country. A place called Nova Scotia, This little peninsula has produced some of the most feared and avoided fighters that have ever stepped foot in the squared circle.
Jack Dempsey once said “The Hell I feared no man. There was one man, he was even smaller than I, and I wouldn’t fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford.” Sam Langford was called “the greatest fighter know body knows” by many.
Unfortunately Sam Langford was denied any world title shot due to the color bar, the color bar may not be a thing in modern boxing times but there’s still quite a bit of political issues I feel our fighters are having challenges with. (Cough cough Sergey Lipinets vs Custio Clayton a draw? Come on)…
Before the great Sam Langford we had George Dixon, which in his day he was able to crown a world title. He became the first ever black athlete to win a world championship in ANY sport, you could also look into Cape Breton Nova Scotia where for the most part, boxing and coal mining was your livelihood, and they didn’t take that lightly. In fact I’m not sure I would be here writing this if I didn’t have a personal connection to boxing.
My great grandfather was a champion as well, from Cape Breton. He was the lightweight champion of North America in the 1930s with a record of 74-4, and I believe I personally missed my calling, but I’ll get into that another day. The smaller parts of Canada with lack of jobs and resources, is where boxing has really made history in Canada.
The biggest names out of Canada in boxing today calls Nova Scotia Home, a man who in my opinion possesses the best jab in the welterweight division, a man who’s been robbed of his hard work on 2 separate occasions, with a beautiful amateur career which landed him an opportunity to represent Canada in the 2012 Olympics where his first unfortunate robbery took place against a fighter from Great Britain in the quarter finals.
He goes by “War Machine” as an alias but his first name is as tough and unique as the way he carries himself in the ring. Custio.
Custio Clayton had an unblemished start to his professional boxing career with an undefeated record of 18-0 with 12 knock outs. Unblemished, until a draw was announced after the Clayton vs Lipinets fight where he beat Lipinets at every angle and owned the canvas from the opening bell until the end of fight. There were some close moments but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who won that fight. Here is when he suffered his 2nd robbery, all the hard work that night, and training leading up to it, stamped with a Draw. What a joke.
Custio made Lipinets miss and made him pay. Similar to the style of none other then Floyd Mayweather. Yes knockouts are great, and exciting but at the end of the day this is Boxing and he out boxed him. In terms of boxing He did more than enough to win, I don’t even think Lipinets landed one super clean shot, maybe one or two to the body, Custio was not phased. His timing and Jab had Lipinets lost and throwing wild punches for the good majority of the fight.
Lipinets couldn’t get him where he wanted him and Custio won the fight, and should be in the position Jaron “Boots” Ennis is in right now.
Lipinets’ mentor and trainer Joe Goossen is well connected in the world of boxing, coincidentally his fighter got the draw. Politics and bias decisions are still very active in the sport today. Who Me? No I’m not bias to who I think won that fight, I know boxing and No I’m not a rocket scientist, I’m way too sweet.
That fight is in the past, time to move forward.
What’s next for Clayton? Who’s willing to sign the contract? It seems every time they mention Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr. fighting a semi unknown guy they don’t mention Custio, is Custio the unknown fighter everybody don’t wanna fight?!
His natural physique doesn’t make guys wanna rush to sign the contract or anything, but everybody knows it’s not his physique, it’s his timing, Jab, speed and will to win that they don’t want any part of. High Risk with a minimal reward for them, I guess that’s boxing. Custio’s road to glory hasn’t Been all sunshine and rainbows just when he should be noticed, he’s been either robbed or avoided, it’s frustrating for us Canadians to see the struggle for our champions, but warriors overcome.
For Custio Clayton to get a fight with any name fighter right now would feel like when Rocky Balboa went the distance with Apollo Creed in Rocky 1 for us East Coasters. Just the opportunity is what we need, as his opportunity with Lipinets just proved the sport is a joke in terms of decisions. Forget about the belt for now, Shawn Porter, Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Vergil Ortiz is now a name and is full of piss and vinegar, even Danny Garcia if he doesn’t move up to 154 pounds.
The “War Machine” deserves a top 3 opponent plain and simple, and when that happens Canada and Nova Scotia will be on our feet to watch history be made.
