Astoria Boxing Club » News & Articles http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:26:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Lowry puts controversy behind in comeback bid (see in the Province) http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/lowry-puts-controversy-behind-in-comeback-bid-see-in-the-province/ http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/lowry-puts-controversy-behind-in-comeback-bid-see-in-the-province/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:21:15 +0000 Jaime http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/?p=139

Steve Lowry will be making a comeback to the ring Saturday at Rumble at the Rock VII. Lowry was on track to make Canada's Olympic team before a controversial decision cut his bid short. Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider, PNG, The Province

After eight-year hiatus, super lightweight puts gloves back on

By Steve Ewen, The ProvinceApril 2, 2010

Steve Lowry could have lied.

The 36-year-old Vancouver Astoria Club super lightweight, who is making his return to the ring after an eight-year hiatus as part of the Rumble at the Rock VII undercard, could have easily flown past a question about his loss at the 1999 Canadian nationals in a sweaty gymnasium in Campbell River.

Lowry had been hyped in B.C. as a contender for a spot at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and he had pummelled Regina’s Dana Laframboise so thoroughly in the national quarterfinals only to lose the decision that then provincial team coach Scotty Jackson, a veteran of more than 30 years in the game at that point, called it, “probably the worst decision I’ve seen in my life . . . a guy chases another guy around the ring and beats the tar our of him and loses?”

It was a lifetime ago, though, wasn’t it? He could have bobbed and weave past that question, but he stood there and took it.

There’s something endearing about honesty, isn’t there?

“Yeah, I do wonder what would have happened had the scoring been different,” said Lowry, a 5-foot-5, 133-pound Williams Lake native. “People were talking Olympics. It would have been nice. What else can I say? It would have been nice.

“I really don’t regret anything. I came to fight. I gave it my all.

“Is it the most disappointing loss? Yeah . . . one of them. I’ve had some disappointments, but that was one of the bigger ones.”

He did continue in the ring and even turned pro in 2000. He fought six times, amassing a 4-1-1 record. The last bout was July 13, 2002, when he was knocked out in the second round of a scheduled four-round right with Rafael Ortiz at the Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, Wash. His daughter, Isabella, was on the way, and he decided he needed to focus on being a father rather than a prize fighter.

She lives in Calgary now with her mother and Lowry remains in her life, visiting every few months.

“After her mother and I separated, I didn’t go back into boxing,” said Lowry, who’s a construction safety officer and first aid attendant by day. “I was coaching, I was still active in it, but I figured it was too late for me.”

He was working with some youngsters at the Astoria club a few months back when one of the more accomplished boxers needed someone to train against. There was no one else around, Lowry said, so he grabbed some gear and sparred for the first time in years.

Standing there, in the middle of the ring, he felt he could still punch, still move, still compete. Lowry, who had taken up running marathons, wanted to get back at it and contacted the Rumble organizers. They put him up against Will Williams, 23, an Oregon native who comes into Saturday with a 2-1 record.

He insists that he doesn’t know where the boxing is going to go next. There’s a sincerity that makes him believable. And easy to root for.

“I’m going to go and I’m going to fight on Saturday and if something comes of it, then great,” said Lowry.

“I’m not making any big plans. I’m 36. It is what it is.

“I want to go in there and see if I can still do this.”

sewen@theprovince.com

© Copyright (c) The Province
]]> http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/lowry-puts-controversy-behind-in-comeback-bid-see-in-the-province/feed/ 0 Weighing the odds of a successful comeback (seen in the Vancouver Sun) http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/weighing-the-odds-of-a-successful-comeback/ http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/weighing-the-odds-of-a-successful-comeback/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:16:10 +0000 Jaime http://www.warriorsboxingclub.com/?p=137

Boxer Steve Lowry, once touted as a potential Olympian, is getting back into the ring for the next Rumble at The Rock in Richmond. He is training at the Fraser Arms after an eight-year hiatus. Photograph by: Steve Bosch, PNG, Vancouver Sun

Steve Lowry once had a promising future in the ring, but after stepping away to raise his daughter, he’s answering the bell one more time.

By Yvonne Zacharias, Vancouver SunMarch 25, 2010He was once the golden boy of the ring, a guy with blazing hands and a head that moved as though dodging phantoms.

Once touted as a potential Olympian, Vancouver boxer Steve Lowry gave up his shot at glory for the daughter he loves, coupled with one senseless loss in the ring that sent him reeling.

Now, after an eight-year hiatus, the former Golden Gloves amateur is stepping back into the ring at the age of 36 for the seventh Rumble at the Rock pro boxing card on Saturday, at the River Rock in Richmond.

Before training this week at the boxing club under the Fraser Arms Hotel, the super lightweight admitted he was nervous. Really nervous.

But when he put the boxing gloves on for the first time after all those years to start training in mid-January, it felt right to him.

“It felt like riding a bike. Obviously the conditioning wasn’t the same as what I was used to 10 years ago, but I was making guys miss and landing jabs. It felt awesome.”

He got the idea for a comeback last November when he went to the U.S. to watch his girlfriend, Sarah Pucek, box.

The first thing that strikes you when you meet him is how small he is. The next thing you notice is that he has a small voice to match his diminutive stature. No bravado here. He is five-feet-five on a good day and weighs in at 144 pounds, although he hasn’t always been so slim. The fighter, who once ballooned up to 200 pounds, watches his diet.

Putting in around 100 hours every two weeks in his job as a construction safety officer and first aid attendant, the Williams Lake native has had a hard time finding the time to train. But he has been sweating and swinging in the ring below the Fraser Arms faithfully for 3 to 3 1/2 hours a day, six or seven days a week, training with Dave Schuck, who runs the gym. The two have been coaching together here for a couple of years. They’re good friends.

Lowry moves his head a lot in a peekaboo style and likes to throw combinations. One of his weaknesses is his tendency to drop his left hand. His age and size could also work against him as he takes on 23-year-old Will Williams of Portland, Ore.

With a younger guy, “the first thing that comes to mind is sharper reflexes, so I am hoping to discourage him from throwing his jab.”

Lowry is coming in with a professional record of 4-1-1, with two of those wins being knockouts, while Williams sports a 2-1 record.

Schuck has a message for Williams: look out.

“I think this kid he is fighting is in trouble. I think this kid is looking at Steve’s age and the inactivity. I don’t think he knows the amateur pedigree that Steve comes from. I think this kid is probably coming in here thinking he is going to be fighting an aging guy. Well, Steve is a young 36. He has fought some of the best fighters in the world.”

Wally Jorgensen, one of Williams’s handlers, said he knows the fight against Lowry isn’t going to be a cakewalk, but Williams is likely up to it.

“Willie never had any amateur fights, but he has spent a good share of his life in the gym,” Jorgensen said. “Willie is a decent fighter. It will all depend on how badly he wants it when he gets there.”

If Lowry had one problem as a younger boxer, Schuck said, it was self-doubt. But the fighter has matured.

Schuck should know something about the guy. Fifteen years ago when Lowry headed to Vancouver to box, he lived with Schuck’s family in Tsawwassen.

“He is just a really honest, hard-working guy who holds down a day job and helps me out here as much as I need him.”

Lowry isn’t sure where this bout will take him. “I have always had high expectations of myself. I don’t know what to expect now, given my age, but my sparring has been going good.”

He has no regrets about leaving the ring eight years ago. His daughter, Isabella, was about to be born. He wanted to be there for her. She now lives in Calgary with her mother and stepfather. Lowry calls her every week and still gets to see her every two or four months, although it is more difficult now that she is in school.

“It is what it is. I have a five-year-old car with maybe 10 years worth of kilo-metres on it because of that.”

Just as he knew then it was time to leave, he knows now it’s time to come back.

Rumble at the Rock VII, which starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 3 at the River Rock in Richmond, features seven matches, with Canadian light heavyweight champion Junior Moar of Vancouver going against Billy Bailey, former WBC-USNBC light heavyweight champion, of Bakersfield, Calif., as the main event.

Canadian boxing legend George Chuvalo will be the special guest.

yzacharias@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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