By Isabella Disley
There’s nothing that boxing promoters love more than a sold-out crowd on a Saturday night, but Chantal Deketele had the unique distinction of packing over 100 fans into the Beaver Boxing Club’s basement home without the prospect of knockouts or blood spilled.
“It doesn’t have to mean getting beaten up or punching people in the face all the time,” explains the founder of Boxing Without Barriers, a program for all ages and all abilities, tailored to accommodate physical, cognitive or developmental challenges.
Families, coaches and volunteers recently gathered for Boxing Without Barriers’ third-annual Spring Showcase on Mar. 15. The event featured a mix of 17 boxers, from first-time boxers to familiar faces, who returned for a second or third year in a row.
The Showcase provides an opportunity for BWB’s boxers to experience the thrill of fight night and to step into the ring with the spotlight on them alone. Participants had the option to take their shots at professional boxer Adrien Carrasco and elite amateur boxer Steph Boyd from Beaver or complete a skills demo with pads.
“They get to have that same feeling and the same experience that lots of other boxers have in a way that matches their ability and comfort level,” highlights Deketele, whose group offers ongoing training programs throughout the year.
“We started talking about (the show) in January,” she adds. “Seeing their work build to this point and how pleased everyone is, and seeing the boxers so proud of themselves, and their family, equally as proud – the whole thing is like a highlight reel of good feelings.”
Founded in 2019, Boxing Without Barriers is “meant to be a really individualized program to let everybody have access to boxing,” notes Deketele. “It’s an empowering and confidence-building type of thing to see that they can do these things. They go to school or go to wherever their social area is, and they talk about being a boxer.
“I think it’s a big deal to say you’re a boxer – it’s not very common.”
The Showcase marks another step in Boxing Without Barriers’ quest to develop more competitive opportunities in the sport, which is not yet part of the Special Olympics or Paralympics, although Boxing Canada added an official para boxing division last year.
In fall 2023, BWB’s Jack Dufour became the first athlete with a disability to be featured on a card in Ottawa at Beaver’s Octoberfist event, and there are a few BWB boxers currently working towards taking on opponents in full matches.
“That’s the next level up in training. It’s a little bit more regular sparring, and all of the other things that come along with that level of competition,” indicates Deketele, noting that the club’s next goal will be to hold sanctioned para boxing bouts.
“We want to drive wheelchair boxing forward as a competitive option,” she underlines.
This article is part of the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Inclusion in Sport series. Read more about local sport inclusion initiatives at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-Sports-Pages-Inclusion-In-Sport-Series/.
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