TORONTO – Six Nations’ boxer, Cher Obediah-Blasdell won the Gold Medal for her 57K weight class at the Silver Gloves Tournament held this past weekend at the Dawn Valley Parkway Hotel, in Toronto.
The Silver Gloves Tournament is a pre-qualifier for the Provincial boxing championships, which will begin May 1st, at the Hershey Centre. The Gold and Silver medalists from the Silver Gloves get to advance.
Obediah-Blasdell won her four rounder against Emma James, fighting out of the TNT club in Guelph.
“They fought each other about a year ago,” says coach Jackie Armour. “We’ve been trying to arrange a rematch, but until now, that wasn’t happening. I think they were avoiding Cher.”
Armour designed a fight plan against James from what they saw in their first meeting.
“Our plan going in was to try and exhaust her,” says Armour. “The last time they met, Emma look winded after three rounds.”
Obediah-Blasdell was tentative in the first round, which went to James. But she began to get inside in the second and put together a few good combinations. One such left right-hook uppercut stunned James in the third round, who was given a standing eight count. Obediah was gaining momentum and carried on into the fourth round where she caught James again with an uppercut for a second standing eight.
“I wasn’t jumping up because the rules are usually, two eight counts in a round or three in the fight,” says Armour. “I heard that Emma said she was done after the second eight count. Technically, it was a TKO in the fourth round.”
As a result, the Gold Medal went to Obediah-Blasdell making her the #1 qualifier for the Provincial Title in the 57K division, which is coming up between May 1st-4th in Toronto. United Promotions is hosting the event for Boxing Ontario.
“We’d love for Six Nations/New Credit and other Native boxing fans to come out to that and support Cher,” says Armour. “A good fan base is important when you are thinking about turning pro.”
As much as Obediah has expressed a desire to go pro as quickly as possible, Armour is handling his fighter’s career cautiously and believes that Cher has what it takes and is beginning to get the opportunities to build up a solid amateur career before taking that step. But ultimately, it will be Cher’s decision when she takes that step.
The Nationals are in Toronto this year and Armour would like to see his fighter with a National Medal before she goes pro.
“It’s first things first and we have to win the provincials in four weeks,” Armour says. “So, it’s back to the gym. As a coach, no matter how well your fighter is doing, you always look for little things that can be improved on. For Cher, we gotta get her to box more. It tires the opponents out trying to fight you. It’s really quite simple. Hit but don’t get hit. That’s about it.”
Before then, Armour is considering a fight at the Stockyards Gym in Toronto April 26th, a week before the provincials, against the 60K Gold Medalist, Natasha Szlatetis, who will come down to Obediah’s weight to fight her.
Obediah-Blasdell is now considered an “open fighter” and can now face any amateur in her weight class no matter how experienced.
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