Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex was racing up the charts and Forrest Gump was still in theatres the last time Brad Lescard entered a competitive boxing ring.
That was 1994.
Seventeen years later, the Airdrie resident, made his return to the ring at the inaugural Boss Brawl on March 12 at the Town and Country Centre. He didn’t appear to have any dust on his gloves, as he earned a third-round stoppage win over Calgary Southpaw’s Robin Johnson.
“It was good to be back – it’s been awhile since I’ve been in the ring,” said the 40-year-old Lescard, who was in his fifth official boxing fight. “I haven’t done actual straight boxing since 1994 and 17 years is a fairly long time. When I retired from boxing, I was 24. Getting back into straight boxing was pretty tough on the body. But it was fun.”
Lescard, who was one of two Boss Boxers to win at the Boss Brawl, was a competitive kickboxer until 2003. But he said the two sports are very different in style and in preparation.
“Kickboxing is different because you can use other weapons as you’re fighting,” he said. “You don’t have to rely on just your hands. When you do that, it becomes tiresome.”
Lescard began training for last weekend’s fight in January, after joining Boss Boxing last October.
“I decided to get my butt off the couch and do something,” he said. “I’m not a gym guy where you go lift weights and run track for an hour or whatever – I need something to keep my attention. If that is somebody throwing punches at my face, then that’s what it takes. I went in with really no expectations; I just wanted to do something different.
“One of my goals when I turned 40 was to have another fight. Whether I continue on doing it was originally somewhat irrelevant – I just wanted to do it at least once to see if I could still do it. Would I like to continue on? Yeah. But I’m going to give myself a few months to heal up. But I’m a boxer, I’m a fighter and a bit of a gym rat, that’s what I like to do, so if there’s boxing gym around, that’s where I’m going to be.”
