Jesse Foster walked into Airdrie’s Boss Boxing last year looking to shed a few pounds with a new workout routine.
Less than a year later, he is set to make his boxing debut at the club’s inaugural Boss Brawl Fight Card, March 12 at the Airdrie Town and Country Centre.
“I kept showing up and Rhys (Eckardt, Boss Boxing coach) just asked me if I wanted to fight one day and I wasn’t doing anything else, so I said ‘Why not?,’” said Foster, a 27-year-old Calgary native, who moved to Airdrie 18 months ago.
“My boxing background is very minimal, as I’ve only been here for just over a year. I originally came here just to lose weight – and I ended up losing 46 pounds – so I feel like I’ve come a long way. I heard that boxing was good for cardio and I was tired of lifting weights at the gym. I needed something more interesting.”
Foster will face Matt Ash, from Fort McMurray’s Sweet Science boxing club, in the senior 205-230 pound weight class.
“I don’t know anything about him,” Foster said. “I don’t know how tall he is, I don’t know if he has a reach, I don’t know if he’s a southpaw or orthodox, so it’s going to be a surprise. But I think everybody’s going to be nervous.”
He has been training specifically for the fight for the past four months and said the toughest part about making the transition from regular workout training to preparing for an actual bout was learning to take a punch.
“Putting on gloves and headgear was probably the biggest shock to me,” Foster said. “And the biggest transition was keeping up the cardio, while incorporating the technique and adding in sparring. The first couple of sparring sessions, I was dancing around more than anything, trying to keep away, but I got into it and now I feel confident.”
Foster, who also ramped up his training regimen for the fight, added there will be an element of pressure during the Boss Brawl, but that he’s excited for the opportunity and the exposure the bouts will create.
“It’s got to be good for the sport and good for the gym,” he said. “Hopefully we can get people out there to have a good time.”
The event will begin at 6 p.m. on March 12. An up-to-date fight card for the event can be found at www.bossboxing.ca
