How did you celebrate graduating high school? Probably not quite like Nelson’s Lola Brouillette.
Brouillette walked across the stage at L.V. Rogers on Friday evening to accept her diploma and declare she will one day compete for Canada at the Olympics. The next afternoon she wore a dress in the Baker Street cavalcade, then in the evening changed into boxing shorts and gloves for a bout.
It was, she agreed, a whirlwind end to a week that also included her being named to the national team.
“It’s pretty bizarre, it’s insane,” she said. “But definitely once in a lifetime.”
Brouillette faced her Nelson Boxing Club sparring partner Milane D’Aurelie in a 53-kg Youth division bout at Fight Night 11 on Saturday at the Nelson Rod and Gun Club. It was the penultimate bout of the 13-fight card that included visiting fighters from Spokane, Kelowna, Parksville, Salmon Arm and Chilliwack.
There was little between the fighters in the first round, but in the second Brouillette opened D’Aurelie up with a left cross to the head and followed with two more jabs that got a rise out of the crowd.
D’Aurelie didn’t back down and in the third went on the attack, at one point breaking through Brouillette’s gloves and forcing her on the defensive. When it ended, both fighters and friends embraced. It seemed right that no one lost the exhibition match.
With that finished, Brouillette can now look to the future. In August she will join Nelson teammate Riel Martinez on Team Canada at the AMBC Continental Championships in Cali, Colombia.
After that, she wants to compete for Canada at the 2028 Olympics.
“That’s a big goal of mine and just in the two and a half years I’ve been doing this I’ve already achieved so much.”
Nelson Boxing Club’s Lola Brouillette graduated high school one night before getting in the ring at Fight Night 11. Photo: Tyler Harper
The main event featured Nelson’s Porter Hanson fighting Kelowna Boxing’s Aubtin Sharifpour in a 69-kg Junior C Open contest.
The bout opened with Hanson controlling the ring and bloodying Sharifpour’s nose. The Kelowna fighter was undaunted, and the pair went at each other in the best fight of the night.
In the third round, Hanson found success with body shots but Sharifpour responded in kind to Hanson’s head. Hanson landed a hard left shot to Sharifpour’s head, only to have the visitor pound his chest in response. The fight, which must have been tight on the judge’s scorecards, ended by split decision in Sharifpour’s favour.
Sharifpour’s nose was still bloody after the match, but he didn’t care. “Feeling amazing, thankful, happy, ready to go into the hot tub and chill,” he said.
The 16-year-old praised Hanson’s toughness and said he had to work hard for the win.
“At the beginning I was waiting to land big shots, but then he came at me and my coach said, ‘Listen, it’s time to go to war, you’ve got to dog him out.’ So that’s what I did.”
In the opening bout, Nelson’s Matt Brown defeated Kelowna’s Los Gatos Locas’ Silas Estrada by split decision in a 60-kg Elite match that set the tone for a raucous evening.
Nelson’s Tom Stanic earned a loud cheer from the partisan crowd for his first-round knockdown of Chilliwack’s Warren Teskey in a 77-kg Elite match. Stanic brought Teskey down hard against the ropes in the second round and his coach immediately threw in the towel.
Ellie Pyle of Parksville’s LeStage Boxing knocked Addyson Vicars of Salmon Arm’s Bulldog Boxing down in first round, controlled the second round, earned a stoppage in the third and a unanimous decision at 57-kg Junior B.
Nelson’s Sabian Smith used a flurry of punches to knock Hamish Wilson of Salmon Arm’s Whizbang Boxing down hard in the first round of a 50-kg Junior B match. The bout was called by the official but Wilson thought that was premature and protested even as he was being examined by a doctor.
Nelson’s Jasiah Snow used a left-hand cross and tagged Ariah Zeger of Spokane Boxing three times in the first round of a 55-kg Junior C contest. She continued the onslaught in the second round and the bout was called off in Snow’s favour.
In a tight 64-kg Junior C bout that included two very game boxers, Nelson’s Tarik Launer and Los Gatos’ Jade Wynn traded punches with little between them. Wynn landed a handful of late blows to earn a unanimous victory.
Nelson’s Jaxon Zaytsoff and Spokane Boxing’s Eoin Gray practically ran at each other to open their 57-kg Junior B bout. The pair kept the tempo high until the third round Zaytsoff was given the unanimous decision.
Nelson’s Jaxon Zaytsoff earned a unanimous decision on Saturday. Photo: Tyler Harper
Sonny Meredith of Chilliwack’s Diamond Boxing controlled the centre of the ring and landed multiple combos against Nelson’s Marino Raffo during a dominant second round. Meredith stayed ahead with superb accuracy in the third for the unanimous win in the 55-kg Junior C Open fight.
Nelson’s Wamuna Fukada opened his 55-kg Elite Open bought with a hard body shot against Colton Winkler that winded the Lilac City Boxing fighter from Spokane. Fukada had more success working inside against Winkler, and in the third earned a stoppage for a decisive win.
LeStage Boxing’s Wyatt Dugas had a major height and reach advantage on Spokane Boxing’s Maddox Van Dyken in their 84-kg Youth bout. Dugas used it to stun Van Dyken in the first round with a hard cross that landed flush, then controlled the rest of the fight en route to a unanimous decision.
In the night’s heavyweight bout at 91-kg Elite, Los Gatos’ Miguel Wood was patient and knocked Whizbang Boxing’s Bob Stevenson back hard in the second round. Stevenson stayed upright but took a combo of body shots against the ropes. This time he went down and Wood won by stoppage.
@tyler_harper | tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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