Peterborough’s Cody Crowley is bringing boxing back home

By Daniel Taylor

PETERBOROUGH – Peterborough’s pro boxer Cody Crowley will be looking to defend his international super-welterweight title under the lights of the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Saturday night.

This will be Crowley’s second homecoming, as he made his hometown debut at the Memorial Centre in May when he went 10 rounds with Edgar Ortega, eventually winning by a unanimous decision.

Crowley holds a record of 12-0 and will look to improve it against Jamaica’s Richard (The Frog) Holmes, a fighter Crowley describes as “pretty jumpy” – probably the reason for his nickname.

Crowley says he has prepared for Saturday’s event no differently than he does for any other fight.

“I am actually always ready to fight. My training doesn’t usually peak or go down like a normal fighter would when he trains six weeks before a fight and then doesn’t train until the next fight,” he said. “I am always in the gym. I haven’t trained any differently.”

Ibn Cason, Crowley’s trainer and manager, predicts his boxer will use his training to his advantage in this fight.

“I expect him to go in there and stop this kid,” said Cason. “I expect him to destroy this kid. I mean, I think he should take his time, but later in the rounds I think he’ll have the advantage.

“He’s in better shape. He never stops training.”

Crowley visited Peterborough’s Trent University on Wednesday, displaying his training and answering questions about his journey as a boxer, while promoting his hometown fight. At the event Crowley described growing up in the Peterborough area as being difficult for a boxer looking to make it big.

“It was very hard. There really isn’t too much boxing around here, let alone professional boxing or even high-level amateur boxing. I remember staying at my grandma’s house by the YMCA in Peterborough so I could wake up at 5 a.m., train, go to school, then my mom would drive me all the way to Oshawa and Toronto just so I could get training because there really isn’t anything here. I really had to go all in if I wanted to have any success.”

He realized that if he wanted to become a professional he would have to leave the country and head to the United States, he said. He describes that decision as the best he’s ever made, because it gave him the chance to train with the likes of all-time boxing great Floyd Mayweather and other champions.

Now, Crowley plans to bring his skills back to Canada and make boxing a bigger sport in Peterborough.

“So what I’m trying to do now that I’ve had a little success of my own and I have resources, I’m trying to bring boxing back to Peterborough,” he said. “So even by next year I hope to have my own little platform made where I can be training some fighters while also hosting more professional boxing matches. I’m really just trying to bring boxing to life in Peterborough.”

Saturday’s fight will include a 10 per cent student discount for Trent students who wish to attend. Jasmine Quinn, the head coach of Trent’s boxing club, who has been in the sport since she was 14, says Crowley’s visit to Trent is great exposure for local boxing.

“Not a lot of people know too much about boxing here and how it works, so (the event) brings more interest to our club and boxing as a whole,” she said.

Saturday’s event will begin at 7 p.m., although Cason says the main event between Crowley and Holmes won’t start until after 9 p.m.