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EPISODE: Episode 11
Watch The Scoop with Champ Bola Ray continues to discuss great fighters who never turned pro in the sport of boxing, on YouTube or LIVE at talkinfight.com/live weeknight’s at 8:30pm EST
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Transcribed:
Hello, there fight fans and welcome once again to an evening with the champ bola ray and his show the scoop the last show of the week actually until we reconvene next week and uh as this last show.
This is the last one in the series of uh amateurs that never went pro.
What do you got for us tonight um? Well, this one is uh a little different.
So today, i’m going to talk about a name that hasn’t been in the boxing realm for over two decades um.
This is a two-time canadian champion amateur champion that played a pivotal role in my boxing evolution.
Hence why i wanted to give him some much-needed things.
My name is bulla raymond oluwale.
This is a scoop june 10th 1974 in port coburn, ontario, steve gallinger was born, but has since moved to st catharines.
Ontario steve’s beginnings in boxing was somewhat typical in the sense that there were some older, tough guys that he knew that were boxing and wanted to emulate them.
So he followed in their footsteps.
He was 10 years old when he had his first uh competition.
Now he doesn’t remember the name of the fighter.
He doesn’t remember where it happened, but he remembers what’s most important and that is his hand was raised at the end of the gate.
At the end of the day, um steve was no stranger to fighting outside of the ring, so boxing was easy fit for him.
This provided an opportunity for direction and trophies and limelight, and he was good at it and and and 1991 steve wins his first national title as the intermediate light heavyweight champion of canada, um intermediate just before senior so uh, 17, 16 17 years old.
He then goes on to win a silver medal later on that year, at the junior nationals, all right, sorry, junior world three years later.
He then goes off and makes another appearance on the national team and once again, it’s another piece of hardware, a silver medal at the commonwealth games, this time as a heavyweight.
So i first met steve the following year following these games, where i was staring him down from across the ring now that day didn’t prove to positive for me, but uh hey.
It was nothing shy of uh a tutorial in boxing, because at the end of the day that was my sixth fight going up against a former silver medalist.
I held my own all right.
Well, i think, but at the time i was beyond gutted and angry.
I wanted steve so bad after that fight, so be it now.
Steve never turned pro, which is nothing shy of unfortunate for boxing history, because in his words he chose friends, nightlife, bad habits and time flies when you’re having fun and destroying yourself.
His life currently doesn’t have boxing within it.
Due to him running his own business, a company called stone, solid masonry.
I, like the name, um and family life, takes up all this time, but you know tomorrow, who knows the option of coaching is nowhere close to out of the realm of possibility for and what a wealth of knowledge he would have to bestow on some young kid.
When asked, how would you like or more importantly, how would you like to see the sport of boxing amateur boxing for that matter? Um advanced the scenario bettered steve said that he’d like to see a little more grit now.
What does it mean by that? The technical component in the sport is all fine, but you will see the amateurs more getting more into a pro style and the fighters fight.
You know which speaks volumes because to be told, that’s exactly what steve was like like he was.
He fought.
He didn’t score points he fought so now.
My reason, my reasoning for doing this piece on steve is for me to give him a great deal of thanks, which he’s probably saying why um a little bio about me.
First uh, i was uh attempting to make the national uh the olympic squad in 92 in track and field that and, like i said, i started boxing really um after 92 um, i didn’t qualify, so i had a little hissy fit and i left the sport of Track and field um, i moved back up to waterloo, to sort of finish my undergraduate degree and in essence um.
It was the first time in my life.
I did not have direction when it came to athletics.
So after about three four months, i was uh started to get antsy and my roommate said: don’t you try boxing? He had started come check it out.
I said all right.
I walked into the gym grand river boxing club bill.
Longwear made you rest in peace, great man, great man, he upon seeing me just said, i’d like to fight yeah sure i’ve been in a scrapper too, why not one month later after training! Well, a month! Six weeks later, i end up breaking my leg.
A a horrific fibula in tibia compound fracture – i was out for over 18 months, so um, but then after those 18 months i came back to boxing and after two months of boxing i had my first fight that fight against rob bukowinski.
I remember it like yesterday.
I looked at him, i’m like this guy’s a dead man walking he’s a lot smaller than me, not in shape or anything not overly in shape, and i destroyed him for the first round and then i was good.
I was absolutely tired.
I had never had a sparring session prior to having my first fight, so i had no idea what pacing was anything was.
I just beat him up on athletics and the second round came out and i just had nothing left so the ref called the fight and he’s all beaten up and battered and he got the he got the w.
Is it all right? Well, i just attributed that loss to it was supposed to happen.
I was out of shape a couple months later, i am in saint catharines for the provincial novice tournament now the novice.
What novices is anybody who has less than 10 fights is a novice and then open class is anything above 10 fights.
So i go into this tournament and over the course of three days i had three fights the first one.
I decimated well now friend um by score of 52 to 18.
um, then the next two guys i stopped within a round before the second guy stopped him within 30 seconds.
So i’m riding on a high and now we’re talking.
This is 95 we’re getting ready.
If i wanted to go on to the olympics for 96, the trials are coming up in a month, so i’m going for it.
I talked to my coach.
He says i think you could do it.
I didn’t know a damn thing and i got pushed into the ring now open class um.
I think it that open component stands for open season like open season on you, because in that scenario, if you have 10 fights, you can fight a person who has 300 fights like experience is everything and i found out the hard way so the first fight i Had i fought a guy um, kevin anderson and, like i said, i look well my in my amateur career.
I had quite a few knockouts, but all my knockouts were accidental, because i had no idea what i was doing like.
I had no idea how to set it up.
I just fought on athleticism and if i caught you yeah great but the likelihood yeah, it’s a crapshoot so and i happened to catch uh kevin in the first round and i sent him sailing through the second and third ropes onto the computer table.
All of a sudden, now a reputation is born.
My next fight is when i meet mr gallinger.
You know i’m looking across the ring he’s a tall guy but he’s not as tall as me, big guy, but he’s not as big as me.
I got nothing to worry about.
I had no idea what his sk, what his record was or what his history was.
I’M just looking at him from what i could see.
He beat the hell out of me.
Now i didn’t get hurt.
I just got out classed completely out classed and i was also nursing an injury, but i used that as an excuse not to continue into the third round um he it was as if i was it was as if i was a a table, tennis player and All of a sudden i’m going i’m playing golf or hockey or skutt like it, was a totally different realm.
I said all right, i was upset and i wanted steve so bad.
I wanted to redeem myself so bad, but steve’s not around the next three years.
Go by, i don’t see c and then it’s olympics all over again, so now we’re in 1999 at the provincial championships and uh lo and behold who pops up again steve gallinger, i said all right now.
I have a little more of an understanding as to pacing i’ve sparred.
Quite a bit.
I’Ve had a couple of fights, i’m gon na teach him a lesson and that i did except the three blind mice didn’t see it.
Such we got into the fight.
It was a great fight.
All i know is again i i had no nothing called strategy, but i swung for the fence.
I got some, he got some.
It ended with uh.
The score was 13 13 at the end of four rounds and then the refs there’s a scenario called kelp back where you go to all the refs and say who you thought won and two of the three refs thought steve won the fight, so steve got the Nod i’m not doing well, but within two weeks later this was a special year because it was the first time they had provincial box ops.
So it wasn’t enough to win the provincial championships.
You had to go to another tournament with guys from the province and the winner of that fights, the winner of the provincials and the winner.
Provincials of that tournament then goes on to the nationals represent ontario.
So now i meet steve again for the third time at the box office and i’m ready and that’s when i saw it and that’s when my eyes got open to what boxing is and what can be done.
What could be done and what should be done in the sport of boxing we go into the first round round finishes i’m up one, nothing! We’Re going to the second round round finishes.
I’M up four to one third round finishes: steve has caught up some which way, shape or form, and now it’s 4-4 we’ll go into the final round and steve’s hand is raised at the end 6-4.
He completely shut me down.
He used strategy, [ Applause ] ever prior to this i was of the school of thought, as so many people in society who has no idea what the hell boxing is.
That might is right, i’m bigger than steve.
Like he’s a big guy, i think he’s six.
Four six five, but i’m six, seven, i’m stronger than steve, i’m even prettier than steve, okay and yet steve was smarter than me.
Steve had a better strategy than me, and this game called boxing is cerebral, not just physical, and he taught me that by punching me in the head, but still steve taught me that and because of that, i’m still competing today and i’m still thinking today when it Comes to boxing i want to thank steve.
I want to thank you, one billion percent, because you taught me how to better my game and i’m now the three-time canadian heavyweight champion well piece of that’s because of you buddy.
So i’m going to finish on that note.
Now, if you enjoyed this episode, please smash the like button and please subscribe.
It’S your boy bola and that’s a scoop, great story wow how to like uh, bring it full circle uh across the entire week there fantastic stuff – i i reached out to steve weeks ago, but he he didn’t check his uh social media.
So he didn’t get in touch with me until earlier this week and i’m like oh wow, so i really wanted to do this story and and again thank him for helping in my evolution and uh.
It’S been great catching up with the guy [ Music ] he’s a special cat, very cool yeah.
It’S rare! You hear an influence uh like that, because originally back in the day, you lost them three times.
You wouldn’t think in retrospect, you’d look back and say wow thanks very much.
I appreciate that.
Oh yeah, don’t forget he points me in the head and i’m saying.
Thank you exactly exactly my point all right.
Well, thanks very much.
We appreciate that.
That’S fantastic stuff, uh, great story, that’s what boxing’s all about great stories! So we’ll see you next week.
I guess next monday.
Do you have a little bit of a tidbit for us as to what’s going on next week? No, no.
We can’t think about all right.
Fair enough, as ray says, like share subscribe, and we appreciate you guys looking at us right now.
Thank you very much cheers
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