BRANTFORD – Twenty-four-year-old Six Nations boxer Cher Obediah-Blasdell, of the Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan, couldn’t believe her luck after being informed that she had made Team Ontario as a walk-on and will fight for the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association Title in Regina, Saskatchewan, later this month.
Obediah-Blasdell is a member of the Black Eye Boxing Club located in the old GWG garment factory on Webling Street, in Brantford, Ontario where she has been training for several years, first for recreational fitness training then later as a serious, competitive fighter with hopes of turning pro early next year.
The opportunity to fight for Team Ontario was arranged by her coach Jackie Armor quite by accident.
“It was hard getting Cher opponents, especially after she won her last fight one minute and fifteen seconds into the first round, so I called Boxing Ontario to see if they could round her up some opponents in her weight class,” recalls Armor. “After telling them about her – and they’d been following her anyhow – they offered her a walk-on spot on Team Ontario for the National Tournament.”
Obediah-Blasdell is a strong puncher and an aggressive inside fighter who began her boxing career rather late by most standards. But according to Armor, her determination, teachability and good old-fashioned hard work has hastened her ring smarts and technical abilities tremendously. Under the tutelage of Armor and fitness trainers Duncan Amos and Rob Rutherford, Obediah-Blasdell is in great physical condition and is ready to take it to the next level in Regina.
“Although she has only had nine bouts, with the amount of training and sparing she has done over the past year, it’s like she has had 50 fights,” says Armor. “I took her to Billy Irwin’s Club in Toronto last week and she spared with the boy’s Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists at 125 lbs (57 kilos). They were very impressed with her strength and skills as a boxer.”
He has also taken her to Chris Johnson’s Gym in Mississauga, where she spared with 150 lb. girls and handled herself with ease, according to Armor.
In Regina, she will box in the 57-kilogram weight division (119-125 lbs) under the banner of the Black Eye Boxing Club in Brantford but as a member of Team Ontario.
She hopes to turn pro soon after coming back from Regina, depending on how she does against Canada’s best female fighters.
“If she can pull off a medal, it will be great accreditation for her when she goes pro,” says Armor.
Before the good news about Regina, Armor had a fight booked at the Stockyards Boxing Club in Toronto for October 19th.
“It’s a little scary because it is kind of close,” he says. “But a lot of good things can come of it as well, going out there (to Regina) on the heels of a good win. I will be watching her very close in that one and I have already warned her that if it starts going south for her I may have to stop the fight earlier than I would normally.”
Although the Stockyards fight is only two days before she leaves for Regina, she won’t be fighting until the following Thursday or Friday so it gives her almost a week to recover and get refocused.
“Regina will be a great experience,” says Obediah-Blasdell. “But I’m quite confident in my skills set and I think I’ll do OK. Obviously I hope to win, but it would be a great step in turning pro if I can come back with a National.”
Although she would like to go pro as soon as possible, she trusts her handlers on than count.
“I’d like to turn (pro) as soon as possible,” she says. “But I trust Jackie to know when the time is right.”
Obdeiah-Blasdell is currently working towards a “back-up” career in law enforcement and is in her first year of a two-year policing foundations course at Mohawk College.
The trip to Saskatchewan is not going to be cheap and it’s coming up very soon.
“It sure would have been easier if we knew sooner,” says Obediah-Blasdell.
The Boxing Club does not have the funds to sponsor her entirely and Boxing Canada, doesn’t subsidize anyone in the National tournament, and so they have begun fundraising efforts both at Six Nations and in Brantford.
Last Friday, she and her family hosted a fundraising spaghetti dinner at Six Nations Tourism and more events are planned, including the raffling of an iPad, donated by Sean Bryant of 21st Century Real Estate. The tickets are going for $10 each, but there will only be 200 tickets sold. If you are able to help in fundraising efforts please contact coach Jackie Armor at 519-732-7267.
Cher is not only a boxer, but a rapper as well. See her latest video, Note To Self” at Ceeit – Black Eye Boxing Club : Cher Blasdell-Obediah “Note to Self”
Six Nations’ boxer Cher Obediah-Blasdell will be fighting in Regina Saskatchewan late this month for a National Amateur title as a member of Team Ontario. Obediah Blasdell, a Seneca of the Turtle Clan now living in Brantford, fights out of the Black Eye Boxing Club. She is also a rap artist with a song up on YouTube and is in her second year of policing foundations course at Mohawk College. (Photo by Jim Windle)
Cher Obediah-Blasdell takes a break from her workouts, as she gets ready for the Canadian National Amateur Boxing Championships coming up in Regina, later this month. (Photo by Jim Windle)
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