Taite Stober picked a heck of a time to jump to the Open ranks of boxing.

The Cranbrook Eagles Boxing Club member made the early shift from novice for last weekend's provincials in Kelowna. His first opponent: two-time and defending Canadian champion Robert Couzens.

Stober said he was nervous enough, without folks saying he didn't stand a chance.

“That didn't make it any better,” he said. “We knew that he wanted to charge at me, because everyone said they were pretty sure he'd knock me out. I just wanted to keep my range, throw the jab out there.”

Stober gained many admirers with a gutsy four-round performance. Even if the judges gave the bout to the Burnaby-based Couzens 16-5, Stober knows he got an important victory off the scorecard.

“I came out looking prettier than him,” said the Skookumchuk native. “He has a nice shiner under his eye, I've got a little scratch on my nose.”

The Eagles brought four boxers to the event, with Colin Adams and Adam Schubert each earning gold medals and Holden Perpelitz getting in an exhibition bout (see accompanying story).

Coach Bill Watson said Stober's fight was the most anticipated of the meet, because of the apparent disparity between the 69 kg fighters.

“You look at that on paper — 44 bouts, a two-time Canadian champion going against a kid from nowhere who's had five previous bouts — you'd think it was mismatch, and I think that's what everybody in the crowd was thinking until they saw the result,” he said.

Prior to the bout, Watson had asked other coaches for some insight into Couzens.

“They did the best they could to give me some information on this boxer, but I could tell talking to them, in the back of their minds they're thinking, ‘Good luck. You're going to need it.'”

Heading into it, Watson said he and fellow coach Larry Adams were as nervous — if not more — than Stober.

Absorbing an overhand right in the opening round made Stober a bit reluctant to throw, but he figured out how to dodge it.

“I had him a little bit frustrated trying to get me,” he said.

“Everybody in the crowd was probably thinking ‘It's just a matter of time. Which round is Couzens going to knock him down in?'” mused Watson. “Couzens is known for his power. He's a tactical fighter, he likes to dominate and take control of the bouts, but he knew right away that he had his hands full.”

Stober used his long reach to his advantage, tagging Couzens with a bruising right in the second round.

“A couple of times, he got into exchanges with Couzens and he came out okay,” said Watson. “He wasn't hurt, and I tell you, that gave Larry and I in the corner more confidence. When Taite came back to the corner, we said just keep it up.”

Couzens looked to try to stop the fight with a hard right, giving Stober an opportunity to land some straight punches.

“Unfortunately it wasn't enough to win the fight... but we received so many compliments from other coaches that came up to us and said ‘Wow, you've got a good one there. That's one of the best prospects we've seen in a long time,'” said Watson, noting such compliments are gratifying to him and fellow Eagles coaches like Adams, Kevin Lyons and Tom White.

All the kudos have the teenager feeling good about his future in the sport.

“After the fight when everyone was giving me praise, I was pretty stoked because they all think I can do good — they said that since it's only my sixth fight, that's amazing. Maybe when I'm at 44 fights, I'll be even better than he is,” said Stober.

Watson — who called Stober's work ethic ‘second to none' — figured that time might come even sooner.

“Give Taite another five fights, and he'll be right there with Couzens. The first thing he said to me when he got out of the ring was, ‘I want to fight him again.' No doubt, down the road they'll meet up again.”

***

The Cranbrook Eagles boxing club came back from the B.C. Boxing provincials with a pair of champions over the weekend.

Colin Adams automatically won his 50 kg class at Kelowna, and moved up to fight 52 kg Marcus Sandhu from the Burnaby Boxing Club.

“It felt really good to get back in the ring, because the last few tournaments I've been to there haven't been any fights. I just wanted to get in there,” Adams said.

The Cranbrook lad did well when he got his turn, coming out ahead with a 13-11 victory.

“The score tells it: it was a close bout,” said coach Bill Watson.

Adams held a two-point lead after the first round, and the two pugilists fought through a close second before Adams turned up the aggression with 30 seconds left in the third and sealed the win.

“I actually thought I'd lost,” he said, noting he'd felt winded in the third round.

“I thought I was in better shape than I was, but it went good.”

He said the victory felt amazing.

“All that pressure was off. My whole family was there, and if I'd lost that would have sucked,” he said.

Watson said the bout — Adams's 11th — was a good learning experience.

“He's going to need all the experience he can get because we're hoping that he's going to be going to the Canadian championships (in Halifax). We're going to try to get him as many bouts as we can prior to that.”

The provincial team will likely be named this week or next. Adams said he's anxious for the announcement, saying it would mean a lot to be a part of it.

“I can't wait to find out,” he said. “The Nationals are pretty big.”

• Adam Schubert went uncontested as a 64 kg novice, so he fought an open fighter from Mission named Sean McIntosh, coming out on top of a slugfest 24-19.

“If your opponent is scoring 19 blows, that means we've got to score at least 20 to win the fight,” said Watson. “When we go back to the gym this week, we're working on defence with the boys.”

The Eagles' coaches had felt Schubert's strength and punching power might cause his opponent to get on his heels.

“He didn't: he stayed and traded punches with Adam, and it kind of tired Adam out, especially in the final round,” said Watson. “But I'll tell you, (Schubert) gave it a 110 per cent that last round and wound up winning the fight.”

Watson said Schubert usually winds up fighting taller boxers so he has to get inside to score points.

“We're working on, yes getting inside to score but, taking the minimal amount of blows that he can getting there,” said the coach.

• Holden Perpelitz, 13, fought an exhibition against a 15-year-old from Revelstoke in the 75 kg weight class.

Watson said the only real difference between the two fighters was strength.

“In two years at that age, there's a lot of maturity. The other kid was just a little too strong for him. Other than that, he boxed really well and did what we asked of him.”

It was Perpelitz's second fight ever, but his previous bout was against fellow Eagle Ryan Lindsay last month. This was the first time against an unknown opponent.

“It was kind of scary, because you don't know how good he is or if he's going to beat you up,” said Perpelitz. “You've just got to get past the fear of stepping in with someone else; then it's all good.”

Things went so well he said he wants to get back into the ring again this year.

“It felt pretty good. I was throwing lots of jabs, and when he hit me back I just shook it off and threw more punches.”

Perpelitz said a competitive bout is a very different experience compared to sparring in practice.

“There are fans and people watching you, and that gets you pretty nervous before,” said Perpelitz. “When I get up there, I don't really notice anything though. I just notice my opponent.”