Arnold Yescas channels brash Nicaraguan boxer to fight for Champions for Charity and MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Ricardo Mayorga once held up a chicken leg as he chowed down during a Las Vegas weigh-in. “He was a scrapper,” laughed Arnold Yescas — one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 community leaders ready to step…
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Eugenia Phelan, Champion for Charity fighter, cherishes a life-long bond with boxing By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca BEAMSVILLE — At 4:30 a.m., the bedside alarm blares with the feral ferocity of a clout to the jaw. Two minutes later, a weary Eugenia Phelan rises. Music? You’ve got to be kidding. “Just a hardcore, in-your-face alarm to…
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Cambridge’s Justin Hamilton eager to punch for MacKids, embrace hard knocks headed his way By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — A Rocky vision in tattooed technicolour bursts from between Justin Hamilton’s shoulder blades. Not an Italian Stallion ink splotch of a fictional film fighter, though. The Cambridge-raised Champion for Charity instead wears beautiful body art of the Rocky Mountains…
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Paul Bostajian eager to take a bite out his Champions for Charity challenge By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca CAMBRIDGE — There’s a shark circling in the water. Welcome to the predatory jaws of Paul Bostajian’s aquatic nightmare. The self-described “adrenaline junkie” — one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity taking a first crack at boxing…
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Champion for Charity Alicia Panetta eager to fight and fundraise for MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — Little Finnigan— fresh from blowing out four candles on his birthday cupcakes— danced around an imaginary ring in front of the Christmas tree. His pink piggy costume only emboldened his nimble footwork. Finnigan — whose middle name…
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20 local business leaders are getting ready to step into the ring to raise donations for McMaster Children’s Hospital On November 14 and 15, over 65 brave souls took their first step towards the ring for this year’s Champions for Charity. Our coaches and trainers put them through a grueling hour-long tryout to see if…
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Champions for Charity Tryouts Bring 70 Community Leaders to Tryouts By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Gold ribbons flashed and shone in Stephanie Stretch’s tied-back hair. The Kitchener City Councillor, with every pendulum step forward and back, glittered and glowed among 70 community contenders and first-time fighters hoping to shine in the Tapestry Hall boxing…
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Are you ready to step into the ring? Tryouts for Mandy Bujold’s Champions for Charity are scheduled for November 14th and 15th, 2025 in Kitchener. Created by local boxing legend and two-time Olympian Mandy Bujold, Champions for Charity is the premier boxing event for business professionals and community champions with no prior boxing experience to…
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Champions for Charity and The Brawl at Tapestry Hall raises more than $700,000 for Children’s Charities. By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca CAMBRIDGE — John Deans, lanky and peckish, reached towards the Tapestry Hall heavens. He took an imaginary top-hat bow, applauded his fellow first-time fighters and, summoning all the Fred Astaire charm the Dancing with the Stars veteran…
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Champion for Charity John Deans channels his inner Stallone for The Brawl at Tapestry Hall By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca The lion on the big screen roared. Little John Deans, almost 6, settled back into his lumpy Londonderry cinema seat beside his mom Alison and grabbed a mitt-full of buttery popcorn. One word crawled across the screen, 10-storeys high it seemed,…
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