Pictured top L-R: Daltan Gerstenhofer, coach Dylin Curiston (who also served as a coach with Team Saskatchewan), and Faizan Dar. Pictured bottom: Gerstenhofer and Dar on the podium after receiving their silver medals. (Submitted photos/Dylin Curiston)

By Martin Martinson

Four Corner's Finest

Local boxers take tandem silver on national stage

Apr 1, 2024 | 1:00 PM

A pair of local boxers are coming off silver medal performances on the national stage, at the recently held Canada Cup & Junior Youth Canadian Championships in Calgary.

Seventeen-year-old, Daltan Gerstenhofer won silver in the Youth Category, for athletes ages 17-18. Fifteen-year-old, Faizan Dar took home silver in the Junior C Category for ages 15-16.

“It feels good to have a couple guys locally from Four Corner Boxing Club attend nationals, and this was the first time we’ve had youth attend nationals yet,” club founder and boxing coach, Dylin Curiston said.

“Both these boxers went in as underdogs, with at least 15 boxing matches less than every other [competitor] in their brackets, and they boxed their hearts out. They left it all in the ring, and I couldn’t be more proud of how they handled the whole event.”

Gerstenhofer was initially scheduled to have two boxing matches, but after his first opponent bowed out, it was straight onto the finals, where he lost in a hard-fought back-and-forth split-decision, for the silver medal.

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Dar received a bye in the first round, before defeating an opponent from Quebec in the second, boxing for gold in a split-decision loss to an opponent from Alberta in his final bout for the silver.

The national hardware adds to what’s been a fast-growing list of accomplishments to start their amateur boxing careers. Both Gerstenhofer and Dar are also two-time defending provincial champions in their age groups, and both have won the Brampton Cup, the Alberta Golden Golves championship, and the Alberta Silver Golves title.

Curiston said their success highlights what’s been a big last couple of years for the local Four Corner Boxing Club, when it comes to the growing popularity of the sport in the region and number of athletes wanting to compete at a high level.

“In the next two months, we have basically a competition that we have boxers competing in every single weekend,” Curiston said. “We had boxers in Weyburn this weekend, kids in Saskatoon next weekend, the weekend after that we’re back up in Edmonton, and then Apr. 20 we have our own card here in town, so it’s phenomenal. We’ve never had such a well-put-together competitive team here from North Battleford.”

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

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