Kyle Buchberger of Slave Lake took second place in his division at the Quebec Cup, a boxing tournament held in Longueuil on June 26.
Buchberger, a member of the Slave Lake Boxing Club, had three fights in the 132-lb. Division of his age group, winning one and losing two.
Coach Lee Tanghe says Buchberger was the youngest and least experienced of the three fighters in his group. The inexperience was probably a factor in his opening fight against French national champion Hessain Garbabaoui. Buchberger lost on points 14 - 7. His next opponent was Nick Montgomery of New Brunswick.
“It was a very tough fight,” Tanghe says. “They’re both bangers.”
But Buchberger was the better banger, earning a 15 - 3 victory.
That set up the gold medal match with his first-round opponent from France. This time Buchberger did better.
“We were up 3 - 1 after the first round,” Tanghe says. “Then we fell behind 9 - 7 after the second.”
The third and final round got off to a shaky start for the Slave Lake fighter when Garbabaoui scored three quick points on punches that Tanghe says never landed. After that, Buchberger had to abandon his earlier stratgey and go for a knockout, which he never got.
The final score was 19 - 13 for the Frenchman.
It was a good experience for Buchberger, Tanghe says. He anticipates good things in the future for the 15-year-old. “Kyle will hopefully represent Alberta at the nationals next year,” he says.
Tyral Tanghe, the other boxing club member that made the trip, never got a fight.
“There were guys heavier, but we didn’t want to - he’s always fighting older and heavier guys.”
Tyral will fight at the world’s biggest amateur boxing tournament in Kansas City Missouri next month as a member of an Alberta team, the coach says.
“There’ll definitely be people in his weight division in Kansas,” Tanghe says. “It should be a good one.”

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