By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER —Great fighters refuse to give up. And Mandy Bujold is a mother of a fighter. “I can’t just give up,” Mandy said as a toxic two-punch of pandemic sports politics and a jury-rigged points system threatened to knock out her impressive bid to represent Canada at the Tokyo Olympics […]

Mandy back in Kitchener — national team training cut short after another athlete tests positive for Covid-19 By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — Mandy Bujold is back early. She’s in Kitchener. She’s in isolation. “It’s not fun but I guess it’s part of the process,” Mandy said on Wednesday. Waterloo Region’s community champ — determined […]

By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold MONTREAL — Suddenly, this is much more than a modest training camp to get reacquainted with your Canadian teammates inside a pandemic-proof boxing bubble. This two-week gathering near the Big O now packs Olympic punch. That’s because the Americas qualifiers for the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games are back on the calendar. […]

Mandy poised to make noise in run-up to Olympics By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — The amateur boxing calendar is a blank, barren page. The Tokyo Olympics, already delayed a year by the global pandemic, wobbling on a standing eight count. A thick fog of anxiety and uncertainty has settled over Japan — for now. […]

Canadian boxing champ in corner of national play and anti-bullying programs for schools By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER —Mike McDonald needed a place to stay as his intense focus on his successful national charity carried him eastward. So the Saskatoon-raised founder and Chief Executive Officer of Recess Guardians briefly stopped at a quaint little […]

Mandy focused and training hard as pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games now just a year away By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — The slow, lonely climb is gruelling. That’s why Mandy Bujold adores it so. In the early morning hours, as the city awakens to a new summer’s day, Waterloo Region’s community champ makes her running […]

By Jeff HicksTeam BujoldKITCHENER— The pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games — officially set to begin on July 23, 2021 —are suddenly more than a year in the distance. Mandy Bujold will wait. And work. And sweat. And pore over video between Skype sessions with coach Syd Vanderpool. She’ll slug it out on the heavy bag hanging in […]

Mandy ready to re-evaluate in the face of Olympic uncertainty By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER —A fresh snow had fallen on her pandemic-stricken world Monday morning. Mandy Bujold, Waterloo Region’s community champ, had much to think about. A bitter spring chill had settled over her hopes for an Olympic boxing medal in Japan in […]

By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — Mandy Bujold, felt like she had just shrugged the Blarney Stone off her back. Four years ago, on St. Patrick’s Day, a clutch semifinal victory over Brazil’s Grazieli Jesus de Souza at the Americas qualifiers in Argentina earned her first trip to the Olympics. After a decade of […]

By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — The Argentina trip is cancelled. But Mandy Bujold won’t fret over a sudden change in travel plans, not with the coronavirus pandemic threatening public health around the world.Waterloo Region’s community champion is choosing to look at today’s stunning suspension of The Road to Tokyo Americas qualifying tournament as […]

Meet Brigitte, Jane and Maria — three champs behind the champ By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold Mandy Bujold, her flyweight faith in her boxing career shaken, sat quietly in a church pew a year or so ago. Her mom Brigitte, seated beside her, scribbled numbers on a piece of paper and handed them to her […]

Sparring with Bujold not for the ‘feint’ of heart, says fellow Canadian Olympic hopeful Justin Parina By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — The electronic punch counter should have burst into flames. Another spirited sparring round between Mandy Bujold and Justin Parina, two Canadian Olympic qualifier champs bent on boxing in Tokyo, ticked down to […]

Two fights, two punishing victories got Waterloo Region’s Community Champ rolling in the ring By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — The knockout moment unspooled in slow-motion. Jab. Jab. Right hand. Darkness. A red-shirted opponent toppled before Mandy Bujold, just 90 seconds the Kitchener fighter’s second amateur fight, held in a steamy and storied Toronto […]

Spot in 2020 Olympics within reach in South America By Jeff Hicks Team Bujold KITCHENER — Brace yourself, Buenos Aires. The Full Mandy is coming full force for the Continental Olympic Qualifiers at the end of March. Mandy Bujold, Waterloo Region’s community champ, will be at her best with a fly weight spot on the […]