Troy Shantz
A Sarnian has earned a silver medal at the world’s largest women’s boxing event.
Kaitlyn Clark won two of three bouts at the Golden Girl Tournament held in Boras, Sweden on Feb. 1-2.
“It was a great experience and I have some takeaways from it that my coaches and I are going to build from,” Clark, 27, told The Journal last week.
“I'm very proud of my performances all week, especially since I was fighting at a much higher weight class.”
Fighting in the 75-kilogram division, Clark defeated Denmark’s Klaudia Lewadny in a 4-1 split and then beat Norwegian Julie Holthe in a unanimous decision.
She lost the final to Swedish fighter Love Holgersson in a unanimous decision.
Holgersson, who is ranked 8th in the world, had a considerable height advantage over Clark’s five-foot-eight frame.
“It was a tough fight, definitely my toughest opponent to date. She was very tall,” Clark said. “I had moments where I was able to get in and work but she definitely utilized her reach well.”
The Canadian National team member was literally punching above her weight.
Clark regularly competes at 64 kg. But that isn’t an Olympic category, though 69 kg and 75 kg are, she explained.
“So we decided to test the waters at 75 kg to see how I could do at that weight,” she said.
“It wasn’t hard for me because I naturally walk around at about 70 kg. So it meant I didn’t have to cut any weight and was able to fight at my strongest point.”
Clark attended a training camp in South Korea last week. When she returns her focus will be the Ontario finals on April 2 - 5.
As a national team member, Clark has qualified for the Canadian championships as 64-kg fighter. But to compete at 69 kg she plans to re-qualify at provincials.
Three years ago, Clark had walked away from boxing, seemingly forever.
But after returning to the sport in 2017 she fought back to become the 2019 elite gold medalist at the National Championships last year.
She is currently living and training in Kitchener beside Canadian Olympic team member and PanAm Games gold medalist Mandy Bujold.