A tale of two boxers

NEW GLASGOW – It is a tale of two fighters at vastly different spots in their amateur careers.

One boxer is 19, the other 14. One was entering the ring for the 23rd time while the other was making his debut on a card in New Waterford. If you guessed which was which, you would likely be wrong.

Brayden MacDonald had his first-ever bout on a recent card in Reserve Mines, and although he didn’t come out with a win, the 19-year-old drew positives from his fight.

“I put in a good performance for my first time in the ring. I was very nervous, but I was prepared, I was ready. I was proud of what I did.”

MacDonald lost a decision to Jacob MacDonald in their 115 lb. bout.

Brayden MacDonald has only been a boxer for four months and got involved to be more active, he said at Duke’s Up Boxing Club where he trains.

“I saw I was pretty okay at it and decided to get in the ring.”

He is going to keep his momentum going with another bout scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3.

The wily veteran in this story is Hunter Naugle from Thorburn. He’s been boxing for over four years and knew what he wanted to do against his recent opponent Cameron Hayes of Newfoundland.

“I went out to execute the gameplan and brought home a win,” he said.

He defeated Hayes in a 130 lb. battle that saw Naugle give his opponent a standing-eight count in the second round.

Naugle said he “fell in love” with the sport once he gave it a try. Why?

“It’s independent. I have no one to blame but myself,” he stated.

Coach Duke Davis said he’s proud of the efforts of his two boxers.

He said MacDonald probably opened some eyes in the sport. “It was good. I think he was a lot more than people expected for his first fight.”

Davis said that Naugle, who also will likely also be boxing over the next couple of cards, is evolving as a boxer.

“He’s at a different level of boxing now. He’s a lot more technical. He used to fight, but now he’s boxing.”

Despite the progress he’s making, Naugle regressed slightly in the ring, Davis said, and it cost him in a rematch against Hayes when he dropped a decision at the Wagmatcook Culture and Heritage Centre in Wagmatcook, Cape Breton.

“After the first round, Hunter fell into old habits we've been trying to get him out of, dropping his hands after he punches, not punching on the inside and finding himself on the ropes too much. He's only been with us at the gym for a couple months but he's coming along great.”

MacDonald was fighting again in Wagmatcook and he took on Yoan McGraw, an opponent who outweighed him by 10 pounds. MacDonald also dropped a decision.

“Brayden was active and busy, was abusing Yoan’s body to the point Yoan was verbally complaining about the shots in the ring,” coach Davis said.

“I'm super proud of how Brayden looked in there and am very excited for his future in the sport. We need to work on controlling the center of the ring a bit more, coming back with more the one and two punches. With only three months under his belt I couldn't be happier with how he's performed so far,” Davis said. “I'm very confident were gonna see them getting better each fight and every week.”