Getting involved in the White Collar Boxing event in Red Deer almost five years ago made a lasting impression on Dale Belcher.

“I like the training and I like the people I have trained with over the years,” said the 48-year-old Red Deerian. “I like competing as well. I like going to the states and fighting in the Masters tournaments that they have there.”

The Ringside Masters tournament is for boxers aged 35 and up and Belcher was recently down in Kansas to try his hand in the Super Heavyweight division.

He entered the ring tipping the scales at 206 lbs and took on an opponent who had about a 30-lb weight advantage which Belcher simply referred to as a challenge.

“I actually have known him from years prior and I’ve always fought at a lighter weight and so I didn’t really ever think that I would fight him,” said Belcher. “I decided to go a little bit heavier this time and there he was.”

Belcher says the massive county sheriff from Nebraska gave him all he could handle but in the end it was Belcher who walked away with the title as well as a broken thumb.

“Yeah, so it’s going to take a couple of weeks to heal up and we’ll get ready for the next one,” he said, which is the Ringside World Championships in late July down in Kansas City.

It’s there where the former junior hockey player will go for his boxing title hat trick, dropping some weight in order to fight as a light heavyweight to match the heavy weight and super heavy weight titles he owns.

Belcher says the world championship is quite a spectacle and attracts boxers from all over the world.

“All ages, all weight classes, all skills levels and it’s quite something to see with six rings set up and fights going all day.”

Belcher says he will continue to step into the ring to do battle as long as he has the medical clearance to do so and the desire to continue to fight.

He has trained at a variety of facilities around the City but most recently he has been working out at a martial arts gym called the Black Dragon along with Absolute Fitness.

He says working with the MMA fighters helped him against his last opponent who was much larger than him so he used a lot more over hand punches which proved to be very effective in this case.

“I never really threw a lot of over hand, right hand punches and you watch in the MMA fights a lot of those guys are throwing over hand rights and it seemed with a large guy it worked for me. So if you think of throwing a punch like a big swimming stroke, I was able to catch him like that.”

Another big assistance for him comes outside of the ring in the form of a long-time sponsorship deal with a local company, Waste Co.

Belcher says without their help he likely would have not been able to attend many of these events and he’s grateful.

In the end, Belcher says the challenge is the motivating factor and he feeds off of that in his day-to-day life.

“If I can stand and fight a six foot five, 240 pound cop from Nebraska I should be able to get up and do the other things that might challenge me throughout my day.”

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