Dozens of spectators turned out to catch the Yukon boxing championships on Saturday, held at the Boys and Girls Club in downtown Whitehorse.

Fighters from both Whitehorse and Dawson City took part in the event, the first of its kind in the territory in ten years, featuring seven matches and a Muay Thai kickboxing demonstration.

'It went very well,' said Yukon Amateur Boxing (YAB) coach Harvey Reti. 'We were very happy with the fact the fellows from Dawson came down and with all the people that participated ñ� not just in the fights, but helping out during them and setting up.

'I expected maybe 50 or so people, but more than 100 turned out, so that was great.'

And the athletes didn't disappoint, as the crowd enjoyed not only furious action but great sportsmanship as well. One of the best matches of the night featured Kevin Mendelsohn from Dawson and his counterpart Bailey Howatt from the Whitehorse Club, with Mendelsohn grabbing the judge's decision in the end.

'I was a little bit intimidated at first because it was all eyes on us,' said Mendelsohn in an interview following his fight. 'But then I kind of grew into it. I used the crowd to my advantage, the cheering was inspiring.'

Mendelsohn called Howatt a tough competitor, who was very challenging both mentally and physically. Howatt actually ended up with the Harvey Reti never-give-up-award for his effort.

'He wanted to fight,' said Mendelsohn. 'We've sparred once before, so he was really hungry. He fought hard tonight and he's going to be even more hungry and fighting as hard as he can next time. He'll be ready.'

While Mendelsohn was happy with his mental preparation and performance in the match, he acknowledged that he needs to work on the flow of the actual fighting, saying it didn't feel quite as natural as he would like it to.

That's something he hopes to have down in time for the 2007 Canada Games Saturday was his first actual fight and he will need to have nine more in the next couple years in order to qualify for the Games.

'I hope to earn the privilege to represent the Yukon,' he stated. 'I'm just going to go harder and train as much as I can.'

His fellow boxers seem confident Mendelsohn can qualify for 2007, if not strictly because of skill certainly because of his attitude.

'This guy's got a heart the size of the Yukon,' said a passing spectator. 'Put that in (the paper).'

Another young boxer with a big heart is Daniel Reti, the grandson of Harvey. Daniel not only won his fight early on in the night, but also received the Art Fry trophy for the best boxer a good accomplishment considering he's only been boxing for a year and a half.

'I was really happy because I didn't even have any say in it,' said Harvey of his grandson's award. 'So that was a nice surprise.'

Daniel said his fight was a challenge, but he thought he had the edge in footwork.

'He (Dawson's Steven Kormendy) was a really good fighter,' said Daniel, adding he hopes to work on his own boxing stance and get better at keeping his hands up.

'I'm going to be training a lot harder now and hopefully sparring more ... I'm hoping to go to the Canada Games.'

Although there are a few people who will be eligible for the Canada Games, Harvey said the hard part will be getting enough experience by 2007, since the local athletes are so isolated.

'We're going to have to work on that,' he said. 'We'll have to get down to Alberta a lot more next year.'

The Yukon used to host two or three local championships in the past, with boxers from the N.W.T. and Alaska usually taking part, but the interest had dropped off for the past few years. Now, they hope to build on Saturday's success and get more athletes from the Yukon communities involved.

'We're trying to promote it so that this can really be called a Yukon championship,' said Harvey.

With the popularity of boxing hopefully on the rise once again, YAB also held an officials clinic on Saturday afternoon, for those interested in becoming judges and referees.

Seven people turned out for the clinic, which was conducted by one of the top referees in Canada, Roland Labbe. Labbe also helped officiate at the Yukon championships.