The Yukon went two-for-two at the recent Western Canadian Boxing Championships in Winnipeg.

Young boxers Kevin Mendelsohn, from Dawson City, and Daniel Reti, from Whitehorse, joined coaches Harvey Reti and Michael Mason at the championships, representing the Yukon Amateur Boxing Association.

The four were able to make the trip thanks in part to funding from the Yukon government's Best Ever Program, which provides competitive opportunities for local athletes heading into the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

Both boxers competed twice at the event and both brought home a medal in their respective weight divisions for their efforts, Mendelsohn the gold and Daniel silver.

'They are considered Bronze Gloves boxers, which means (they've taken part in) five fights or less,' explained Harvey. 'Kevin fought against a guy who had 14 fights under his belt and Daniel a guy who had 12 fights, so they did very well considering. They got lots of compliments from the other coaches and boxers.'

While the Yukon boxers were certainly noticed for their skill, they were also acknowledged for their display of sportsmanship, something Harvey is very proud of. Harvey was also impressed with the focus of Mendelsohn and Daniel before, during and after their matches.

'Both of them were really thinking about what they could do to better their opponent,' he said. 'They were treating it like a chess match. I was very happy with that.'

Mendelsohn and Daniel will need 10 matches each under their belts in order to compete at Canada Games, which means more trips down south over the next year. The Westerns brought their total matches so far to four.

'I hope to earn the privilege to represent the Yukon,' said Mendelsohn, who 'has a heart the size of the Yukon', according to a fellow boxer. 'I'm just going to go harder and train as much as I can.'

With Whitehorse set to host the next Western Canadian Boxing Championships in the fall of 2006, as a test event for 2007, Harvey acknowledged the coaches also gained valuable experience from the organizers in Winnipeg.

'The biggest thing is setting up the whole draw,' said Harvey. '(At Westerns) it was difficult, because there weren't many fighters in each division or weight class. You end up having to do (skill) matchups, so you need to get the coaches together and everyone has to agree on which fighter should go with which.

'That will be the biggest obstacle we have. Other than that, it's pretty straight forward.'

Harvey, who has been coaching for more than 20 years and used to be a boxer himself, said there hasn't been as much interest in amateur boxing over the last several years, which was obvious with the spectator turnout in Winnipeg.

'There weren't quite so many fighters, nor as much interest as there used to be (at Westerns),' he said. 'So I was disappointed with that, because I know what I saw back in my time. But it's picking up.'

Harvey estimated about 60 people took in the matches in Winnipeg, most of which were family and close friends of the athletes competing. He's hopeful that the next championships in Whitehorse will draw more, and if last May's Yukon championships are any indication, they should. More than 100 turned out for the local event.

The 2006 Westerns will be held in the gymnasium at F.H. Collins Secondary School. YABA will start working on the details of the championship, and recruiting volunteers to help run the event, over the next couple of months.

YABA is also hoping to get more people involved in officiating. They put on a course for officials last May, but the difficulty has been getting people to enough bouts Outside the territory, which is one of the prerequisites when becoming accredited.

Jess Staffen, one of the coaches with the local boxing club, is currently completing his Level 3 coaching certificate in Prince George, B.C., where he is attending college. So the association will have at least one Yukoner qualified to officiate at both Westerns and the 2007 Canada Games.

The rest of the officials will be brought in from Outside for the championships and the Games.

While their athlete membership is growing, with healthy numbers in Dawson and Whitehorse, YABA plans to host a boxing camp in the summer, where anyone interested can show up at the club, put on the gloves for a bit and learn some skills, then decide if they like it enough to start training.

'If we raise our profile a little bit, I think we'll get more people,' said Jenny Reid, president of YABA, in an earlier interview. 'Boxing is a bit of a glory sport. It's exciting to watch.'

The current Yukon competitive boxers, including Mendelsohn and Daniel, are hoping to attend a Bronze Gloves competition in Alberta next month, and then perhaps a Silver Gloves competition sometime in the spring.

The association is also hoping to have another Yukon championships in the spring, this time including boxers from the N.W.T. and perhaps Alaska as well.

Right now, they train at the Canada Games Centre twice a week, but if things work out like they hope, the plan is to move back down to the Boys and Girls Club in Whitehorse sometime in the next couple of months.

That way they can have the new ring set up and get in some good practice.