Donovan Boucher champion boxer

 500 #031

Donovan Boucher defends his Canadian and Commonwealth welterweight titles against challenger Brad Jeffries in Toronto, January 9, 1991. 

Not much says old time newspaper photography to me more than black and white images of boxing. At one point a central part of the average sports fan’s area of interest, boxing was a mainstay in the sports sections of newspapers through most of the 20^th century. The name of the heavyweight champion would be known all around the world.

This all occurred decades before my time, but anyone who has studied photography has seen some of the images. In the background of the photos, stationed under the ropes, are the fedora wearing newspaper photographers, elbows resting on the canvas with cameras at the ready, aimed up at the pugilist combatants.

 

In the early 1990s, the Canadian and Commonwealth welterweight champion was Donovan Boucher, a Jamaican / Canadian boxer who was based in Toronto. At Share newspaper, and to the black and Caribbean community it covered, his victories were a big deal, making him quite the local celebrity. 

 

On January 9, 1991, Mr Boucher was scheduled to defend his Canadian and Commonwealth titles in a bout to be staged at the Metro Convention Centre in downtown Toronto. A total boxing rookie - I had never seen or photographed a match - I still received the assignment to photograph the fight.

Russian boxer Albert Guchigov takes on Rusty Rosenberger in one of the bouts on the undercard. According to BoxRec.com Mr. Guchigov only fought four professional fights, winning this night by TKO

 

Many professional sports take place on large fields of play, with lots of team members. Photography from the sidelines requires the use of a telephoto lens in order to capture close images of the players. No so with boxing, where the situation is more in the photographers favour.  It takes place in a limited amount of space, with only two participants.  A ringside photographer is so very close to the action, he or she only needs a normal or slightly wide lens to take in all the action. The ring is lit from above, providing lots of light to work with and allowing the photographer to use a higher shutter speed, which helps freeze the action. 

 

Before the main event, there are other bouts to be fought - the undercard - which allowed me some time to watch boxing in person for the fist time and take some practice photographs.  Not too many though, as I had a limited amount of film available and had to reserve enough for the championship fight. 

More undercard action: Mohammed Moka defeated Andy Wong by unanimous decision.

 

During the undercard I managed to get some good images, none of which have ever been published previously and are presented here for he first time.

 

Inside the ring, the boxers circle around, sizing each other up, trying to find a gap in their opponents’ defence to throw a punch through. Down near the canvas, I’m peering up – sorry, no fedora that day - holding the camera to my eye at all times, trying to keep both participants in the frame and in focus, reacting with a click of the shutter as the blows land. You can go through a lot film trying to capture a single image of a big punch. I also discovered that if I squint behind the camera for too long, my eyes start to blink and twitch uncontrollably. 

The main event: Donavan Boucher vs Brad Jefferies

It was a good thing I had some warm up practice, because Mr. Boucher took it to his competitor, Brad Jeffries, quickly and efficiently. The photos show the champ continually moving forward and the challenger seemingly wanting noting to do with him. 

The ring girl didn't have a very long night

The whole affair was over in the second round, with the challenger down on the canvas and out by TKO. 

 

The camp wins again. It was over in the second round as Mr. Boucher defeated the challenger by TKO.

Mr. Boucher was then mobbed in the ring with admirers, and I managed to get in amongst them to get a close-up image of the champ.

Oddly, the newspaper I was working for - Share - chose to not print a single image of the action, and instead, only featured the image of Mr. Boucher walking out int the ring:

The newspaper I was working for selected this as the only image featured aside their report of the match, cropped to fit inside one column of space.

I also encountered Mr Boucher in other, less sweaty, assignments. Once at the Toronto Motorcycle Show, where has was a judge for the Miss Legs contest. Another was at the Miss Black Canada contest. In both cases Mr. Boucher gamely posed for photos with the victor afterwards, and, apparently he made both appearances in the same suit and shirt combo.  

Mr. Boucher was a judge at the Miss Black Canada contest.

Two champions: "Miss Legs of Canada" 1991 winner Gail Nichols poses with Mr. Boucher, who risked a break in his training for his appearance as a celebrity judge. 

I’m sorry, but my notes for the Miss Black Canada contest containing the name of the winner appear to have been lost to the winds of time. Her name may be Elle, but I cannot be positive. I did locate the original note for the Miss Legs of Canada contest, won in 1991 by Gail Nichols. 

 

I have never photographed another boxing match.

 

Technical details:

 

Technical stuff: Nikon FE 35mm film camera with Nikkor 35mm, f/2.0, 50mm f/1.8 and maybe Nikon E-series 28mm f/2.8 lenses, lenses using Kodak T-MAX 400 B&W negative film, pushed to 1600 ISO. 

 

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