McKenzie Wright's Olympic boxing quest back on track

After topping the field at last weekend’s Boxing Canada 2023 Olympic Team Trials in Montreal, St. Davids boxer McKenzie Wright is back on the road toward qualifying for Paris 2024.

Having already represented Canada in the 50 kg weight class in October’s Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Wright entered the weekend’s five day tournament with a first round bye as the top seed. 

“I was confident going into Montreal,” Wright said Monday afternoon. “That whole Pan Am experience helped me grow so much. I came into this tournament knowing that the gap between myself and the domestic competition just keeps getting bigger.”

Losing her final match at those Pan Am games to American Jennifer Lozano meant that Wright had to win in Montreal to preserve her spot on the Canadian team. When she arrived home from Chile in late October she went right back to City Boxing Club in Niagara Falls to work hard for five weeks with trainer Jesse Sallows in preparation for the trials. 

“There was some disappointment, of course,” said Wright about losing to Lozano in that final Pan Am match. “But getting that close proved to me that I am at that level, that all I needed was to keep going. It gave me the determination and motivation that I needed over those five weeks.”

She demonstrated that confidence in her first fight Friday against Toronto’s Jacklyne Irvine, who had beaten Valentine Wilson for the chance to take her on. 

“It was a busy fight,” Wright recounted. “I went in with much more experience. I looked at it as an opportunity to try some things and get settled. It was a shutout, with an eight-count in the second round. Pretty much everything I threw at her landed, and I kept throwing for nine minutes. She was tough, and took it, but everything I wanted to throw landed.”

Though she could have taken the opportunity to scout Irvine in her Thursday match with Wilson, Wright said she rarely does that. 

“I perform better when I focus on myself instead of who is in front of me,” she told The Local. “I let my coaches watch, and if they see some adjustments I might have to make, they let me know. I just prefer it that way.”

Wright also didn’t watch the fight immediately after hers, during which Quebec’s Anne Marcotte got past Alexis Kubicki from Alberta to earn a spot in the final Sunday.

Marcotte would be a step up competition-wise for Wright. Back at the national championships in early 2023, Marcotte actually won the 50 kg weight class while Wright prevailed at the lighter 48 kg class. But Wright later won the Pan Am trials to bump Marcotte down to second seed at 50 kg. 

“She has national team experience,” Wright, who was out of boxing for about five years between  2017 and 2022, explained. “She was competing when I wasn’t on the circuit. We fought for the first time last year, about my third fight back, and I beat her hands down.”

Wright expected Marcotte to come out guns blazing, seeking revenge for having lost their previous battle. Instead, the 33-year-old from Sherbrooke, Quebec played it cautious right from the opening bell. 

“I needed to stick to my jab,” Wright said. “I established that immediately, and she started backing up in the first 15 seconds. Right then I knew I had her by the way she reacted to my jabs. Every single judge gave me every single round. It was kind of a blowout.” 

Wright was happy to have Sallows in her corner in Montreal, along with her friend and former Olympian Mandy Bujold and national team coach Samir El Mais.

“They know me in and out,” said Wright of Sallows and Bujold. “When tensions are high, it’s important to have someone who knows how you will respond in a good way, who knows the right things to say when things go to plan or when they don’t go to plan. It was super-important to have them both with me for this one.”

“It really settles her down and gives her the confidence she needs when she has us there,” says Sallows. “I know Mandy has really worked with her on her mental preparation over the years. We all work well together.”

Neither Sallows nor Bujold will be with Wright on her next step toward Olympic qualifying, a tournament scheduled for February 29 to March 12 in Busto Arzizio, Italy. A top four finish there will punch her ticket to Paris. Otherwise she will have to try again at the second Olympic qualifier May 23 to June 3 in Bangkok, Thailand, where another top four placement will do the job..

Wright is planning to take a few days off to decompress before heading back into the gym with Sallows. She’ll enjoy Christmas in St. Davids with her parents Dow and Judy while studying for her final nursing exam, which she hopes to write in January. 

“I really haven’t had a break since September,” Wright explained. “My body and my mind need to be out of the gym for a week, or at least as long as I can last, because I am addicted to going. Next week we’ll start slowly, working on the corrections I need to make from this tournament, mostly on technical stuff.”

After that, it’s a lot of hard work with Sallows on conditioning to get ready for Italy. And it’s not just Wright herself who has the confidence that she’ll be representing Canada at Roland Garros next summer. 

“She’ll be going right to the Olympics,” Sallows says. “She will make sure she at least grabs that top four in Italy. I am fully confident that she can win both of these next tournaments coming up. She definitely has what it takes.”