August 29, 2025 • 27 mins
Gord Apolloni – Top Glove Boxing | Episode 24 | Sudbury Interviews | August 29, 2025 | Host: Dani Star (Canadian Idol, Season 5) | Find us on Sudztown and join theconversation | If you would like to be a guest on the show, please reach out | Listen on: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music | Audacy | Audible | Listen Notes | Overcast | RSS Feed | Website: https://sudztown.com/show/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi everyone, welcome to Sudbury Interviews.
Today we have Gord Apolloni and he is the headmaster trainer at
Top level Boxing on Lawrence St.in Sudbury and they're training
athletes to compete at higher levels.
We're going to be talking about that today.
Just before we begin, you can find us on Sunstown and join the
(00:24):
conversation. If you would like to be a guest
on the show, please reach out. Hey, Gord.
Thanks for coming on today. Thanks for having me and this is
I love doing this. Great.
Yeah. So you have a lot, We have a lot
to talk about. Let's start out with tell us a
little bit about how you were drawn to boxing and how it
(00:49):
started for you. All right, here we go.
Well, when I was growing up, it was kind of rough crossing the
railroad tracks from Little Italy and Coppergliff into the
the English part of it. Basically we had to put our
hands up and then start battlingon the way to school and on the
(01:10):
way home. Anyways, my dad used to own a
duplex and my coach lived in in one side outside and we lived on
the other side. Well, so one day he saw me
fighting on the street and apparently he stopped the car
(01:31):
and watched for a while and thenthen he left.
When I when I got home that day,my dad said Peter wants you to
go to the boxing club. I said, well, I called him.
He said he's saw your funny on the street and maybe you got
some, some raw talent there thathe can develop.
And that was the beginning of the end.
(01:53):
We started boxing and then, you know, 54 years later, here, here
we are. So Sudbury was a rough town back
then. Harbor Club for us.
Yeah. Well, no, we, we, we called it
the English Club. It was developed for people that
lived, that lived at Inco or worked at Inco and, and mainly
(02:17):
English. And we had English friends as
well. They tried to get us in and they
wouldn't allow us in there. So it was, it was that bad even,
you know, during that time, thenthe 60s and 70s.
So you were discovered at a street fight and this guy was
driving by. He saw you fighting and saw your
(02:38):
talent. You got it.
That's that's pretty cool. Yeah.
Have you told this story before?Well, yeah, no, I've I've told
it before. Yeah.
And it's. Yeah.
So yeah, that's. It was a rough time growing up.
You know, we had friends. All the Italian guys would come,
you know, basically go to schoolat the same time and then, you
(03:01):
know, so we looked after after each other and on the way home
we looked after each other as well.
So where was this Fight Club back then?
The boxing club was the Fruit Shamrock Boxing Club, and that
was right off of Caffeine Street, right in between the
confectionery and the Fruit Hotel.
It was. The parking lot, the parking lot
(03:23):
in between there, well, there was a, a building in the very
back of that, of that parking lot.
And that's that's where I started the Flu Shamrock Boxing
Club. So what came after that?
Well, after that we had my firstfight approximately a year and a
half later and that was at the Woodland Hotel in Valley EI
(03:48):
thought Clinton Haggard and I weighed in at I was 11 years
old, 105 lbs and boom, I won my first fight.
My parents that all will let himbox and you know he'll lose his
first or second fight and then he'll.
He'll not this guy. No, no, no, no, no, no.
(04:10):
So I'd it was a great time to tobegin boxing.
I had a lot of friends that thatstarted up with me afterwards,
but a lot of them didn't, didn'tcontinue on.
So yeah. So your first fight, you were 11
(04:30):
years old and you won. I won it.
I won my second, I won my third.I won my my first ten fights and
I lost. I lost one because I thought I
was the king of the world, right?
I didn't have to run, didn't have to do anything.
And I learned the hard way. So that's why I'm so hard on my
(04:53):
own kids here at the boxing clubthat, you know, you have to run,
you have to train you consistency, motivation, the,
the whole, the whole bit, you know, encompasses the, the end
result. So you can never like rest on
your victories. Oh geez, no, there's always
(05:15):
someone out there. There's always someone out there
that that's, that's, that's looking, that's looking for
your, for your, your belt, if you want to call it that, you
know, always, always. And then I go says, you know,
sport and life run parallel, youknow, and unfortunately, my God
may get hacked for this, But in the schools today, they're
(05:38):
trying to show that everyone is equal, which is great, but it's
not, you know, when in in business, there's a winner and
there's a loser and in sport, there's a winner and there's a
loser. And we know regardless of what
what sport that you're in. Yeah, sure, there, there may be
(06:00):
a tie here and there, but no. So we have, we have I, I feel
that we have to get, get to get away from that because we're,
we're raising kids right now that are, that are living in a,
in a, in a, in a fairy tale fantasy, like got to get them
back into reality. Are you seeing a lot of talent
(06:24):
out at your club there? A lot of talent, a lot of
talent. And the issue is this, they
don't want to work. There are several that that are
working good and hard, but entitlement, right?
(06:44):
I want to I want to be the champion, but I don't want I
don't want to be the work. Do do the work.
It's difficult. It's difficult.
I've spoken to every other coachthat I know.
They're having the same issues. Yeah.
You know, so raw talent great. And if you don't want to do the
(07:05):
work behind it, not it's not great, especially in boxing.
You can't pass the glove, you can't pass the headgear, you
can't pass, you know, somebody you got to do it.
And at the end of the day, you have to be the one that's doing
the running, the the consistencyin the in the gym, the whole
(07:26):
bit. And if you're not doing that
well, then boxing, boxing is nota not a sport for you.
And eventually you're going to get hit in the nose.
You know, Mike Tyson said the best and it's all fun again
until you get you get punched inthe nose, right?
So. So in your estimation like what
is a possible 'cause of why are the newer generation is is is
(07:51):
like that? Again, I'll probably get into
trouble, but you know, everyone gets a certificate for, for
doing something great, you know,respect a 100% attendance in
school. You know, that's supposed to be
(08:15):
expected of you as a, as a humanbeing respect, you know, showing
up for, for, for class, all that, all that and you get a
reward for that, You know, you get a reward, you know, even
for, for allowance at home. My kids never got got an an
allowance not at my place. You know, you're expected to, to
(08:38):
do your bed, you're expected to,to, you know, clean up the
house. You're expected the sweep the
floor, you're expected to, to wash, take care of the the
washroom. That's not happening anymore.
We're going off topic here, but.Oh, that's OK.
I I think I understand what you're saying though.
Yeah, yeah. Even here at the boxing club,
(09:00):
you know, I've got to pull teethfor, for, for like, this is not
my gym. It's the kids gym, right?
So I get the kids to clean the washroom.
I get the kids to pick up the garbage.
Like they bring it over to the garbage bin.
You know how hard that is to, tohave that done because they're
not doing it at home. I got parents that that come in
(09:21):
here and say I want you to teachmy, my kids discipline.
No, no, no. That's your job at home, you
know. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. You know, if you don't have all
that, all that stuff, all that, you know what you're supposed to
have to have learned at home andyou come here to the to the gym,
(09:44):
you can have your ass send it toyou in in the ring.
Yeah. You don't have the you don't
have the, the respect. You don't have the motivation.
You don't have that momentum. You don't have all that.
You're if you're if you're offended by a by a summer spoon
boy, there's a reality check andit's just that's not going to be
(10:07):
going. So who are some of your
influences in the boxing world? I I did I see a picture of you
with Muhammad Ali online. You got it.
Yeah. 1996 Olympics. So him and I, we were having
breakfast at the Olympic Games and I heard a big commotion.
So I I looked back and then I saw the Santa Raz coming through
(10:29):
like, what the hell? The heck?
Who is who is that? So I get up on my chart.
Oh my God, it's Muhammad Ali. So I raised down and they
wouldn't let me in the in the inner circle.
And I said, I trained with Angelo Dundee for, for a week in
Miami and I never thought he would, he would remember.
(10:50):
Anyways, I said, Angelo, he's let him in, let him in.
So I got, I was able to get in into the, into the circle and,
you know, can you take a picturewith me and Muhammad?
And he snapped the picture. That was fantastic.
And then unfortunately, Muhammadcouldn't, he wouldn't talk
because he he couldn't talk at that time.
(11:11):
But yeah, no, no, it was what what that was probably one of
the highlights of of the Olympics.
So he was one of your heroes? Yeah, my idol, though, as a
boxer was Roberto Durant. He he reminded me.
(11:32):
Well, not remind me. He, he, he, he was like I was
with the, with the raw talent and, and you know, the
motivation and the wanting, not wanting to lose, wanting to win,
you know, wanting to win. That was the biggest thing.
And he did everything that he possibly, potentially could to
do it. And, and I fought in the the
(11:54):
exact same way. If you ever watch, if you're
going on YouTube and see Gord Applegrey versus PT Palampera
from Finland, I stopped him in the first round and then 26
seconds in the first round and Coppergloth, it was Canada
versus Finland, both national teams going head to head.
And it was in my hometown, Copperfield.
(12:15):
And, and there's that the arena,the place was packed.
There were like 1500 people there and a lot of people were
disappointed because we went to the washroom, they came back and
then the fight was over. You beat him, you beat him that.
What was his name again? Petri Palanpera.
Oh boy. Yeah, if you go on, if you go on
(12:37):
YouTube, you'll you'll be able to see it.
So you took him, you took him out in the in the 1st 30
seconds. 1st 30 seconds, yeah. Wow, that's yeah.
They know the the northern life and interviewed him afterwards
and he said So what do you think?
If you're pointing from Canada, he said he's a brute, he's an
(13:00):
animal. I never expected that from him.
Well, he was probably one of thekids who does, who didn't change
the garbages and stuff in his household.
Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah, he got it handed to him. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So what's going on nowadays withthe club?
(13:21):
You know, we're, our main focus is to develop better citizens in
our community. And that means, you know,
teaching them to take the garbage out, teaching them to,
you know, sweep the floor, teaching them to, to, to clean
the toilet, teaching them to be respectful while you're here at
the, at the gym and respectful to your, to your parents at
(13:43):
home. If we, if we develop that
fantastic, we make better, better citizens in our
community, you know, and, and ifthey become great, good, good
boxers, that's just a bonus. That's just a bonus, you know,
and sport, you know, I don't know if you heard the the latest
thing that sport in Canada is broken.
(14:05):
Did you heard that hear that in the in the news this last night?
Well, I don't. I don't watch.
I'm not a news watching person. Yeah.
But I can, yeah. That was one of the headlines.
And you know, sports been brokenfor a long time, a long time.
Being national coach, I saw it right, right at the top level.
And so we've got to fix that. We've got to start running the
(14:28):
grassroots. And you know, I was going to run
for, for MP since I thought maybe I could, I could do
something. No, no, not at all.
It all comes from the top down, not from the bottom up.
So until that changes, sport will be, will will be seen as,
as a, as a third rate activity in Canada.
(14:50):
Money's not being dumped into the grassroots of sport at all
by the federal government. Yeah, they're, they're, they're,
they're pushing it out to, to the provincial government.
But all of all the levels have to help.
You know, when you go, when I, when you travel the world as I
have, you go to South America, you don't, you don't believe the
(15:17):
facilities that those guys have to train in.
You know, I, I feel sorry for Frederia Zolich because he tried
to do something that that they do down in down in in South
America, build a multi complex Sports Center.
You know, and, and you have, well, we just came back from
(15:40):
Marquette, MI. They have a a Dome over there in
the within the Dome, they have football and then they they blow
air in the in the they blow air in the under the, the, the turf.
Turf comes up, they roll the turf up and and there's a track
(16:02):
underneath it. So there's track and field there
and they have stands, right stands all the way around and
underneath those stands, there'sweightlifting, there's boxing,
there's wrestling, there's there's, there's everything
There's dancing. That's a multi purpose center,
you know, and, and my God, I butlike I said, I I feel sorry for
(16:25):
Dario that that it didn't happen.
A lot of opposition behind it, but you know, maybe because of
of where, where he wanted to build, but the idea was there
and that's that's that's where we have to go to.
It's not, you know, you just can't throw sport a couple
1,000,000 bucks a year before the, the, the, the Olympic Games
(16:49):
and then expect Canada to do well there.
And that's, that's not right andit's not going to happen.
You know, and, and the people that have done well, the obvious
of boxers anyways, that have done well have been around for,
for 2 Olympic cycles. They're our last Olympic
medalist. Wyatt Sanford, he went to Tokyo
(17:13):
and he understood then that, youknow, what he has to do for the
next Olympics. He came back and then in Paris
and won a bronze medal, you know, but why did that happen
was because he got some support,financial support.
We don't have the financial support.
We're not going anywhere. You know, we're going to fall
behind Colombia, we're going to fall behind Brazil.
(17:35):
We're going to fall behind Argentina because those those
countries from South America areare basically developing their
grassroots people, you know, andand we're not doing that here
here here in Canada just like that that that report said last
(17:55):
night, sport here in Canada is broken.
And you know what it's been broken for a long time.
I was just totally ashamed that I was I was that I was, you
know, with the national team rest in 99 rest in 1992 and Mike
Stewart from top club won the World Championships.
They brought me on board and they they said, Gord, that's
(18:19):
that's just changes. Well, you can't change attitude.
You can't change attitude. You know when when when your own
athletes don't want to win, theyjust want to party.
Well, we have a we have an issuehere when the when the coach
wants to win more than the athlete.
We got an issue. So a lot of that, yeah, go.
(18:41):
Ahead. What happened with that that
there in 92? 1992 Mike Stewart won the World
Championships. And he's, he's from Sudbury or
he's. From Sudbury.
See. You didn't even know.
No, I didn't know. Yeah, and and that's not your
fault. So Mike Stewart is the last male
(19:02):
boxer for Canada to win a gold medal out of World
Championships. Wow. 1992 now that's that, you
know, that's great news for Taco, but that's that's, that's
embarrassing. He didn't say that, you know.
Yeah. We have, we, we have the
pedigree here. We just don't have the, the, the
(19:24):
financial backing, right? It's crap.
It's total, total, total crap. You know, these, the governments
have to get out their butts and,and, and you know, if they're
going to talk about it, well, then do it.
No, we had, we had our 35th anniversary at the Cruiser Club
back May of May 22nd. And we had all the all the, the
(19:49):
government officials, all, all levels, they all came in and
they said, you know, sport is a great way of developing
individuals. Da, da, da, da.
Well, OK, OK, you said that. Now back it with money because
that's what's going to save our frigging community.
That's what, you know, less people with obesity, less people
with depression, less, less everything, less people going to
(20:13):
the to the hospital. But they don't.
They don't see it. They don't see it.
I've talked to many, many, many politicians.
It's all about, you know, they're, they're buddies, right?
I may not be making many friendswith this with this interview.
So everything that you're doing 'cause you're, you're doing
(20:33):
tournaments and and fight nightsand stuff.
Over there. You're all doing that without
any funding, any help from anyone.
Well, what we do, how we do it is we, we get sponsors, right.
And now listen, Top Golf has been around for for for 35
years. We've been very fortunate that
that we have a lot of supportersthat I can just make a phone
(20:56):
call and say this and we have a show coming up.
Do you want, do you want a tableat that event?
Yeah, sure. Gordon tables, the tables are
1000 bucks apiece. Table of eight.
You get, you know, some goodies with it.
You're in the ring presenting awards.
You're not. You're announced throughout the
whole evening as a, as a corporate sponsor.
And you know what, that 1000 bucks goes a long ways.
(21:16):
It pays our rent, it allows us to, to bring boxers to, to
Toronto because the closest gym from us is 3 hours N 3 hours
east and three hours West and three hours South.
So, you know, we have to do it on, on our own and, and we're
doing it. We're doing it.
(21:37):
And you know, without money, we,we wouldn't do anything.
They wouldn't get in there. Right now we've got one kid,
he's second in Canada, Jackson and Savoy.
We have, we have another kid that actually the two of them
now are going to the to the provincial championships.
John Carlo Scoopazzi, he's goingto the provincial championships
(22:01):
with Jackson in October. So tomorrow we're having a BBQ
car wash at the Chris is the Independent Grocers and Chris
has been a big supporter of us as well.
This is not our our first BBQ. No pun intended.
(22:22):
Yeah, it's not our first BBQ there and and you know, last
year we made, we raised 2500 bucks.
So that paid for the for the kids to go down there.
That's phenomenal. You know, Chris's Independent
Groceries has been phenomenal with us.
This is our third year now that we're having a BBQ.
(22:45):
Like, like I said, it's not our first BBQ.
Last year we raised $2500 because of Chris allowing us to
have a barbecue and, and a car wash.
So, you know, we have to do these, these these kind of
things because we're not gettingany funding from any level for
(23:06):
the, for that matter. We have our, our events where we
sell tables for $1000 and there's 8 per table and they're
in the ring presenting awards. They're announced as a
corporate, corporate sponsor throughout the whole event and
they got goodies on on the table, etcetera.
(23:28):
Their name, corporate name is onthe table and all that.
So anytime that, that we have events, that's when I make the
phone call. I don't have the don't even have
to go go to to their to their location, you know, and, and,
and have a conversation with him.
It's just a quick call and we'rein yes, no, perfect good.
And it's it's a great night because they there's all local
(23:49):
talent here and they're they're they're witnessing potentially
someone that's going to be goingto the Olympic Games right here,
right here in super. You know, when we've had two
boxers at the Olympic Games, youknow, Phil Boudreaux, of course
everyone knows him. And Casey Padden now Casey
Padden was all overshadowed because of Phil.
(24:13):
But you know what, what can you do?
And then we had Amber Conical, who plays third in the world.
So the pedigree is here. It's just that we have to bring
it out in each one of the individuals that that partake in
the in the program. And and you know, like, like we
(24:34):
said earlier that that's a difficult thing to do now.
You know, entitlement is a big thing now.
Yeah. So the next question, Gord, is
what I call the daily segment. And that's why something I ask
every guest that comes on, what is one thing that you feel would
(24:56):
make Sudbury greater? Sudbury grader or Sudbury sports
grader? Whichever you want, that's the
same. OK, so we need input from the
city at you know grassroots level.
(25:17):
We need them to talk to other levels of government so that we
can have these these multi purpose sport complexes so that
we can have kids that can't afford sport being able to
attend each each each level at any time.
(25:43):
You know, like I said, if you have kids that have that begin
sport at a young age, typically they'll carry that on throughout
life. And so you're going to look at,
you know, less people with obedience, with obesity, that's
people with diabetes, that's people with, you know, mental
(26:05):
health issues and, and, and etcetera, etcetera.
That is what's going to make something great.
We'll have less homeless, we'll have less people going, going,
going to the, to the food banks.It's all, it's all the, the
holistic approach to the, to thedevelopment of, of the youth.
(26:26):
And, and, and I'm, I'm, I'm all game for that.
So that has to happen. Yeah, I couldn't agree more with
that. Sudbury interviews everyone.
And Gord, I want to thank you sincerely for taking a moment.
I know you're very busy and I'm going to have to get you back on
(26:48):
sometime because there's there'sa lot more to talk about for
sure. I just try to keep the, the
interview said. I got 55 years of of, of sport
boxing and, and we we just, we just touched the touch the
surface they talking about. I mean, right now is.
There anything else you'd like to?
(27:09):
Add That's it, my friend. Let's get sport going here, here
in the city. That sounds good to me.
Thanks for your time, Gord. Thank you.
Have a great day. You too.
Bye bye. Bye.
Hi everyone, welcome to Sudbury Interviews.
Today we have Gord Apolloni and he is the headmaster trainer at
Top level Boxing on Lawrence St.in Sudbury and they're training
athletes to compete at higher levels.
We're going to be talking about that today.
Just before we begin, you can find us on Sunstown and join the
(00:24):
conversation. If you would like to be a guest
on the show, please reach out. Hey, Gord.
Thanks for coming on today. Thanks for having me and this is
I love doing this. Great.
Yeah. So you have a lot, We have a lot
to talk about. Let's start out with tell us a
little bit about how you were drawn to boxing and how it
(00:49):
started for you. All right, here we go.
Well, when I was growing up, it was kind of rough crossing the
railroad tracks from Little Italy and Coppergliff into the
the English part of it. Basically we had to put our
hands up and then start battlingon the way to school and on the
(01:10):
way home. Anyways, my dad used to own a
duplex and my coach lived in in one side outside and we lived on
the other side. Well, so one day he saw me
fighting on the street and apparently he stopped the car
(01:31):
and watched for a while and thenthen he left.
When I when I got home that day,my dad said Peter wants you to
go to the boxing club. I said, well, I called him.
He said he's saw your funny on the street and maybe you got
some, some raw talent there thathe can develop.
And that was the beginning of the end.
(01:53):
We started boxing and then, you know, 54 years later, here, here
we are. So Sudbury was a rough town back
then. Harbor Club for us.
Yeah. Well, no, we, we, we called it
the English Club. It was developed for people that
lived, that lived at Inco or worked at Inco and, and mainly
(02:17):
English. And we had English friends as
well. They tried to get us in and they
wouldn't allow us in there. So it was, it was that bad even,
you know, during that time, thenthe 60s and 70s.
So you were discovered at a street fight and this guy was
driving by. He saw you fighting and saw your
(02:38):
talent. You got it.
That's that's pretty cool. Yeah.
Have you told this story before?Well, yeah, no, I've I've told
it before. Yeah.
And it's. Yeah.
So yeah, that's. It was a rough time growing up.
You know, we had friends. All the Italian guys would come,
you know, basically go to schoolat the same time and then, you
(03:01):
know, so we looked after after each other and on the way home
we looked after each other as well.
So where was this Fight Club back then?
The boxing club was the Fruit Shamrock Boxing Club, and that
was right off of Caffeine Street, right in between the
confectionery and the Fruit Hotel.
It was. The parking lot, the parking lot
(03:23):
in between there, well, there was a, a building in the very
back of that, of that parking lot.
And that's that's where I started the Flu Shamrock Boxing
Club. So what came after that?
Well, after that we had my firstfight approximately a year and a
half later and that was at the Woodland Hotel in Valley EI
(03:48):
thought Clinton Haggard and I weighed in at I was 11 years
old, 105 lbs and boom, I won my first fight.
My parents that all will let himbox and you know he'll lose his
first or second fight and then he'll.
He'll not this guy. No, no, no, no, no, no.
(04:10):
So I'd it was a great time to tobegin boxing.
I had a lot of friends that thatstarted up with me afterwards,
but a lot of them didn't, didn'tcontinue on.
So yeah. So your first fight, you were 11
(04:30):
years old and you won. I won it.
I won my second, I won my third.I won my my first ten fights and
I lost. I lost one because I thought I
was the king of the world, right?
I didn't have to run, didn't have to do anything.
And I learned the hard way. So that's why I'm so hard on my
(04:53):
own kids here at the boxing clubthat, you know, you have to run,
you have to train you consistency, motivation, the,
the whole, the whole bit, you know, encompasses the, the end
result. So you can never like rest on
your victories. Oh geez, no, there's always
(05:15):
someone out there. There's always someone out there
that that's, that's, that's looking, that's looking for
your, for your, your belt, if you want to call it that, you
know, always, always. And then I go says, you know,
sport and life run parallel, youknow, and unfortunately, my God
may get hacked for this, But in the schools today, they're
(05:38):
trying to show that everyone is equal, which is great, but it's
not, you know, when in in business, there's a winner and
there's a loser and in sport, there's a winner and there's a
loser. And we know regardless of what
what sport that you're in. Yeah, sure, there, there may be
(06:00):
a tie here and there, but no. So we have, we have I, I feel
that we have to get, get to get away from that because we're,
we're raising kids right now that are, that are living in a,
in a, in a, in a fairy tale fantasy, like got to get them
back into reality. Are you seeing a lot of talent
(06:24):
out at your club there? A lot of talent, a lot of
talent. And the issue is this, they
don't want to work. There are several that that are
working good and hard, but entitlement, right?
(06:44):
I want to I want to be the champion, but I don't want I
don't want to be the work. Do do the work.
It's difficult. It's difficult.
I've spoken to every other coachthat I know.
They're having the same issues. Yeah.
You know, so raw talent great. And if you don't want to do the
(07:05):
work behind it, not it's not great, especially in boxing.
You can't pass the glove, you can't pass the headgear, you
can't pass, you know, somebody you got to do it.
And at the end of the day, you have to be the one that's doing
the running, the the consistencyin the in the gym, the whole
(07:26):
bit. And if you're not doing that
well, then boxing, boxing is nota not a sport for you.
And eventually you're going to get hit in the nose.
You know, Mike Tyson said the best and it's all fun again
until you get you get punched inthe nose, right?
So. So in your estimation like what
is a possible 'cause of why are the newer generation is is is
(07:51):
like that? Again, I'll probably get into
trouble, but you know, everyone gets a certificate for, for
doing something great, you know,respect a 100% attendance in
school. You know, that's supposed to be
(08:15):
expected of you as a, as a humanbeing respect, you know, showing
up for, for, for class, all that, all that and you get a
reward for that, You know, you get a reward, you know, even
for, for allowance at home. My kids never got got an an
allowance not at my place. You know, you're expected to, to
(08:38):
do your bed, you're expected to,to, you know, clean up the
house. You're expected the sweep the
floor, you're expected to, to wash, take care of the the
washroom. That's not happening anymore.
We're going off topic here, but.Oh, that's OK.
I I think I understand what you're saying though.
Yeah, yeah. Even here at the boxing club,
(09:00):
you know, I've got to pull teethfor, for, for like, this is not
my gym. It's the kids gym, right?
So I get the kids to clean the washroom.
I get the kids to pick up the garbage.
Like they bring it over to the garbage bin.
You know how hard that is to, tohave that done because they're
not doing it at home. I got parents that that come in
(09:21):
here and say I want you to teachmy, my kids discipline.
No, no, no. That's your job at home, you
know. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. You know, if you don't have all
that, all that stuff, all that, you know what you're supposed to
have to have learned at home andyou come here to the to the gym,
(09:44):
you can have your ass send it toyou in in the ring.
Yeah. You don't have the you don't
have the, the respect. You don't have the motivation.
You don't have that momentum. You don't have all that.
You're if you're if you're offended by a by a summer spoon
boy, there's a reality check andit's just that's not going to be
(10:07):
going. So who are some of your
influences in the boxing world? I I did I see a picture of you
with Muhammad Ali online. You got it.
Yeah. 1996 Olympics. So him and I, we were having
breakfast at the Olympic Games and I heard a big commotion.
So I I looked back and then I saw the Santa Raz coming through
(10:29):
like, what the hell? The heck?
Who is who is that? So I get up on my chart.
Oh my God, it's Muhammad Ali. So I raised down and they
wouldn't let me in the in the inner circle.
And I said, I trained with Angelo Dundee for, for a week in
Miami and I never thought he would, he would remember.
(10:50):
Anyways, I said, Angelo, he's let him in, let him in.
So I got, I was able to get in into the, into the circle and,
you know, can you take a picturewith me and Muhammad?
And he snapped the picture. That was fantastic.
And then unfortunately, Muhammadcouldn't, he wouldn't talk
because he he couldn't talk at that time.
(11:11):
But yeah, no, no, it was what what that was probably one of
the highlights of of the Olympics.
So he was one of your heroes? Yeah, my idol, though, as a
boxer was Roberto Durant. He he reminded me.
(11:32):
Well, not remind me. He, he, he, he was like I was
with the, with the raw talent and, and you know, the
motivation and the wanting, not wanting to lose, wanting to win,
you know, wanting to win. That was the biggest thing.
And he did everything that he possibly, potentially could to
do it. And, and I fought in the the
(11:54):
exact same way. If you ever watch, if you're
going on YouTube and see Gord Applegrey versus PT Palampera
from Finland, I stopped him in the first round and then 26
seconds in the first round and Coppergloth, it was Canada
versus Finland, both national teams going head to head.
And it was in my hometown, Copperfield.
(12:15):
And, and there's that the arena,the place was packed.
There were like 1500 people there and a lot of people were
disappointed because we went to the washroom, they came back and
then the fight was over. You beat him, you beat him that.
What was his name again? Petri Palanpera.
Oh boy. Yeah, if you go on, if you go on
(12:37):
YouTube, you'll you'll be able to see it.
So you took him, you took him out in the in the 1st 30
seconds. 1st 30 seconds, yeah. Wow, that's yeah.
They know the the northern life and interviewed him afterwards
and he said So what do you think?
If you're pointing from Canada, he said he's a brute, he's an
(13:00):
animal. I never expected that from him.
Well, he was probably one of thekids who does, who didn't change
the garbages and stuff in his household.
Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah, he got it handed to him. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So what's going on nowadays withthe club?
(13:21):
You know, we're, our main focus is to develop better citizens in
our community. And that means, you know,
teaching them to take the garbage out, teaching them to,
you know, sweep the floor, teaching them to, to, to clean
the toilet, teaching them to be respectful while you're here at
the, at the gym and respectful to your, to your parents at
(13:43):
home. If we, if we develop that
fantastic, we make better, better citizens in our
community, you know, and, and ifthey become great, good, good
boxers, that's just a bonus. That's just a bonus, you know,
and sport, you know, I don't know if you heard the the latest
thing that sport in Canada is broken.
(14:05):
Did you heard that hear that in the in the news this last night?
Well, I don't. I don't watch.
I'm not a news watching person. Yeah.
But I can, yeah. That was one of the headlines.
And you know, sports been brokenfor a long time, a long time.
Being national coach, I saw it right, right at the top level.
And so we've got to fix that. We've got to start running the
(14:28):
grassroots. And you know, I was going to run
for, for MP since I thought maybe I could, I could do
something. No, no, not at all.
It all comes from the top down, not from the bottom up.
So until that changes, sport will be, will will be seen as,
as a, as a third rate activity in Canada.
(14:50):
Money's not being dumped into the grassroots of sport at all
by the federal government. Yeah, they're, they're, they're,
they're pushing it out to, to the provincial government.
But all of all the levels have to help.
You know, when you go, when I, when you travel the world as I
have, you go to South America, you don't, you don't believe the
(15:17):
facilities that those guys have to train in.
You know, I, I feel sorry for Frederia Zolich because he tried
to do something that that they do down in down in in South
America, build a multi complex Sports Center.
You know, and, and you have, well, we just came back from
(15:40):
Marquette, MI. They have a a Dome over there in
the within the Dome, they have football and then they they blow
air in the in the they blow air in the under the, the, the turf.
Turf comes up, they roll the turf up and and there's a track
(16:02):
underneath it. So there's track and field there
and they have stands, right stands all the way around and
underneath those stands, there'sweightlifting, there's boxing,
there's wrestling, there's there's, there's everything
There's dancing. That's a multi purpose center,
you know, and, and my God, I butlike I said, I I feel sorry for
(16:25):
Dario that that it didn't happen.
A lot of opposition behind it, but you know, maybe because of
of where, where he wanted to build, but the idea was there
and that's that's that's where we have to go to.
It's not, you know, you just can't throw sport a couple
1,000,000 bucks a year before the, the, the, the Olympic Games
(16:49):
and then expect Canada to do well there.
And that's, that's not right andit's not going to happen.
You know, and, and the people that have done well, the obvious
of boxers anyways, that have done well have been around for,
for 2 Olympic cycles. They're our last Olympic
medalist. Wyatt Sanford, he went to Tokyo
(17:13):
and he understood then that, youknow, what he has to do for the
next Olympics. He came back and then in Paris
and won a bronze medal, you know, but why did that happen
was because he got some support,financial support.
We don't have the financial support.
We're not going anywhere. You know, we're going to fall
behind Colombia, we're going to fall behind Brazil.
(17:35):
We're going to fall behind Argentina because those those
countries from South America areare basically developing their
grassroots people, you know, andand we're not doing that here
here here in Canada just like that that that report said last
(17:55):
night, sport here in Canada is broken.
And you know what it's been broken for a long time.
I was just totally ashamed that I was I was that I was, you
know, with the national team rest in 99 rest in 1992 and Mike
Stewart from top club won the World Championships.
They brought me on board and they they said, Gord, that's
(18:19):
that's just changes. Well, you can't change attitude.
You can't change attitude. You know when when when your own
athletes don't want to win, theyjust want to party.
Well, we have a we have an issuehere when the when the coach
wants to win more than the athlete.
We got an issue. So a lot of that, yeah, go.
(18:41):
Ahead. What happened with that that
there in 92? 1992 Mike Stewart won the World
Championships. And he's, he's from Sudbury or
he's. From Sudbury.
See. You didn't even know.
No, I didn't know. Yeah, and and that's not your
fault. So Mike Stewart is the last male
(19:02):
boxer for Canada to win a gold medal out of World
Championships. Wow. 1992 now that's that, you
know, that's great news for Taco, but that's that's, that's
embarrassing. He didn't say that, you know.
Yeah. We have, we, we have the
pedigree here. We just don't have the, the, the
(19:24):
financial backing, right? It's crap.
It's total, total, total crap. You know, these, the governments
have to get out their butts and,and, and you know, if they're
going to talk about it, well, then do it.
No, we had, we had our 35th anniversary at the Cruiser Club
back May of May 22nd. And we had all the all the, the
(19:49):
government officials, all, all levels, they all came in and
they said, you know, sport is a great way of developing
individuals. Da, da, da, da.
Well, OK, OK, you said that. Now back it with money because
that's what's going to save our frigging community.
That's what, you know, less people with obesity, less people
with depression, less, less everything, less people going to
(20:13):
the to the hospital. But they don't.
They don't see it. They don't see it.
I've talked to many, many, many politicians.
It's all about, you know, they're, they're buddies, right?
I may not be making many friendswith this with this interview.
So everything that you're doing 'cause you're, you're doing
(20:33):
tournaments and and fight nightsand stuff.
Over there. You're all doing that without
any funding, any help from anyone.
Well, what we do, how we do it is we, we get sponsors, right.
And now listen, Top Golf has been around for for for 35
years. We've been very fortunate that
that we have a lot of supportersthat I can just make a phone
(20:56):
call and say this and we have a show coming up.
Do you want, do you want a tableat that event?
Yeah, sure. Gordon tables, the tables are
1000 bucks apiece. Table of eight.
You get, you know, some goodies with it.
You're in the ring presenting awards.
You're not. You're announced throughout the
whole evening as a, as a corporate sponsor.
And you know what, that 1000 bucks goes a long ways.
(21:16):
It pays our rent, it allows us to, to bring boxers to, to
Toronto because the closest gym from us is 3 hours N 3 hours
east and three hours West and three hours South.
So, you know, we have to do it on, on our own and, and we're
doing it. We're doing it.
(21:37):
And you know, without money, we,we wouldn't do anything.
They wouldn't get in there. Right now we've got one kid,
he's second in Canada, Jackson and Savoy.
We have, we have another kid that actually the two of them
now are going to the to the provincial championships.
John Carlo Scoopazzi, he's goingto the provincial championships
(22:01):
with Jackson in October. So tomorrow we're having a BBQ
car wash at the Chris is the Independent Grocers and Chris
has been a big supporter of us as well.
This is not our our first BBQ. No pun intended.
(22:22):
Yeah, it's not our first BBQ there and and you know, last
year we made, we raised 2500 bucks.
So that paid for the for the kids to go down there.
That's phenomenal. You know, Chris's Independent
Groceries has been phenomenal with us.
This is our third year now that we're having a BBQ.
(22:45):
Like, like I said, it's not our first BBQ.
Last year we raised $2500 because of Chris allowing us to
have a barbecue and, and a car wash.
So, you know, we have to do these, these these kind of
things because we're not gettingany funding from any level for
(23:06):
the, for that matter. We have our, our events where we
sell tables for $1000 and there's 8 per table and they're
in the ring presenting awards. They're announced as a
corporate, corporate sponsor throughout the whole event and
they got goodies on on the table, etcetera.
(23:28):
Their name, corporate name is onthe table and all that.
So anytime that, that we have events, that's when I make the
phone call. I don't have the don't even have
to go go to to their to their location, you know, and, and,
and have a conversation with him.
It's just a quick call and we'rein yes, no, perfect good.
And it's it's a great night because they there's all local
(23:49):
talent here and they're they're they're witnessing potentially
someone that's going to be goingto the Olympic Games right here,
right here in super. You know, when we've had two
boxers at the Olympic Games, youknow, Phil Boudreaux, of course
everyone knows him. And Casey Padden now Casey
Padden was all overshadowed because of Phil.
(24:13):
But you know what, what can you do?
And then we had Amber Conical, who plays third in the world.
So the pedigree is here. It's just that we have to bring
it out in each one of the individuals that that partake in
the in the program. And and you know, like, like we
(24:34):
said earlier that that's a difficult thing to do now.
You know, entitlement is a big thing now.
Yeah. So the next question, Gord, is
what I call the daily segment. And that's why something I ask
every guest that comes on, what is one thing that you feel would
(24:56):
make Sudbury greater? Sudbury grader or Sudbury sports
grader? Whichever you want, that's the
same. OK, so we need input from the
city at you know grassroots level.
(25:17):
We need them to talk to other levels of government so that we
can have these these multi purpose sport complexes so that
we can have kids that can't afford sport being able to
attend each each each level at any time.
(25:43):
You know, like I said, if you have kids that have that begin
sport at a young age, typically they'll carry that on throughout
life. And so you're going to look at,
you know, less people with obedience, with obesity, that's
people with diabetes, that's people with, you know, mental
(26:05):
health issues and, and, and etcetera, etcetera.
That is what's going to make something great.
We'll have less homeless, we'll have less people going, going,
going to the, to the food banks.It's all, it's all the, the
holistic approach to the, to thedevelopment of, of the youth.
(26:26):
And, and, and I'm, I'm, I'm all game for that.
So that has to happen. Yeah, I couldn't agree more with
that. Sudbury interviews everyone.
And Gord, I want to thank you sincerely for taking a moment.
I know you're very busy and I'm going to have to get you back on
(26:48):
sometime because there's there'sa lot more to talk about for
sure. I just try to keep the, the
interview said. I got 55 years of of, of sport
boxing and, and we we just, we just touched the touch the
surface they talking about. I mean, right now is.
There anything else you'd like to?
(27:09):
Add That's it, my friend. Let's get sport going here, here
in the city. That sounds good to me.
Thanks for your time, Gord. Thank you.
Have a great day. You too.
Bye bye. Bye.
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