A long journey has finally come to an end for Thorold’s Jamie Pagendam.
The five-time Canadian featherweight boxing champ was recently inducted into the Boxing Canada Hall of Fame and while Pagendam said that some of his peers felt the induction should have happened years ago, he is happy to have been named to the hall.
“It means a lot because I spent many, many years representing Canada, a country, at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and numerous tournaments internationally, around the world,” Pagendam said. “It meant a lot to me to get recognized.”
But his career on the international stage wasn’t without controversy. Pagendam saw his gold-medal dreams dashed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the same event where Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who had won gold in the men’s 100-metres on the track, was disqualified and banned from international competition after testing positive for steroids.
Despite knocking down a Mongolian boxer twice in his opening-round match, resulting in a standing eight count each time, the referee awarded the Mongolian the win after he knocked Pagendam to the canvas in the third round.
The Canadian team protested the result, citing the match should have been stopped in the second round after the Mongolian was given a second standing eight count, as per international rules.
The Canadian protest was upheld but because the fight had been stopped due to a head blow Pagendam had suffered, he could not fight again for 60 days, ending his Olympic run
“The controversy was just overwhelming, and it didn't sit well with the Canadian contingent what happened to me, so they kind of rushed me out of the country to avoid any more distractions to the rest of the fighters and athletes in Canada.”
That controversy was worlds away from when Pagendam first stepped into the ring in his hometown of St. Catharines. Pagendam was following in the footsteps of his older brother, Steve, who got into the sport after seeing the movie Rocky, back in 1976. Jamie was just 10 at the time.
“I went and watched him fight at the Bill Burgoyne Arena in St Catharines and he lost his first fight,” Pagendam said. “He fought a guy that was much bigger than him, got his nose broken and they gave him a trophy. I said, ‘You know what? This is something that I would like to do,’ – it was something that none of my friends did.”
Pagendam had retired from the ring after the Olympics but by 1993 – around the time he moved to Thorold in the home where his wife, Fran, was raised – he returned to the ring and won the Canadian title, which earned him a spot on Canada’s 1994 Commonwealth Games team.
As it was in the Olympics – although without the controversy – Pagendam lost his opening bout to an English fighter and was eliminated from the tournament.
Now, 30 years removed from the fight game, Pagendam has spent the past three decades helping in other sports – hockey and soccer in particular.
“My wife and I always coached soccer when the kids were young,” he said. “We helped out. I coached hockey alongside of Gary White and (now Thorold Mayor) Terry Ugulini for a number of years.”
When White made the move to Welland to coach there, Pagendam followed.
“I eventually coached my own team, which was a difficult task, because there's just so much involved, and it was a big undertaking,” Pagendam said. “And my son was playing AAA hockey at the same time in Welland so as he and my wife were pulling in the driveway. I was pulling out.”
But when he looks back on his life in sports, it’s his boxing career which stands out the most.
“Boxing has been good to me. It's given me a chance to see the world,” Pagendam said. “It's given me a chance to meet other athletes, and it helped my confidence and self-esteem."
Former Olympic boxer and now Niagara Falls city councillor Mike Strange trained briefly with Pagendam at the Shamrock Boxing Club. Strange competed in three Olympics for Canada – 1992 in Barcelona, 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney.
Strange called Pagendam a legend in Canadian boxing.
“When I met him, I was starting boxing, and hoped and wished that I could be like him some day,” Strange said. “I looked up to him so much and was fortunate to train, spar and be in the same team as Jamie.”
Strange added that he felt fortunate to count Pagendam among his friends and that he was “a mentor to so many young boxers, especially me growing up watching him at the 1988 Olympic Games."
When the City of Thorold caught wind of Pagendam’s induction, it provided the boxer with an honour if its own. He was honoured last month at a Thorold City Council meeting where he was awarded a certificate by Ugulini for his achievements both inside and outside the ring.
“Not only has Jamie had an outstanding career as a boxer, but he's been outstanding as an ambassador for the City of Thorold and giving back to his community,” the mayor said at that time. “He's always been there to help in minor sports and different other initiatives.”
Pagendam was inducted alongside Olympic teammates from the Seoul Games, including silver medallist Egerton Marcus and Raymond Downey.
