18 January 2010

REINVENTING THE INDUSTRY.

Ever since Babe Ruth hit his 714th home run the baseball equipment industry was driven to provide the consumer with better and better products each and every year. When Jacques Plante invented the first mask for goaltenders he began a revolution which would continue on to this day.

In every sport we have seen an evolution and development of equipment which has increased performance and provided more protection than ever before. The 80’s and 90’s took sporting equipment to a new level as man-made materials appeared and out-performed their predecessors. Technology now played a major role in the development of equipment and nowhere was this more evident than in the running shoe industry. Those companies knew that technology, materials, style and design were now the major factors in the production of high-end sporting goods.

It is with this concept in mind that we proudly bring to you, RIVAL BOXING GEAR, as well as the innovations that have gone into our line.

Co-founder of RIVAL,“The Coach” Russ Anber is a veteran boxing trainer who has four Olympians and one World Champion under his belt.

He first made his mark as an amateur boxing coach at the age of 18, and today as a veteran boxing coach, he continues to devote his energy to coaching and developing championship caliber boxers at the Ring 83 Boxing Club in Montreal. Russ is widely acknowledged as the authoritative voice of boxing in Canada.

* In 1986, Russ became the first coach to produce a medal for Canada with a silver at the World Boxing Championships held in Reno, Nevada.
* In 1986, was the winner of the Coaching Excellence Award
* By 1992, Russ became the first trainer/manager in Canadian Boxing History to have three Canadian professional champions simultaneously under his tutelage.
* In 1996, Russ attained another coaching milestone as he sent 3 athletes to the ’96 Olympic Games.—remarkably, each athlete represented a different country.
* In 1996 Russ Anber was named Montreal Coach of the Year (all sports).
* In 1997, Russ Anber reached the pinnacle of a coach’s career when he guided Otis Grant to the WBO World Middleweight title in Sheffield, England.
* In June of 2000, Russ was unanimously elected as President of the Quebec Olympic Boxing Federation and a member of Boxing Canada’s Board of Directors, a position he still holds today.

But Russ isn’t just known to Canadians as a coach of boxing champions. Starting with the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he began his second career as a boxing analyst for CBC Sports. Since 1994 Russ has been teamed with CBC’s Scott Oake and is half of Canada’s most knowledgeable, outspoken, and sometimes controversial commentating team. Ron MacLean calls Anber “the guru of Canadian boxing”.

Since 1988, Russ has covered boxing at every major event including 4 Commonwealth Games and 4 Olympics. In Montreal, he is a regular guest on the TEAM 990. Russ has also been a regular and colorful guest on TSN’s “Off the Record” and “Guys-TV”, as well as the host of ESPN Classic Canada’s weekly boxing show called “HBO Boxing Classics”. He is now the host of his own show In this corner with Russ Anber on TSN which is seen Monday nights across Canada at 8:30 PM EST

He is also the founder and head coach of the RING 83 Boxing Club in Montreal.

Jocelyn Poulin, a 12 year veteran of sporting goods design and co-founder of RIVAL BOXING, he has worked for DR Hockey, Mission Hockey in California and Aird Sport Design.

He has designed some of the most innovative protective products in roller/ice hockey and baseball industry such as the Mission 3 fingers Wicked Light gloves and the award winning Assymetrical Warp Zero gloves. More info.

He has worked with many professional hockey players such as Martin Brodeur, Anson Carter, Manon Rhéaume, Hayley Wickenheiser, Eric Weinrich to help him to design innovative products.

For RIVAL, he brings you the new Conic Design of boxing gloves, as well as the patent-pending Ergo Lace Track System exclusive only on Rival’s high-performance gloves.

We haven’t neglected coaches either. We are extremely proud of our new Signature Series punch mitt. Our design offers features that have never before been seen in a punch mitt. These are just a few of the innovations of RIVAL BOXING GEAR.

Our line not only offers, what we feel, is the finest in high-performance gear, but also a unique selection of traditional, classic gear to meet your boxing equipment needs.

RIVAL BOXING GEAR was created because we feel the time has come to re-invent the boxing equipment industry.
We are proud of our product, confident in our service and determined to revolutionize the industry.