Jorge Luis
Sport: Boxing
Year Inducted: 2006
Jorge Luis won a lot of tough fights in his young boxing career, but the one fight he could not win showed up on a hospital X-ray film. A badly broken ankle suffered in a traffic accident proved to be too much of an obstacle to overcome for the 19 year old Cornwall heavyweight.
It was a bad break for the teenager’s promising career. At the time Luis was the flagship of the Cornwall Boxing Club fleet. He was arguably one of the finest and most skilled heavyweights in Cornwall’s long and colourful amateur boxing history.
Jorge fought and beat provincially and nationally ranked opponents in the sport’s toughest division. He was one of several local fighters who gave the sport a burst of popularity in the 1980s that pulled in large crowds at Nativity Hall and the old Water Street Arena.
Luis first mentor was former Canadian Middleweight Champion Davey Hilton Sr. who, at the time, was grooming his sons in a makeshift boxing club in Cornwall. Hilton, who once fought for the World Middleweight title, liked what he saw in the young Cornwall fighter and encouraged him to continue.
Luis was at the top of his game when his ankle was shattered in the accident; however, his passion for the sport was not shattered. Fifteen years later he founded the Champs Eastside Boxing Club. The former fighter became a mentor and began passing along his vast knowledge of the sport to young, eager fighters.
Since forming the club, Luis has built up a stable of fledgling talent. He has produced a two-time Canadian Champion in the name of Joey Bowman, and a two-time Canadian silver medalist who is his son Tony. Tony has won six Ontario titles and Joey has claimed five Provincial Championships. The club has also produced two Ontario Novice Champions named Luke Chisholm and Matt Veenstra.
Luis work with the club has not escaped the attention of the provincial amateur boxing community. In 2004, he was coach of the Ontario cadet team. In 2005, he was named Manager of the Ontario junior team and appointed Regional Director for Boxing Ontario. In 2006, he was selected to coach Team Ontario at the Canadian Championships.