De Guzman finds new home in ring
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Now that Maurice de Guzman is out of the house, it’s time to throw some hands.
“Growing up, I always wanted to get into fighting sports but my parents were always a little bit against that, which is fair,” de Guzman said. “A couple of years ago, I figured why not?”
The 25-year-old, who is originally from Winnipeg but moved to Brandon in 2018, was scheduled to appear against one opponent at the Fall Brawl boxing event on Saturday at the Brandon Fitness Combat Academy, but he was injured last week. Marcus Hila then stepped up at the last minute to face de Guzman.
Maurice de Guzman was scheduled to fight at the Brandon Fitness Combat Academy’s Fall Brawl boxing event on Saturday but his opponent got injured, so he’ll be on the sidelines unless a last-minute opponent can be found. (Perry Bergson/The Brandon Sun)
Oct. 24, 2025
Since de Guzman didn’t know anything about his opponent, he decided all he can focus on is own side of the equation.
“It’s taking care of me,” de Guzman said prior to his fight being cancelled. “I’m sparring but not too frequently, just enough to learn and fixing up on those errors that you’ve made on the bag and shadow boxing.”
His sports background includes hockey, volleyball, basketball, badminton and others, so he was pretty athletic before he came to the gym.
But he quickly discovered a strong attachment to boxing.
“Now it’s just that I really enjoy it,” de Guzman said. “I knew I would like it but I didn’t realize how much I would love it until I got into it.”
He is at the gym four or five times a week, “unless life gets in the way,” he said.
Still, like any sport that involves a lot of hard work, the progress isn’t always a linear climb. He said he learned a lot early on and then it slowed.
“I want to say steady, but when I first started I wanted to get into it super bad, and I wanted to fight right away,” de Guzman said. “The first three or four months started off as a big jump and after that when I got really tired, it started to be steady progress until now.”
De Guzman, who was scheduled to make his debut at the card, was fighting in the heavyweight class at 220 pounds. He was ready.
“I think mindset-wise with all the pressure happening from the crowd, it’s going to be knowing I put in all the work and I’ve done everything I can,” he said. “I plan to do everything can up until that point. Once I get in that ring, I have nothing else to lose.”
Now that organizer Ryker Batson has pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the last week to find him another opponent, the first-time boxer is ready.
“I’m excited, very excited,” de Guzman said. “I’ve been thinking about this for the past two months now. It’s really exciting.”
» pbergson@brandonsun.com