A South Vancouver hall is where Surrey’s Eric Basran will make his “home” pro boxing debut Friday, Nov. 24.
The night of fights is a first for Reign Boxing Promotions, founded by Jon and Rebecca Quinit as an extension of Quinit Boxing and the Grant Street gym where Basran trains with Jon.
Born and raised in Surrey, Basran will be fighting in Vancouver as a professional athlete for the first time, following an amateur career that included national championships, qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Basran, 25, turned pro in February 2022 and has since won all four of his fights, held at venues in Ontario and Quebec.
“Eric, he’s super special,” said Quinit, who has trained Basran for a couple of years.
“Unbelievable speed. I mean, if you come and watch him just for a spar even, his speed is absolutely ridiculous, world-class, so honestly the sky’s the limit with his talent. We just got to build them up properly, and the goal is to bring a world championship to B.C., to Surrey.
“We’re working to make him a star in B.C., which he deserves to be. His talent should be shown in his home city.”
The Nov. 24 fight against a Mexican lightweight is clearly a stepping stone for Basran, who sounds thrilled to be fighting in Metro Vancouver again.
“It’s exciting because even as an amateur I barely got to fight in B.C.,” noted the Newton-area resident. “Out of my 60 amateur fights, I think four of those were in B.C., maybe five. I had to travel to the States for fights, I could never fight around here, so being here again is great.”
The lifelong Surrey resident went to school at Frank Hurt Secondary and has been boxing since age 11.
“I played soccer for a couple years but that’s pretty much it for other sports,” Basran said of his childhood.
“I just liked how it wasn’t a team sport, I liked how all the pressure was kind of on me, so if I was performing bad then it was my fault, but if I was good then it was all on me too. I don’t really like to depend on a team, I kind of like depending on myself. Now I do have a great team around me, my trainer and coach, everybody around me, so with them I don’t go into a fight by myself.”
Early last year, Basran’s decision to turn pro involved a shoulder injury (labrum tear) he says kept him from going to the Tokyo Olympics.
“I didn’t want to wait another four years to go to the Olympics so I wanted to get going with the pro thing, which has been my dream since I was 17, 18,” Basran explained. “I wanted to go pro right away. But once I won nationals and I was going internationally, I wanted to stick around for a chance to go to the Olympics. I built a good resume internationally to go pro, so right after the surgery I thought it was time and made that transition.”
So far he’s liking the life of pro boxing.
“It’s way different (than amateur) but honestly I like it because my style, it’s more of a pro style anyways because I like being a bit flashy, you know. In amateur it’s kind of hard to do that but in pro, you can showcase yourself more.”
At the 700-capacity South Hall Event Centre (8273 Ross St., Vancouver), Reign’s Nov. 24 event will also feature fellow B.C. boxers Logan Clouthier and River Tucker. Quinit Boxing’s top amateur athletes will do a sparring showcase to open to show, followed by four pro bouts including Basran in the main event. For tickets and info click on reignboxingpromotions.com, which redirects to an Eventbrite page.
“With Eric we’re planning to have four fights in this year and a half,” Quinit said, “and as the rounds get higher he’ll fight a little bit less. Right now we’re at six (rounds) and we’ll aim for eight. His last fight next year might be a 10-rounder, and he could probably then go for a piece of a world title. There are four of those because we’re in a four-belt era. Hopefully in a couple of years from now he’ll be on the world’s biggest boxing stages.”
FIGHT NIGHT IN SURREY DEC. 1
In other boxing news, the 11th Bisla Fight Night is planned Friday, Dec. 1 at Taj Park Convention Centre in Surrey.
The main event will have Buneet Bisla looking for his ninth pro victory. His younger brother Gavin Bisla is set to make his pro debut on home turf, as will Harkerat Nijjar.
All of these boxers train at Bisla Martial Arts in Newton. For fight details visit facebook.com/bislamartialarts.
• READ MORE: Fight Night in Surrey: 5 Bisla boxers win at a full banquet hall in Newton.
• ALSO: Surrey’s Bisla battles for 7 rounds but falls to American Coe in NYC fight.