Just then, Father Connors of Chatham walked by. He asked Yvon what was wrong. When Father Connors heard the story, he went into the store and bought the trunks for Yvon. The swim trunks were too small and they tore before the fight was over. This didn’t stop Yvon, however. He knocked out Sonny Ramsay in the second round. Yvon got eight dollars in pay for this first fight.

After than, he fought almost every weekend for the rest of the summer and fall of 1947. He used the money he won to buy new fishing equipment. Soon no one from N.B. would fight him. Boxers had to be brought in from Nova Scotia and the United States so there could be matches.

Yvon had no trainer or manager in those days. He didn’t like to be told how to box by anyone. Yvon was a great crowd pleaser. Even before title matches, he was never afraid. In fact, he sometimes didn’t seem to care. People came in great -numbers to see his fights. In the winters, he and his brothers continued to work in the woods. This kept Yvon strong and in fairly good fighting form.

Yvon had two main problems as a boxer. From the beginning, he did very little training. He disliked roadwork. The only real training he did was in the ring itself. Yvon was very sure of himself and felt there was no read need to train hard. He could get away with this way of thinking in the beginning. But when the really good matches came along later, it hurt his chances.

His second big problem was his weight. After each boxing match, Yvon would not train and he would gain weight. Then he would have to stop eating and work very hard to make his weight limit. The weight that he lost often made him feel weak in the ring. It was a good thing that Yvon did not smoke or drink very much when he was getting ready for a match.

Durelle might best be described as a puncher, not a boxer. Very soon, he learned that he didn’t need to throw a lot of Plfnches. One good punch would win the match. He usually siarted very slowly and looked for a opening. As the match went dn, he would get stronger. His punches would get harder and harder. But he always had trouble fighting against good, smooth boxers. He would sooner stand and punch it out with a fighter.