After close to two years away from the boxing ring to recover from surgery, four-time national boxing champion Owen Paquette was ready to get back to his winning ways.
Paquette, who decided to go in for surgery in 2024, explained the need for it after numerous injuries had compounded.
“At that point, I was on top of the world. I had quite the win streak…going back-to-back tournament wins, and I was still national champion…then it crumbled a bit due to my sixth shoulder dislocation. It’s something that I was dealing with over the years, but I’ll be honest, I was stubborn about it. I dislocated it a long time before that at an international competition in Germany….and that was the first time that injury happened… which was three times in a row in the same fight. The worst thing that happened to me was that I won that fight [because] I kept fighting with those dislocations. I also dislocated it in training camp…[and] then I went to the Canada Winter Games, won that…but suffered another injury,” he said. “I then went to provincials, felt good and won that tournament. It became this process where I would get the same injury, compete and win. After the sixth one, though, that’s when the doctors told me that I had to take things seriously and that meant getting surgery. I would make the decision to get the surgery…but I knew there was around two years of recovery in front of me, and, that wasn’t the hardest part…it was waiting to see if I could ever box again.”
However, as surgery was the only option Paquette struggled with the possibility that he wouldn’t ever fight again and with the thought that if he did, it might not be the same.
“It was a very difficult period…when that kind of news is given to you…it’s very difficult. There was a good chance that my career was going to be over, but also if you do recover, there was a good possibility that I could never return to form…there was a lot of uncertainty, and just the waiting period of figuring out whether that would be the best decision,” he noted. “I had to accept that..and live with whatever happened. But the biggest thing was I never lost that belief that I could come back, despite some doubts…And it wasn’t just a minor surgery. I was going to be out for a year and a half, so not only would my shoulder recover, but would my body be able to keep up with what it was doing before? So, there was a lot of uncertainty.”
After so many dislocations and injuries, the young boxer went in for complex surgery.
“For the longest time I was hiding the injury….I did see one surgeon before [which was] very early on and he said it wasn’t a problem. And then from there I didn’t see many surgeons in between some of my dislocations, and that’s when, after the last one, things changed. Every dislocation chipped away at my bone…so I actually had bone loss…not only was it loose before, but now there is a very good chance it could dislocate at any time….whenever I threw my right hand, so that’s when the surgeon told me it was very serious…[because] my labrum was basically done…with a lot of bone loss in that region. It wasn’t going to be just a simple surgery…they were going to have to add bone to my labrum. So, hearing what had to happen, really made things real. I had to accept it and had to make a decision, which I did,” he noted.
While the surgery appeared to be a success, Paquette still had a grueling road ahead of him.
“The most difficult part was just being patient, and also keeping those around me patient as well. Obviously, I have a great support system around me that want to see me do what I love…but I had to wait and make sure I was hitting those checkpoints in recovery. And the first thing they told me was during the first six weeks I couldn’t do a thing….as an athlete, being told that was tough…to be completely honest, it sucked. So, I sat there in a sling with my dominant arm inactive. But I decided to take those six weeks to build good habits to help heal my shoulder…eating right, getting the proper recovery, and then just try to keep my mind off things like the different tournaments or fights I missing out on,” Paquette stated. “I created a schedule with my physio team, family, and coaches…but, there were times we tried to gage the progress with the surgeon, and things still were up in the way…and along the way there were some setbacks. But thankfully, as the months went by, there were no complications from the surgery. Obviously, there’s going to be a couple of hiccups along the way, but I stayed focused, and I believed in myself. I really wanted to get back to what I love, and the biggest thing I did was just to be patient, trusting the process and trusting those around me.”
While physically he was recovering well, the mental aspect for the fourth-year Brock University student was a different matter.
“I always did a lot of mental training, visualization, and self-talk. There was doubt with the whole surgery…but there were moments where I didn’t know if I was going to make it back to where I was. People would ask me all the time if I was going to fully recovery. And the truth is, there was always a part of me that carried that doubt. But underneath…no matter how loud that doubt got…I always knew I was going to come back on top…and not simply coming to participate when I was ready. That belief in me wasn’t loud or arrogant….it was quiet and certain,” he explained. “I just kept to myself, stuck to good habits, and also read about other people that have gone through these types of struggles…and these types of injuries. I also had a great support system at home…for example, there’s my dad…who has lived life as a professional hockey player [and] who understands what it actually takes to succeed and what the grind looks like from the inside. That’s an experience that he shared with me [and] that perspective was invaluable. Also, that’s just something I believe Paquette’s do, it’s in our family’s DNA, and we work through struggles…and we come back on top and that’s kind of the mentality I had throughout that whole process.”
However, Paquette learned a great deal from his father, Darryl, who played in the AHL and also signed a contract with the Washington Capitals.
“Growing up as a kid and hearing the amount of perseverance he had throughout his career, that gave me all the confidence in myself to be able to do it myself. Because my dad did it, and that’s my hero, so at the end of the day, going into the surgery…it was scary. There’s some fear going into it, but knowing he went through a similar experience…helped me especially, in his case, with the added pressure of fulfilling a pro contract,” he said. “You understand what you need to do to get back, and the mental side of it, and, and when you can’t do something physically, you have to do it mentally, and that’s something that I take with me wherever I go. It’s something that has been instilled in me and my siblings from a very young age…that you persevere, you don’t quit, and you make sure you do everything you can to make yourself the best athlete or best person you can possibly be. So, having a role model like my father, and a person like that in my life is incredible.”
And through the years family has been a cornerstone in his growth as a person and during recovery, getting a chance to see his sister Addison compete as well hanging out with his brother Linden, who’s a veteran to boxing.
“I’m extremely proud of her, and it honestly makes me tear up watching her do what she loves to do…and my brother is such a great athlete and someone who I continue to learn from. I have the best support system with my brother, sister, mom, and dad. I have an amazing family that supports me with everything I do, so that’s what made this recovery a bit easier…being able to take some time during my recovery to go home and watching all of my sisters basketball games [and] track events, [as well as] hang out with my brother, and go to the gym with him…so having the five of us all together was a big part of what helped me recover and having so much love from them,” he said.
After close to two years recovering, the boxer started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, training with little or no training, he was thrown in the fire, competing at Boxing Canada U23 National Championships in Calgary in March 2026 and capturing gold for the 65-Kilogram division.
“I got that call for a wild card spot, [which] I couldn’t pass up because I already missed out on the Nationals before. This was a sink or swim moment…but, I believed in myself and knew that I was going to win. I am also excited and grateful for the opportunity…to get to enjoy myself in the ring again,” he said. “For the first fight of the tournament. I got in there and I felt calm….after two years of uncertainty, the moment I was back in the ring, I was just grateful to be there. Any doubt had disappeared. I knew that I had put in the work as I healed, trusting the process, and when it came down to it, I just competed… I believed I’d come back and…I was going to go into this tournament and win every round. It was also getting back into the ring and doing something that I loved to do.”
Paquette would go a perfect four and zero in the championships, culminating with the battle against New Brunswick’s Habibullah Hassani in the finals with a unanimous decision.
“I was beaten and bruised after three long fights with physical fatigue setting in. I hadn’t done this in two years….so after three fights I loaded up the ice bath, sat there for 10 to 15 minutes, recovered my body, and then just told myself: ‘I got one more to go.’ And so that’s when I went into that finals… confident, ready to go…I already beat three guys…and now it was time to enjoy that last fight of the tournament…as I owed to myself after that time away. I deserved this moment…to show myself and all those around me what I could still do. So that was a big moment for me.”
While the accolades are special, there is much more to it, then standing on the podium as Paquette noted.
“It’s amazing…[but] receiving that medal….doesn’t capture the battle. What I’m thinking is people see these pictures of me winning these medals. I come home, [and] I show it to my family, but it doesn’t capture the bad days in rehab. For one, a stretch can feel like a setback, or the mornings you wake up, and you genuinely don’t know if you will feel the same in the ring again. The picture at the end looks good, but the two years leading up to that wasn’t. What I want people to understand is that the real thing is everything that happens when nobody’s watching….the quiet commitment….showing up every day towards a goal that has no clear end date, and that’s where the actual work lives,” he reflected. “The medal is just a moment that becomes visible to everybody else..but, for me, coming back wasn’t really about proving something to other people…it was about proving to myself that I am who I say I am, and when things got hard and uncertain…I maintained control. I didn’t walk away. I think that’s what I’ll carry through my life rather than any result.”
Paquette also rejoined Team Canada, being away from the program since 2024, and got a chance to fight at the 9th Eindhoven Box Cup in May 2026.
“It all happened so fast. I just had that amazing win at nationals, and I come back home mid-exams, and I get that email that I’m going to the Netherlands. It filled me with a sense of pride and a lot of joy….because it’s something that I worked so hard to get to, and to have something like this happen, and work through it, and be able to come back. And enjoying Team Canada again, because technically at the time I was that number one guy, and I never really lost my spot, it was filled because of my injury,” Paquette recalled. “Coming back and being on top again was amazing, because I wasn’t proving to anyone that I was the best, because everybody knew that that’s the way I left, but it was proving that I could come back better than ever.”
However, Paquette was up against Olympian Artur Kuzmenko, in the European tournament.
“Over my 12-year career, I’ve had many international fights and I know that I’m one of the best in the world…so, this opportunity to prove it once again, and come back off that two-year layoff, would confirm this. My first fight back internationally showed me that I hadn’t lost anything. If anything, that time away sharpened me, and then losing to the eventual winner in the quarters just shows me that I’m closer. I’d rather test myself against the best and learn that then just show up and collect an easy win. Every round, and every exchange at that level is building towards something, and I’m not rebuilding, I’m back, and I’m growing, and losing to a European champion just means I’m closer to where I want to be,” he said.
Recently, with the local World Gym closed, the APT boxing club, where Paquette trained, needed to find a new home. They would end up merging with Bell City Boxing headed by the legendary Bill Williams.
“It was really sad….because it was our gym, and we took a lot of pride in having a place where we created a family, but we brought that family over to Bell City, which is exciting. Bill has welcomed our club and me with open arms and has allowed me to train at the gym during this training camp [as well as] allowing Sebastian, my coach, to come in and work with me at the gym here in Brantford,” he said. “It’s great to see my dad and Bill…build a bond and pick each other’s brain. I know he has a lot of experience, and he just got inducted into the Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition…and it’s awesome being able to learn and to grow all together and to also build a family within a gym.”
Another key element to Paquette’s growth as a boxer has been his coach, Sebastian Cordova.
“We have a special bond. We understand each other in and out of the ring. It was difficult during those two because I know how passionate he is, and I know how much he is willing to invest in me, and he’s just such an amazing coach. He puts his whole heart and soul into the sport, and being able to come back and share my victory was special….he’s been with me for a long time now, and we’ve built a very strong foundation and relationship, and I’m very excited to see what’s in store in the future,” Paquette stated.
Now the National Champion will be looking to build on his recent success and looking ahead to the 2028 Olympics.
“I will be heading to the training camp for the Commonwealth Games in Ireland… just being in that environment around that level of talent is something I’m looking forward to. I can’t compete in this cycle since I’ve only been back for two months, and there was a qualifying process already in place, but I see that as an opportunity. There’s a possibility I do get a fight during this camp, which would be huge, but either way, there’s no pressure. I want to absorb everything, get rounds in, and keep building. And then from the rest of the year, this year’s packed singular fights, local and national tournaments, as well as a few international ones. And with each fight, I’m getting the chance to get sharper and better. The goal is to be peaking at the right time for the Olympic qualifiers, and right now every competition I take is laying another brick to build that foundation towards making it to Los Angeles. I’m focused on staying healthy, consistent, and making the most of every opportunity that is presented to me.”
Nevertheless, Paquette reflected on his career up to this point and what he expects of himself going forward.
“I’ve had many victories, setbacks, and everything that could have happened to an athlete…and even with these two years off, and these 12 years of boxing…it has been full of many special moments…making me the man I am today. It’s really brought me a lot of perspective on not only what I want to do as an athlete and who I want to be as a person, but also what I can do for others, and how can I make a difference when I walk into every gym or compete in any tournament…and just spread around the 12 years of experience I have to the younger generation of fighters..and telling them that things will work out and to work hard, and believe in yourself,” he said. “The mind can do great things. Not only is it a physical sport, but there’s a mental, there’s a huge mental aspect to it, and that’s what I try to tell those around me….you can do great things. People are going to tell you that you can’t do this or you can’t do that….and of course, your career might could be over because of an injury or bad coaching…but it’s all up to you…to stay consistent and building relationships and good habits yourself and helping them become the best boxers and people they can be as well, and giving back to the sport that’s given me so much.”
