Wyatt Sanford was the first Canadian boxer to medal since David Defiagbon in 1996. It’s something he doesn’t take lightly as he goes about building his professional resume.

Sanford, 5-0 (2 KOs), who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, is set to return on Thursday against Alexis Gabriel Camejo in a scheduled six-round bout. The fight is contracted at 137lbs, as Sanford is slowly working his way down to the lightweight championship limit of 135lbs.

Sanford, now 27, fell to eventual gold medal winner Sofiane Oumiha at the Games but broke the long Canadian cold snap in boxing. Notably, Sanford defeated Ruslan Abdullaev, a top prospect, to get to the medal rounds.

Astute boxing fans have watched Sanford’s development since he turned professional last May to see if he can become the next Canadian belt holder. On the morning of this interview, Sanford recalled training with a group of young amateurs who aim to represent Canada in the 2028 Olympics. 

“I had one guy there today – I think he is 16 – and he looked at me and said, ‘It feels like yesterday I was watching you in Paris,’” Sanford told BoxingScene. “‘Now you are standing beside me in the gym.’”

Sanford has been active as a young pro, fighting five times in less than seven months in his first year. For this camp, he is training in Montreal, away from his small town of Kennetcook, Nova Scotia, Canada, and he’s getting plenty of aggressive work from sparring partners familiar with his Olympic background.

“I know one thing: Every time I go to Montreal and get in with some amateurs, it is funny,” Sanford told BoxingScene. “They have something to prove and try taking my head off in sparring.” 

Sanford’s next test is Camejo, 10-5-1 (1 KO), who is a veteran when it comes to facing Eye of the Tiger fighters. Last year, he faced Jhon Orobio and Dzmitry Asanau on the promotion’s cards. Camejo, a 32-year-old from San Lorenzo, Santa Fe, Argentina, lost a unanimous decision to both and has been stopped only once in his career. Sanford explains the adjustment from being a high-level amateur to becoming a world-class professional.  

“It is the same game but completely different,” Sanford said. “In the amateurs, as soon as I saw an opportunity, I went. It was just go, go, go. In the pros, you see the opportunity, but you still have to sit and land a big shot and try to do some damage, which I am not used to.” 

Sanford is aiming to fight in eight-round bouts next. Once he steps up to 10-rounders, he says, he will consider himself a contender.

Sanford will forever hold a place in Canadian boxing history, and his hope is that history will repeat itself a bit more often in the future. 

“Even though we broke the drought of 28 years, hopefully it won’t take another 28 before Canada can get another medal,” Sanford said. “I think it will help inspire a lot of the youth coming up.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.