Cranbrook's Colin Adams could begin his assault on Canada Winter Games boxing gold tonight in Halifax.

Depending on the draw, he could be in the ring today for a 52-kg quarterfinal bout. If he does, he's got plenty of reason to hope it goes well.

"The thing that sucks is my parents come Tuesday and the fights start Monday, so if I get drawn and I lose it will be a waste of money for my parents because I won't fight after that," said the 16-year-old.

Adams has set himself up well, however, especially if hard work is any indication. He said he is in the best shape of his life. To get there, he has been running more - including the stairs at the Rec Plex - and added an extra night of training at the Cranbrook Eagles gym each week.

Since he has trouble finding willing participants in his own weight class, Adams has had to rely on sparring to prepare. He spars with a wide range of club mates, and coach Tom White. Adams has even stepped into the ring with his father Larry, who donned the biggest head gear available and other pieces of safety equipment.

"It's kind of awkward," said Adams. "I don't really want to hit him, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to hit me."

Adams aims to win his first fight at the Winter Games and see where that takes him.

"Hopefully a gold," he said. "The Saskatchewan coach said I have a good chance of winning it this year because I sparred with one of his kids that was a lot heavier. He said 'If you go out there fighting a guy this much heavier, you'll be really good against your own (weight)."

He competed at the nationals last year in Halifax, and returned home with bronze Adams lost a close fight to the eventual champion, who in turn easily won the gold medal final.

"Now everybody is expecting a little more out of him," said Larry, who is encouraging his son to do his best in Halifax and be content with that.

"It's pretty tough sometimes, especially when you see what's going on and you look at the other kids and their records. You start having second thoughts and it's pretty tough to get through that. It's probably one of the toughest things in the sport."

Competing in Nova Scotia presents a challenge in getting accustomed to a different time zone. Last year Adams said he got sick because of it - not that it was all bad.

"I didn't make weight one day, and then I got sick and I made weight by two pounds, which is good," he laughed.

While Larry will watch from the crowd (he hopes), Eagles coach Bill Watson will be ringside. He is an assistant coach with the B.C. contingent.

While Larry said it's important for high-calibre boxers to get used to having new coaches regularly - "It's a good thing, because every coach you're going to pick up something from," he said - Adams is looking forward to having Watson there.

"The coach last year kind of just said, 'Go out there and do your thing.' But Bill knows what I've done wrong, and says 'Fix that.' I do it, and it works out."

One thing that Adams has learned under his Boxing B.C. tutelage is how to control his breathing; it was a tip he learned at a camp late last summer.

"I used to just throw punches out of the blue. Now I pick my shots and when he comes to hit me, I back up, take a breath and slow my heart rate down," he said. "Then I'm back to 100 per cent. In the corner I do that. I breathe as much as I can, and the first round is like my third round. I'm good for the entire fight. Breathing is the main thing."

Since last year's national championship, Adams said he has worked more on counterpunching, reacting more than initiating.

With 17 fights under his belt, Adams will possibly face fighters that have been in four or five times as many bouts as him.

"I'm proud of him, no doubt," said his dad. "When you saw him at nationals last year, he was right up there with the top guys in his division, and they've had a lot more experience. Still, it would be better if we could get him more experience in the ring, boxing. It's totally different than sparring because it's more intense."

Less time in the ring means Adams trains harder out of it.

"I want to show them that, even though I haven't been boxing for that long and have a small amount of fights, I'm still at their level," said Adams. "They'd probably think I'm really bad because I have 17 fights and they'll get overconfident.

"Then they'll see."