Bear Attack: A Boxing Enthusiast’s Blow-By-Blow Account

Bear attacks usually end up one way, that is, the bear walks away the winner. But this time, it’s different, when a boxing aficionado decides to trust his instincts and tries out a different tack — his boxing chops. Rick Nelson is a 61-year-old man from Sudbury, Ontario in Canada. National Post has this to say about his “boxing match” with a 300-pound black bear.

“Last Sunday, Nelson, 61 was walking in the wilderness outside Sudbury with his wife’s favorite dog, a five-year-old mongrel named Maggie. He had just reached the top of a ravine and tied Maggie to a tree when a bear cub poked its head out of a nearby thicket.”

And Nelson goes on to describe the prelude to the bear attack: “It makes out its call and my dog went berserk so now I know the mother’s coming.”

'Bring it on, Bear" – CBC readers react to Rick Nelson, the #Sudbury man who punched a black bear https://t.co/NnbfYfKGCt

— CBC Sudbury (@CBCSudbury) July 7, 2016

According to Vancouver Sun, the best way to deal with a bear attack situation is to run as fast as you can, like a woman did in Maple Ridge, Canada.

Unfortunately for Nelson, it’s like the devil and the deep blue sea. Running was not an option since Nelson was facing a deep ravine. So he was left with only one option — face his opponent head on. And according to the man, the bear just went ahead, ran its course toward him and attacked like Achilles in the movie, Troy.

Hikers asked 'not to play dead prematurely' if they spot a bear https://t.co/NAqfWNeSy1

— The Independent (@Independent) July 5, 2016

As a young man, Nelson was an avid fan of boxing, indulging in the sport whenever he could. Now that he’s 61 years old, the closest to boxing he does is an exercise with the punching bag some mornings which luckily, serves him well in this bear attack.

For a second there, he thought of finding something to put between him and the bear attack situation just as Wiki How advises in case of a grizzly attack, but there was no time. The mother bear was simply too swift even for thought.

In the first round of the bear attack, Nelson tells the source how “it” went down, prompting the source to ask, which went down the bear or him? And the 61-year-old confirms that it was the bear which landed on its butt like a confused cub. This was after the man responded to the brown bear’s left paw swing with a quick jab on his attacker’s mouth.

In the interview with National Post, Nelson ruled out the animal’s territorial nature as the trigger in the violent bear encounter.

The bear does get up in the second round, this time with its right paw flying in the air. And the boxer enthusiast throws the best punch of his life, hitting the opponent right on the nose, knocking the bear down once more.

Did Nelson think that he was already the winner in this bear attack? Not in the least. He actually thought that he was only a few seconds away from the end of his life. After all, it was only a matter of time before the aggressive mother bear would get up to finish a lopsided match that was triggered by the grizzly’s maternal instinct to protect her cub.

Third round? Apparently not. In Nelson’s own words: “But right then the cub called again. And the bear just turned around and walked away, like it had never even met me.”

The bear attack victim “suffered some minor scrapes and one deeper cut in the fight.”

In the fight of his life, it never occurred to Nelson to play dead, just as the character of Leonardo Di Caprio does in the movie, The Revenant, according to The Inquisitr. Still, Rocky Balboa will be proud. Channeling one’s inner boxer appears to be another effective counter strategy to a bear attack. But folks, don’t try this at home unless you have Nelson’s boxing chops.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]