Your Boxing Resume

Been boxing off and on most of my life but have never stopped watching or following it. I haven't competed since my early twenties but started training and doing light sparring about a year ago. I'm 43 years old and the second oldest guy at my gym. Hopefully my knees continue to hold out.

 

Used to be kind of an antisocial delinquent before boxing. Boxing gave me a purpose, and a hero. Multiple inspiration figures, honestly.

I'd done other martial arts before, BJJ, Taekwondo, none really had a future in them, nor 1/10th the history of boxing.

Sadly I've yet to have even an amateur fight, but I'm excited for when the day comes, and I love sparring. Sparring is almost addicting

 

Been watching and following boxing for almost 30 years now (especially closely over the past 15 or so). I'm pretty sure I've watched over a thousand fights in the past 5 years or so. I've probably attended somewhere around 10-15 boxing cards with world-class talent on them, and been ringside for a few of them (overrated). I've worked out for relatively brief periods of time at several different boxing gyms over the years, and I've had a good number of one-on-one lessons from guys who train pro contenders and amateur champions (helped me gain a MUCH better understanding of the sport) and worked out alongside several high-ranked pros.

 

I love boxing, there's always legends and great fights from every era. I've been around boxing for a lot of my life. I've had 5 bouts so far, and I'm gonna have a lot more!

 

I met Butterbean at a small local show in St Louis, where I'm from... He wasn't fighting that night that I remember, but I shook his hand and introduced myself...

Vonda Ward was fighting that night and gaining popularity. After having a bunch of beer, I approached Vonda and her father to introduce myself. I was speaking to her father when I said "I have a great nickname for Vonda"... He nodded out of obligation, assuming he wasn't going to be amused.

I set my hand in the air as if to present this great thing and said in a German accent "Vonda, the 8th Vonda of the Vold"...
Vonda, who was standing behind her father, and her father both looked as if they wanted to kill me. Deadpan stare... Thoroughly unamused.

I walked away laughing and shrugging.

 

I never boxed.

The most I did was practice on a speed bag in my basement in High School.

I could throw great well timed combinations just from watching a lot of boxing.

I would never want to get hit in the head, though.

 

I'm from St louis as well. I started boxing at South Side athletic club when I was younger. St louis has such a great boxing history with guys like Henry Armstrong, Spinks brothers, Liston and of course Archie Moore.

We used to have so many good fights here but now we just get the occasional amatuer fight. Last pro card I remember was James Toney losing a few years back to a journeyman. Corey Spinks and Devin Alexander use to draw well but outside of those two, MMA has taken over the local fight scene.

 

I boxed and read about, studied Boxing since about 20 (41 now), learning at the PAL gym in East St Louis. Learned and sparred for years there, but always had my own gym at home, including a ring, so I ended up at various points gaining groups of guys coming to learn, spar, whatever. Went another gym in St Charles for a while as well. Trained a ton of guys to box. Lots of guys just dont come back after a couple times. Street fighting guys.

Moved to Phoenix, found a PAL gym here but it was far away and had small kids then. Sparred a couple times there.

There was a heavy bag there shaped like a bananna it had been clobbered so much... On the wall next to it was a picture of Duran hitting that very bag in the same spot I was standing, so that was pretty cool to beat on the same bag Duran had in the 80's... Got a humbling ass-whipping there at the hands of an amateur about to turn pro, about 135lbs. I was 195ish and out of shape at the time... As the coach is lacing up my gloves, he says "don't take it easy on him just cause he's way smaller, cause he aint gonna take it easy on you". Well, I was gassed by round 3. He was moving and hitting me plenty. Didn't hurt at all, just so tiring. I did tag him with a good right that stopped him from being so aggressive for about 30seconds, then he was back to it hahaha... A helpless feeling being so exhausted and knowing you can't put out the energy necessary to do what you should be able to.
At all these gyms, I've sparred plenty of amateurs and pros. Good enough to give them a workout, but not good enough to dedicate the time into it that it would require to be a sucessful amateur or pro. Always had decent jobs and other things going on.
Always having a speed bag, double end bags, heavy bags, mitts, etc I could always go into a gym and hit the bags and mitts as good or better than anyone, which put a target on my back on several occasions by guys who had something to prove. That earned me several broken noses and some good fights hahaa.

I have a pretty good fight collection, semi-regularly having "fight night" to bbq, beer, watch fights with like-minded buddies. I'll select a fight or pitch a couple fights so they can choose which one or ones we'll watch. Always fun watching classic fights with people.

Still hit the bags and occasionally spar. Just to stay in shape.

Semi-regularly talk sh*t on a boxing forum with some very knowledgeable members, some I disagree with, but still valuable to read their insights.

 

I am currently an antisocial delinquent. Hopefully I will make the transition to ESB Respected Poster soon.

 

I'm still working on that one. When i finally become one, i expect McVey and Janitor to hand me a diamond encrusted plaque with my name on it

 

I hit the heavy bag on a regular basis. I've never had an actual bout. My style is weird -- I'm a southpaw whose main punch is a right hook. I throw it similar to how Joe Frazier threw his left, grunt and all. I'm currently 150-1 against my heavy bag.

 

I boxed in a mini-golden gloves exhibition as a youngster in the mid-sixties.
Worked briefly at Champ Cheney's gym in the early seventies (he trained Marvin Johnson early on).
I was impressed that Champ had a lot of 'comers' he was training but still took the time to work a little with me.
I'm a southpaw and always wanted to be converted to a rightie. I'm pretty ambidextrous so I had a decent right but always thought I could use my left hook if I switched.
I wasn't going anywhere; I could bleed and I was a counterpuncher. But...I could take a wallop! Never got decked
Had a couple of buds, one who had boxed in the Navy; we sparred together with others who had some talent. Unfortunately they were smaller than me. My black bud from the north side of Indy was the only one who I could have a decent 'scrap' with, but, I was a 175+ er and he was 225 with movement and power. He always bested me but I did get my shots in! That's my 'career'.

 

The first boxing match i saw was tyson vs holyfield 2 on ppv live. I was 6 years old and got distracted playing with the other kids when i heard a bunch of screaming. The whole room was on it's feet and I saw the replay of tyson taking a chunk out of holtfield's ear like it was corn on the cob! I couldn't believe what i was seeing and it didnt leave a good impression on me. It made me think boxing was like some illegal underground resurrection of the roman gladiator days. I didnt know what to think.

Years later i got invited to a friends house. He orderes the maywearher vs oscar de la hoya fight 2007 so i was a junior in HS. I took a mild interest in boxing again and did a book report on muhammad ali in my sophomore year and watched some of his fights on youtube. I was impressed with Floyd's skill and hand speed but was disappointed that it was a split decision and neither guy took any real damage. It looked more like a sparring match.

It was around this time I started taking boxing classes at my dojo. There was a guy names "Greg Wright" who was a former NABF light heavyweight champ. Guy was very outspoken and hilarious, went on random rants about politics, sports, movies etc. He even claimed Roy Jones was ducking him and gave elaborate reasons why to anyone who'd listen. Anyway, he was a great trainer and taught the importance of a good jab, balance, and road work to stay in shape throughout the year so youd have gpod wind in case a fight is arranged suddenly. I did lots of sparring and practiced there for 2 years and considered doing amateur boxing but he got fires after falling out with head dojo instructor. I changed my mind and continued my college education, i didnt like the new guys they hired and it felt like i was always starting over from scratch since everyone had their way of doing things.

I didnt become a "hardcore" fan until I got bored one day and visited internet forums and read intense vs debates. I was too ignorant to contribute so I caught up on boxing history reading articles, biographies, and watching fights. Eventually i used thay knowledge to improve my own boxing schools and became better at judging fights while i watched them. It also helped when i taught my students (i taught a boy's self defense class for 6 months at a community center) and when i eventually took up boxing and kickboxing again more recently.

Every once in a while I order the major ppv guys like the recent broner/pacquiao, wilder fury etc and host dinner for friends of mine. Im currently working on a boxing blog.

 

Sparred other amateurs at the Al Davies Boys Club in Tacoma back in the mid-80's. I was terrible but I was complimented on my power and gorilla-like awkwardness. I had nothing else . Oh, I'm left handed too, to further complicate things.

At the gym, I saw people like Tim Broady, Sugar Ray Seales ( hung out there a lot in retirement) net Leo Randolph (nicest guy ever) and Johnny Bumphus. Lockridge also came out of that gym, but he had already established himself in Jersey with the Duvas by then. Bumphus had too, but he just stopped by one day for a workout.