I got home from drinking one night and decided to have a little workout. I threw a hard right hook to the bag and it swung back and hit me as it was coming forward. A few hours later I woke up. Moral of the story: Don't workout while hammered.
I have had several double end bags come down from the top flinging that eye bolt screw it's fastened to the ceiling with come down at me... Missed me every time... Had them come around and smack me too. Never a heavy bag though... I have sparred many many times after big ppv fights with buddies who get mouthy and brave after we've been drinking... I still have new mouthpieces in the packages in my lockers for people who say they would spar, but they just dont have a mouthpiece... Heard it so many times I started keeping them around. The looks I've seen on faces after I tell them I have a new one for them and we can boil it right now is pure gold. Seen it a ton of times. Most of the time, they go through with it reluctantly. (I'm not a d*ck that beats them up and goes all crazy, but just let them punch, make them miss, let them know it isn't so easy... Prolly tag 'em a few times.) Any bag that fails, meaning speed bags or double end bags I rip off the assembly, like the loop that holds them on, I keep as a trophy... Also I have trouble throwing away gloves, no matter how bad of shape they're in. Have a bunch.
Another memory of attending a local card... Again, having had too many beers in me, was talking to people I didn't know, found myself talking with a kid who asked what I thought about the fights so far... I said the highlight so far was this kid who looked great, moving jabbing, putting his hands all over this dude... For some reason the kid stopped what was working and started slugging with the other kid and BOOM- KO'd.... It was a very resounding, one-punch KO. I said something like "Maaan, he was doing so good, but he got stupid and got F*CKED UP SON!!!", really animated and loudly exclaiming in this guy's face... He got an awkward look on his face and tilted his head to the side and said "Uhh, that was me." I laughed and told him how great he looked until then and that indeed he shouldn't have abandoned what was working... I think he was too awkwardly shocked to be upset at me, and I think it was clear I wasn't being a jerk, but just saying what I saw (plus inebriated)... Broke the awkwardness with a hard laugh and that was the end of that conversation.
My family had a bit of history with boxing, as Hispanics, my mom watched Muhammad Ali, Raúl Macias and Sugar Ray Leonard fights when she was growing up, and my dad was an avid Tyson fan. I always kind of liked boxing, but I never truly got into it until my best friend started talking to me about it and its rich history... Then I started researching and informing myself on the sweet science, and now I'm aiming to be a professional. It's helped me out by inspiring me and helping me find a passion in life.
He was the coach of Ray Seales, Rocky Lockridge, Johnny Bumphus, Leo Randolph, Davey Armstrong, and Dale Grant at the Tacoma Boys Club in the early-to-mid 1970s. Amazing for a relatively small community like Tacoma to have so many great amateur fighters. I believe Tom Mustin took over for him around 1980. Clough has spent most of the time since coaching in Asia. I thought you might have run into him, but maybe he didn't visit Tacoma much after he left. Check out these stories: http://brickcityboxing.com/2017/11/10/joe-clough-developed-olympians-future-world-champions/ http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Ken/Hissner091109.htm Here's a picture of Clough with Ray Seales in the 1970s. I don't know if this will project on the thread: This content is protected
Hmmm.....no, don't remember ever seeing him. I was there in '86, so some time after he left. I remember Davey Lee Armstrong though . He was retired by then but would hang around and joke with the coaches.
As a kid and a teenager I found I had a talent for street fighting (nothing real brutal or serious, I lived in a small town suburb) and decided to channel some of this into boxing because it seemed like it would just be so much damn fun. May dad tried to dissuade me but arranged to have me meet with a friend's son who was a former golden gloves fighter to get some pointers and an informal assessment. We met the guy at a gym in the nearest large(ish) city and although I was obviously very green, the guy seemed impressed and said I had some of the fastest hands he'd ever seen. (He actually blinked in surprise when I first started throwing on the heavy bag.) However my dad also arranged for a family friend who was a neurologist to explain the neurological risks, and that's pretty much as far as it went. Mind you, I had, and still have, what some might say is a phobia (though I would not) of anything that could even potentially kill brain cells, to the point that I won't even drink tap water from any building constructed prior to ~1980 unless I know firsthand it contains no lead plumbing. I don't regret not having become a boxer, but I do regret not getting some solid evidence one way or the other of how good I could have been. It's the wondering that bothers me.
Sounds like you had a good dad. Balanced approach. I'm sure many would have liked to have that kind of leadership and resources. Also haha on the tap water... Not as averse to losing brain cells as you, but just as much of a water snob...
First boxing memory was I think 1989 when I have a vague, fuzzy recollection of watching Tyson vs Bruno on a Sunday afternoon, I had no idea what was going on obviously (only 4 at the time). Became a fan proper in summer of 1996 as a kid when our family began subscribing to Sky TV and I watched Naseem Hamed vs Manuel Medina, was pretty much hooked after that. As a teenager used to spar with mates at home - living room and kitchens (LOL) then decided to go to a proper boxing club in town to train and spar, I was OK but nothing special, never went beyond that. In the UK in late 90's/early 2000's boxing TV coverage was limited with a lot of top fighters being shown rarely or not at all (Roy Jones, Floyd, Tszyu, Hopkins, Trinidad and others) so I became a regular purchaser of new and old fights via tape trading (£10 for a 3 hour tape and £12 for a 4 hour tape) - the guy I bought from would put whatever fights you wanted on his list and his list comprised of just about every fight that had been recorded. I think at one point I had a collection of close to 20 tapes but by about 2004 my interest in boxing faded slightly and a few years later Youtube arrived and there was no reason to use tape or DVD traders. Still a fan after almost 23 years.
