Boxing [View all]

[H2O Man]

I’m getting ready to pick up a friend, then head to the boxing/mma gym where my son trains. After his work-out, we’ll go to his apartment, to watch the ESPN Friday Night Fights. They come on at 10 pm/est, and I’d recommend tonight’s main event to DU sports fans, as it should be an action-packed bout.

In the past, we’ve had trouble getting sparring for my boy. He’s a bit over 6’ tall, and can compete anywhere from 195 to 215 lbs. Not big for today’s heavyweights; but unless it was a 6’ 6”, 250-lb opponent, he can fight in that division. (Amateurs have a “super heavyweight” division, but the professionals do not.) And the cruiserweight division is an option, too.

Since he’s getting sparring, we’re looking for him to debut in the pros in May. We’ll be traveling to next week’s ESPN FNFs, in part to see the undercard for potential victims.

Since January, when he started sparring, 80% of the sparring partners have quit after one round. I’m only having my boy go at about 50% with them, and they are using the 16-ounce gloves and headgear. But this kid punches very, very hard: this spring will mark the 50th anniversary of my first amateur bout, and in all of these years, I’ve never seen a local or regional fighter that has such punching power. (I have seen guys like Joe Frazier and Ernie Shavers live, and so I have seen some top fighters with unbelievable power! I’m not comparing my boy’s to theirs’ ….but there are similarities: an unconscious opponent is unconscious.)

On good nights, we line up four good guys, and have them rotate round by round, so my boy does 12 to 16 straight rounds. The other guys get an extended rest period between the rounds they are in the ring. I’m working on his delivery of punches, because it doesn’t matter how hard you punch, if you are connecting.

He’s pleased to find that the more he improves, the more I can teach him. Young lions tend to be impatient, and want to learn every trick of the trade NOW. But it doesn’t work that way. Still, in the past month, a lot of his rounds of sparring end early. Tough guys find themselves bleeding, flat on their back, or with the wind knocked out of them. And these are bigger, more experienced fighters than him.

I’ll try to remember to get some good photos to post here soon.