Watch out for the ‘mitt men’

A pair of focus mitts do not instantly make someone a boxing trainer.  But it’s very easy for the untrained eye to think so. Pads are all about sound and movement, that’s why they are used in open training sessions and any TV piece on boxing. Wow, that sounds good, that guy hits hard.

But is it, to paraphrase Shakespeare, just a lot of sound and fury signify nothing?

I love punching the pads, I must admit, although I’ve never really settled into a routine with a trainer, so every time I punch them I feel like I’m a beginner, even though I have been boxing for many years, nearly 15 of them now.

But I do a lot of sparring and one thing I notice about pads is, they are not like sparring. They are more like learning dance moves. Hitting a target with two heads that come towards you instead of a target with one head that often moves away from you and if they come towards you they are throwing punches too. And with pads, you’re doing what you’re told and not responding to what you see in the way your opponent moves. You’re listening not watching, which is so different from the real thing.

It always makes me wonder a little about the efficacy of the mitts. Despite the feel-good factor, is most of the serious learning going on in other ways, like when you’re sparring and your corner tells you to try something and it works? Or when you’re shadow boxing and learning to throw punches on balance? Or when you are watching quality fighters and are inspired to imitate them?

My biggest problem is that the sight of a mitt, makes me, and I think a lot of people, want to hit hard rather than crisp, so I become tense and anxious to please. Punching a mitt can be satisfying, though, it can get your heart rate up and make you work. But is it actually doing you any good as a fighter? Are you learning?

Now that the mitt is on the other hand, so to speak, I believe the mitts are quite a good teaching tool, especially if you’re trying to get someone to snap their punches. But they have to be used in combination with other tools; glove work, shadow boxing, heavy bag, double end bag, slip ball and, perhaps the most important tool of all, quality sparring with a good pair of eyes watching you. And that includes good drill work that helps two boxers work offence and defence together. Sometimes the right community in the gym is the best tool of all.

There are some who believe that the pads have become a substitute for actual knowledge. But that might be taking it a bit far since most of the high profile trainers today like Freddie Roach and Roger Mayweather use them.

But in Mike Silver’s book ‘The Arc of Boxing: The rise and decline of the sweet science’, focus pads get a pretty harsh assessment. And the critique is worth considering if you’re in the process of searching for the right boxing trainer. It might help you sort out fact from fiction.

‘The vacuum of expert teacher-trainers has created a fertile breeding ground for gimmickry and artifice that is of little use to a fighter,’ Silver writes. One of these, he says, is, ‘the ubiquitous use of what are popularly known as ‘punch pads’ or ‘focus pads’.

‘These oversized gloves, similar in size and cushioning to a catcher’s mitt, fit over the trainer’s hands to act as targets while the fighter hits them with a series of combinations. Punch pads were apparently rediscovered after showing up in the Rocky movies in the early 1980s. Every boxing movie now has the requisite scene of a fighter working out with the punch pads. Before Sylvester Stallone incorporated punch pads into his movies they were virtually non-existent.’

It’s worth observing Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby to see how little concern for reality Hollywood has when it comes to the sweet science. Clint is great. But you wouldn’t want him doing pads for you. Not when he holds them a mile apart, virtually down by his waist, and with such limp wrists.

‘Pad workouts are colourful. They are fun to do and watch but their contribution to enhancing a boxer’s skill is negligible. Although punch pads had been around since the early 1950s, old school trainers rarely, if ever, used them. They believed that hitting the pads with the same combinations over and over had limited teaching potential and emphasised a robotic ‘bang, bang’ style of boxing. Their use did not encourage the fighter to think.’

Silver goes on to say that the pads were meant to refine the execution of a specific punch, to help master the mechanics, not to act as the only means of training a boxer.

He interviews 1950s fighter, trainer and former Ring correspondent Tony Arnold and the famous commentator, Detroit based trainer and Kronk gym owner Emanuel Steward.

Arnold questions how a trainer can properly see how balanced the fighter is if he is constantly catching punches, particularly at seeing how balanced a fighter is if he misses punches, which as we know, is a big part of the game.

And I wonder about that too. You don’t want fighters, or aspiring fighters, bouncing off the pads, using them to hold themselves up. But if you are observant, you can avoid that. Which means pads might be OK in the right hands. You so often see personal trainers using them with no clue as to how they might be properly used to teach boxing. Probably they got their style from Clint.

But maybe combined with knowledge, pads aren’t all bad.

Steward says they look good and impress the crowd and the ‘media guys’ but there’s ‘very little actually being taught’.

Maybe not for the seasoned veteran. But most fighters warm up on them before a fight. Going to the amateurs you hear the constant pop-pop-pop as the fighter prepare. However, I know in my last two fights in the United States. I warmed myself up, as I would in the gym, with some skipping and shadow boxing. And my performance in the fights was not hampered by the absence of pads.

Silver’s conclusion?

‘Before the1980s punch pads were never part of a boxer’s regular workout routine. Far from being an improvement, their ubiquitous presence is yet another indication of the dumbed down quality of today’s boxing instruction.’

Lately I’ve seen some really shocking padwork. People who know less than zero about boxing making a lot of noise when their people hit the pads. They slam the mitts into the boxers fists, shout a lot of encouragement and have them charging forward in ways that will probably get them knocked out if they try it against an actual boxer with skills and pop.

You also see these people in the park early in the morning training boot campers, having them throw punches across their bodies, dropping their hands so they are flailing and unbalanced. They may as well be swimming or doing Zumba.

So look for the warning signs

No combinations,

No footwork

No defence – slipping, blocking, weaving, dipping

Lots of shouting

All forward movement, no backwards movement with punching

Slamming pads into fists to make the punches sound louder and harder

No instruction

No rhythm

No understanding of the ebb and flow of combat

Holding the pads far apart from each other, too wide so the boxer punches across his/her body

Here’s Steward talking about the pads if you want to hear what a top line, old school trainer with decades of knowledge has to say.

Bruised then and now

More than ten years ago when the first edition of ‘Bruising’ was published I did this interview with James Griffin for the ABC’s books and literature program The Last Word.

That was in the days when I was still willing to put up with having long hair. And I even organised to have a shiner just for the occasion! It was filmed in our old flat in Elwood and  at the Underworld Gym in the city, with Sam holding the pads.

Winning the battle of wills

‘Dirty’ Diana Prazak, a relative newcomer to boxing, battled, not just the seasoned Canadian world champion Lindsay Garbatt, but waves of self doubt as she entered the ring last night (Saturday September 24) to fight and win the Women’s International Boxing Association super-featherweight world championship belt in front of a home crowd in Melbourne, Australia.

Fighting like girls. Hernandez with Mick Hargreaves, Diana Prazak and team.

Prazak had a lot of pressure riding her into the ring. It would be the first time an Australian woman would fight the reigning champion for the belt. She was in front of a hyped hometown crowd. She was undefeated as an amateur and had only one loss as a pro, a baptism of fire against Gladiator Sarah ‘Missy’ Howett.

And Garbatt, a security guard and former body builder, has a name on the world stage, battling from an underdog position to champ in her four-year pro career, facing some tough competition – including Jeannine Garside and Jelena Mrdjenovich – while Prazak had been swimming in a more modest pool of women, most recently beating NZ kickboxer Bronwyn Wylie at the same venue.

'Dirty' Di digs to the body. Pictures. Werner Kalin.

There were many unanswered questions floating in her head before the fight. Garbatt was a major step up for Prazak, who like Melissa Hernandez, the US multiple world champ hired to help her prepare, came to boxing initially only to shed some weight. Both women last night showed that a certain determination is transferrable with Hernandez making quick work of the Kiwi journey-woman Christina Tai with a fourth round TKO in their lightweight bout and Prazak forcing Grabatt to concede before the start of the tenth and final round, the doctor stopping the fight because she could no longer see out of a swollen left eye. Relief and jubilation combined to finally answer some of those doubts that had earlier plagued her.

Melissa 'Hurricane' Hernandez and Christina Tai.

The fight brought the Australian’s record to 9-1 while Garbatt dropped to 7-4 and one draw against Melissa Hernandez, who also had a points loss to Garbatt in 2010.

Before the stoppage the judges had the fight even and Garbatt certainly had the edge in the early rounds when nerves and uncertainty saw Prazak hit the canvas in a flash knockdown that looked to be part slip. From that point on Prazak had a sense of urgency about her that didn’t so much shock the visitor, since she is a solid fighter who has been in with the best. But it did, finally wear her down. Diana returned to her corner after each round as if every second of the two minutes had been the fight of her life and she had held nothing back. She was up against a boxer with more skill and experience, also known for her heart and strength and she had brought her A-game downunder.

Prazak has been repeatedly labelled the mini Jeff Fenech, but it would be more appropriate to call her the female Ricky Hatton because she has the same bullying persona in the ring and the same willingness to take some punishment to give it.

Garbatt shows what she's got.

She has a chin like bitumen and a never quit attitude. With Hernandez here in camp with her for four weeks, Prazak knew that Garbatt would be fit, strong and just as determined and that her best chance was to win the battle of wills. And that she did. The the All Star Receptions crowd in Altona certainly got their money’s worth in what many were describing as the fight of the year including the Women’s International Boxing Associations president Ryan Wissow, here from his home in Cooper City, Florida to supervise the bout. Without doubt, Prazak made her transition from local boxer to a fighter to be reckoned with on the world stage. Despite all her doubts and uncertainties going in, she defied the odds and her star shone bright.

The two female bouts, which were part of the Australian Fight Series staged by Adam Wilcock, really brought women’s boxing home to Australia. Melissa Hernandez launched her charm campaign from the walk in, shimmying to Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop ’till You Get Enough’ and entertaining the crowd with all her usual ring tics and unique dynamism. The little Puerto Rican larrakin fit right in and has clearly been worth the Prazak camp’s investment. The former New Yorker, now based in Miami, made some firm friends downunder, not least the new WIBA super-featherweight champion of the world, ‘Dirty’ Di Prazak.

He ain’t heavy…well, actually he is

They call him Blimp, although his real name is Delen Parsley. Gleason’s regulars will know him for his operatic voice projection, glinting gold teeth that flash every time he breaks into a smile and, well, his enormous size. The dude is BIG. I’m sayin’.

I’d heard that he was one of the best trainers in the gym and I’d seen him work with Melissa Hernandez and Vivian Harris – both great technical boxers with their own individual flair. Melissa Hernandez has always been one of my favorites for her variety of creative and audacious moves and she has always spoken highly of Blimp when she was in New York. I enjoyed seeing the two of them sitting together eating lunch, always a funny banter going between them. I liked the contrast in their size and thought of them as the quintessential odd couple. But this time I felt like I was part of an odd couple myself, I was so dwarfed by the man it was surreal. I felt like another one of New York’s many chihuahuas. At one stage, while shouting at me he stopped and asked, ‘Am I scaring you?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘because I know you. But normally yes, I would be scared if a 400lb black man was screaming at me like that.’

Playing with the big boys. Me and Blimp.

I joined forces with Blimp because I only get to visit Gleason’s for a few weeks here and there, so I have started to make a point of sampling a different trainer each time. And sometimes just being in the gym, observing the myriad of styles from the very best in the business to some that are impossible to fathom, gives me ideas and moves to follow up on both as a boxer and a teacher. You can see quite well what works and what doesn’t.

Alicia Ashley was the one who guided me through my initial comeback as a masters boxer from the time I met her in 2007 until 2009. It came after a seven year lay-off and she got my punches flowing a little better. Alicia is great to talk to about boxing, especially in situ,  because she understands the nuances of pace and timing and strategy very well and she communicates clearly. Sometimes with a slap. But I’d rather be slapped by her in the corner than in the ring.  I hate sparring her, for obvious reasons. She’s a WBC world champion southpaw whose hard to hit and counters like a rattle snake. But I’d rather talk to her or watch her spar someone else than get in the ring with her myself, she makes me tense and mostly I swipe the air as she moves in her unique and mesmerizing way. Luckily I had the pleasure of seeing that at Book Court last week in Brooklyn when she sparred four rounds in the store with Camille Currie. The most incredible event ever witnessed in that book shop, I was assured by the staff, who were totally blown away. And we’re hoping to do it all again on a grander scale, so the non-boxing world can see up close what this is all about. Look out for some more literary boxing in New York next year.

Text book boxing. Camille Currie (left) and Alicia 'Slick' Ashley spar at Book Court.

Back at Gleason’s I was having corrective surgery on my stance from a man who had the resolve to watch my every move. I’ve known for a while that I lean too much and don’t bring my back foot up when I jab. I’ve known that I can move my head and slip pretty well, but often I don’t counter quickly enough. I make them miss, but I don’t make them pay as much as I could. But without a trainer watching me all the time these are difficult faults to correct. I can see them in others but I can only really video myself and try to fix it next time.

It was like a luxury having this very big man bearing down on me, shouting with his booming voice that cuts through the clatter – ‘Don’t lean!’, ‘Pivot’, Relax!’, ‘Take your time’, ‘Urgh, that was UGLY,’ ‘Nice’, ‘Beautful,’, ‘There you go’, ‘Why you lean!!!!???”Bring that back foot up, don’t be lazy,’ (my favorite), and ‘Punch while you’re down there, baby’. Some people like five star hotels and expensive dinners when they travel, but give me a 400lb black man shouting at me while I box and I’m happy, especially when I feel the adjustments starting to take effect.

So what is the Blimp story? I’ve been coming and going from New York for more than four years and I never really knew that much about the man. So I sat down and asked some questions. He’s been in boxing for more than 30 years and had his first fight a week after he started training and KO’d the heavyweight champ at a smoker in a gym in Park Slope when he was 17 years old. He’s a bit of a hard task master so I asked him if he was a disciplined boxer in his day and he said, ‘No, because it was easy for me.’

Things I didn’t know about Blimp were that he was both a grandfather and about to become a father at the age of 50. He spent three weeks sparring Mike Tyson and lasted longer than any other sparring partner even though Tyson wore ten ounce gloves and Blimp wore 18′s. He was born in South Carolina. He learned to box in the streets of Brownsville from ex-cons who picked up skills on the inside. He honed them doing what they call ‘slap boxing’ or ‘chest boxing’ which was something young men did when they hung around the streets, which just goes to show that boredom is the mother of invention. Skills are being lost, says Blimp, because everyone’s too busy texting. He might have a point. There’s not enough boredom in young lives these days.

The best thing that Blimp said to me was ‘You can fight. You do some great moves. But you gotta make them pay!’

So that’s my mission from now on. Make them pay. It’s all in the stance.

Making history

It’s going to be a pretty strange day in New York on Sunday. But if you feel like an antidote to the heaviness of reliving 9/11, it might be a good time to come to Book Court in Brooklyn to see what is turning into a celebration of women’s boxing, a multi-media extravaganza that will see two of the city’s “slickest chicks” showing off some of their marvelous boxing moves when they make history boxing in a book store.

Alicia Ashley (left) and Camille Currie will be the main event on a night that will include readings from me, Binnie Klein and a section of the film Golden Gloves by Leyla Leidecker.

 

The action starts at 7pm at Book Court in Court Street Brooklyn. Don’t miss it!

Sex and violence

Tonight (Thursday September 8) at the Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village in New York I’ll be appearing with Francis Levy, somewhat of a New York legend, and the author of Seven Days in Rio, his latest novel, which somehow mixes sex tourism with psychotherapy. The book has had some rave reviews and I can’t wait to see Francis in action.

‘This book will make you put it down because you’re laughing so hard and then pick it up and be astonished at the places Frank Levy will take you, ‘ says one enthusiastic reader on Amazon.com.

Levy is also the author of Erotomania: A Romance, a Queerty.com Top 10 Book of 2008 and an Inland Empire Weekly Standout Book of 2008. His short stories, criticism, humor, and poetry have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Village Voice, and many others.

So you could say it’s a pretty hard act to follow. But actually I’m going first, reading from The Sweetest Thing. Between us we’ll have the world post popular topics, sex and violence, pretty well covered. So don’t miss it.

The event is kicking off at 6.15pm. Sidewalk Cafe is at 94 Avenue A in the East Village and it is totally free. But bring cash to buy author signed copies of our books.

Stranger than fiction

My feet have hardly touched the ground here in the United States and already I have tales to tell.

That’s why this country is the most glorious hunting ground for writers of non-fiction. Although I have written short stories and made several attempts at writing a novel, I always gravitate back to the real. And here in America, the real is so hard to resist.

As David Sheilds says in Reality Hunger; “The American writer has his hands full, trying to understand and then describe and then make credible much of the American reality. It stupefies, it sickens, it infuriates, and finally it is even a kind of embarrassment to one’s own meager imagination. The actuality is continually outdoing our talents, and the culture tosses up figures almost daily that are the envy of any novelist.’

And ain’t it the truth!

I arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, technically two hours before my departure time in Melbourne, which already put me in a kind of twilight zone. Fourteen hours in a plane and suddenly it’s summer and I’m in Hollywood peak hour morning traffic. I make my way straight to Vine Street to check in to the Vagabond Inn, right next door to the Wild Card gym. After sleeping for a couple of hours I go have  some lunch at The Muse cafe on Santa Monica Blvd and then to the gym.

Is it me or Ellen? Either way, she's cute.

On my way, a homeless woman sitting on the pavement, interrupts her mad rant to tell me I look like Ellen de Generes, ‘Did anybody ever tell you that?’ When I start my workout a guy on the treadmill says, ‘Did anyone ever tell you you look like Ellen de Generes. She’s cute.’

‘Yeah,’ I say, ‘She is cute!’ I say.

Everything feels slow. I feel like I’m under water. I see many of the a same faces from my previous visit which is now almost 18 months ago when I had my last session with Lucia Rijker on my way back from the fiasco that was the Holly Holm v Melissa Hernandez fight in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I shadow box, hit the bag, shadow box again and then spend some time doing some crunches and push ups near the second ring. I notice some women getting gloved up, one who looks a little bit like Ronica Jeffrey from New York. Suddenly Shane asks me if I’m sparring the girls.

‘I don’t think so,’ I say innocently, ‘I don’t even know them.’

‘What does that even mean?!!’ he barked back at me, ‘Forget it,’ he said waving away any attempt I made to explain.

But when I got talking to the girls I discovered that one of them was an East Coast chick called Terri who used to train with Don Saxby at Gleason’s. Boxing is such a small world.

Twenty four hours later I landed in Decatur Georgia, back in the Terri Moss reality show that I left in April. This time she’s organizing another Atlanta Corporate Fight Night so it’s like nothing has changed since the last time. Terri is just as funny and just as entertaining as ever. She’s already had be doubled over with tears streaming from my eyes with her gym stories.

This Saturday I’m due to appear at the Decatur Book Festival.

Then on Monday it’s off to New York where I’ll be doing a couple of gigs including a women’s boxing extravaganza at Book Court in Brooklyn.

Boxing Smackdown at BookCourt

More on those events soon.