Monthly Archives: March 2011

Slipping and sliding

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Slipping and sliding

My little black cloud has returned.  The one my mother used to say followed me everywhere as a constant reminder of all the doom and gloom in the world.  I felt it coming on as a bad fever dream over the past couple of weeks when I started eschewing morning yoga in favor of reading Google “Top News” headlines.  Next came my compulsive news-watching — and now I’m in full-blown “chicken-little” mode what with four disabled nuclear reactors in Japan spewing radiation and reactors five and six on the way.

I guess it was the earthquake-tsunami combo that really put me over the edge and saw me blow-off a perfectly good weekend of work in favor of the intricacies of nuclear power plants.  Did you know, for instance that after the diesel engines failed, the workers jerry-rigged fire hoses to pour water into the reactors?

Having been to Japan both as a traveler and for work, there has been an immediacy to the events that hit home — not to mention that I not only grew up in the era of “duck and cover,” but having had parents who were active in the Ban-the-Bomb pacifist movement of the late 50’s & 60’s knew rather more than I needed to know about nuclear bombs.

So meanwhile, I have work piling up for grad school, a body that is no longer a supple as a pretzel, and am struggling to find my way into the sunshine again when really — well, you get the point, I’m under my little black cloud!

Talk about a slip and slide.

Well, its time to take my own medicine and get out of my own way so to speak.

Yep.  It’s first-you-cry, wash-my-face time.   I could quote from Casablanca to myself … you know the one, “I’m not good at being noble, but it’s clear to me that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

And yeah, I’d be right.  Part of the all the stuff that happens in “this crazy world” is our own obligation to make it a better place.  So while I can’t do much to help in Japan other than sending on a few bucks, (nope, I didn’t major in nuclear engineering), what I can do is get out of my funk to live a better day and save the black cloud for where it belongs, in the sky to provide rain for all of those pretty May flowers.

So in the spirit of sunshine, born-again Pollyanna says, “have a great day!”

84th Annual Daily News 2011 Golden Gloves Quarter-Finals & Semi-Finals Week Nine Reminder!

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84th Annual Daily News 2011 Golden Gloves Quarter-Finals & Semi-Finals Week Nine Reminder!

The full week’s schedule is:

>>>Quarter Finals

3/15/2011 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 275 North 8th, Brooklyn, NY 11211

3/16/2011 – Atlas Foundation, Petrides High School, 715 Ocean Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301

>>> Semi-Finals

3/17/2011 – Elmcor Recreation Center, 33-16 108th Street, Corona, NY 11368

3/18/2011 – Electric Industry, 158-11 Jewel Avenue, Flushing, NY 11365

For more information click here.

Queen Underwood’s Quest For Olympic Gold!

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Queen Underwood’s Quest For Olympic Gold!

Queen Underwood, AP Photo: Jack Dempsey

If you happen to have been in and around Seattle over the past couple of days, you may have come across a life-size poster of U.S. Women’s National Boxing Champion and Seattle native Queen Underwood in your travels.

Queen Underwood, 26, has been hard at work in her quest to win Gold in the 2012 Olympic Games in the 132-lb. weight class, one of three sanctioned for the debut of Women’s Olympic Boxing, and is looking for support as she trains full-time in pursuit of her dream.

Just now, Queen is in her final preparations for the upcoming Pan American Games Box-offs set to run from March 18-20, in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the Olympic Training Center.

The winners of this important event will be offered the opportunity to wear the red, white and blue at the upcoming Pan American Games qualifier in Cumana, Venezuela, March 25-30 — a first ever event for the games as Women’s Boxing makes its debut.

Queen hopes “to make history” in the Pan American Games,  “by bringing back the first Gold Medal ever for Women’s Boxing.”

Queen’s pursuit of Olympic excellence is her true motivator, as well as the driver behind what Queen calls her training “lifestyle,” which includes nearly daily workouts at Cappy’s Gym in Seattle, upwards of six hours per day.

This sort of focused dedication to the quest for gold is in the manner of any elite Olympian, whether that athlete be a women’s gymnast, weight lifter or  — thanks to the recent decision made by the International Olympic Boxing Committee, a female amateur boxing champion.

Along with the potential for triumph in the ring at the Olympics are the harsh realities of finding support and sponsorship in an era of continuing financial crisis.

Where “Queen Team” has come up with an edge is in reaching out to the public to help support Queen’s quest for gold through tax-deductible sponsorships, volunteer and in-kind support, small donations, and by building awareness of Queen’s dedication to the sport.

As Queen put it, “The Queen Team takes on the task to get money so I can train full-time.”

“It is my duty and my job,” Queen went on to explain, “All I do is box!”

Queen’s personal goals aside, she also sees herself as a role model to younger women and hopes to establish a high-profile not only to eventually pursue a professional boxing career, but importantly, to act as “a mentor to future boxers.”

Still and all, the Olympics mean everything to Queen: an opportunity to win the first Olympic Gold medal for Women’s Boxing in her weight class, a chance to put “Women’s Boxing on the map” and through her own examples of dedication, hard work and focus, the chance to show the world just what it really means to be a woman boxer.

For more information on sponsoring Queen, or just to check out her fabulous website click here.  You can “like” Queen’s Facebook page here.  And you can follow Queen on Twitter by clicking @Queenteam2012

Sunday odds and ends

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Sunday Odds and Ends

I watched the Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez vs. Sergiy Dzinziruk fight last night and came away truly impressed with Martinez’s fighting ability and the maturity he showed in the ring.  Not only had he truly trained for the bout, but his mental fortitude was also apparent as he kept to his game, never lost focus and put on the kind of boxing show that keeps fans out of their seats in concert with the fighters, all without the kind of self-aggrandizing nonsense that so often, of late, gets in the way of a good bout.  Given his peak physical condition and the kind of training regimen he keeps to, we shall likely have Martinez, 36, around for some time to come.  The fight was truly boxing at its best with a huge shout out to Dzinziruk for his considerable efforts in the fight.

Women’s boxing in Japan

The triple-header WBC title fights to have been held at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall have been put on hold due to the devastating earthquake the hit North-Eastern Japan on Friday.  Apparently all six of the boxers had just completed their official weigh-ins when the earthquake hit.  Thankfully, none of the participants were injured.  The OBPF light flyweight bout was also canceled. For more on the story in WBAN click here.

Todas Contra México – UPDATE

Crystal Hoy, Photo Credit: Mary Ann Owen

A Girlboxing shout out to Crystal “Baby Faced Assassin” Hoy (5-4-3 2-KO) on getting the nod to represent the Philippines in the upcoming Mexican Women’s Boxing reality TV-show:  Todas Contra México.  Crystal will join Karolina Owczarz and Keisher “Fire” McLeod-Wells on the international team as each contestant vies to win the $100,000 dollar prize. Click here for a nice feature piece on Crystal on the GMAnews.tv website.

Ana Julaton – the next bout?

Ana Julaton

Close on the heels of her successful WBO Super Bantamweight defense, The Philippines Star is reporting that Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton “is yearning for a rematch with Lisa “Bad News” Brown in the hope of avenging one of the most heartrending losses in her boxing career.”  This fight, however, will need to occur after her next bout deemed a title defense by a “mandatory challenger,” although neither Julaton nor her team are talking on what fighter that may be or where and when the fight will occur.

Julaton, a popular boxer in both her native California is considering having her next bout on Philippine soil.  Time will tell.  The link to the story is here.

***FLASH UPDATE: SONYA “THE SCHOLAR” LAMONAKIS TAKES IT!

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***FLASH UPDATE: SONYA TAKES IT!

Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis fought her heart out to the cheers of her legion of fans taking the six round bout against Tanzee Daniels, 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56.  With Sonya’s win she has lived up to her billing as #1 ranked WIBA women’s heavyweight contender and improved her record to 4-0 with 1-knockout.

UPDATE

Fightnews.com has the story here.  Boxingscene.com has some great color about the fight here (scroll down to 8:27 and read-on from there).  FYI, Boxingscene was live tweeting the fight!

Fight Reminder: Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis

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Fight Reminder:  Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis!

Sonya "The Scholar" Lamonakis during a recent interview @ Gleason's Gym

Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis (3-0, 1-KO), four-time Golden Gloves champion and WIBA #1 ranked Heavyweight contender will be in an exciting fight with southpaw Tanzee Daniels (4-0, 1-KO) tonight at Foxwoods on the undercard of the Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez vs. Sergiy Dzinziruk bout to be broadcast on HBO.

As quoted in the presser for the Martinez-Dzinziruk fight, promoter Lou DiBella said, “If you like women’s boxing, this is going to be a war.”

Girlboxing has watched Sonya workout over the last weeks and has been inspired by Sonya’s focus as she has pushed herself to reach peak conditioning ahead of her battle.  If Tanzee has worked half as hard, this will prove to be an epic fight.

For further information on tickets, they can be purchased online here or by calling the MGM Grand at Foxwoods at 1-866-646-0609, or in person at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods box office.  You can also contact Gleason’s Gym at (718) 797-2872 for the latest update.

 

 

When life happens

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When life happens.  (UPDATED)

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan as they recover from the devastation of last night’s 8.9 earthquake.  These sorts of events remind us that much of life is out of our control and that no matter how hard we try and how much we prepare, life happens.

The images of a wall of water in some places as high as 30 feet making is way inland over the farmlands and towns of Northern Japan also remind us that life’s knockdowns are filled with twists, turns and the ripple effects of an original event.

Still whether a knockdown in the ring, a terrible personal loss or the experience of an overwhelming natural event, the point is to do one’s best to “roll” with the punches while helping others who may be worse off than ourselves.

UPDATE – scarier than we knew …

The tsunami has had devastating effects on the countryside in the region of Sendai — and now, there are two nuclear power plant facilities that have been declared nuclear emergencies.  One of the plants just sustained an explosion of one of its nuclear reactors, and the roof of that reactor has reportedly collapsed.  Experts are stating that a “Chernobyl”-style incident is unlikely due to the reactor’s design, still, it seems that a meltdown of some kind is occurring — along with the potential for catastrophic outcomes.  It’s not for this post to comment on the relative merits of nuclear power, suffice it to say, we fear for the human toll of these extraordinary events and urge everyone to provide what assistance they can during this terrible time for the people of Japan.

>>> One suggestion is to text REDCROSS @ 90999 to make a $10 donation in support of Red Cross disaster relief efforts for earthquake victims in Japan.

For further updates, the New York Times is here.  Guardian (UK) is here.

Women’s Boxing News Roundup – 3/10/11

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Women’s boxing news roundup – 3/10/2011.

Todas Contra México names Global Boxing Foundation prospect and Polish Amateur sensation Karolina Owczarz as a contestant on the upcoming Reality TV Show!

Karolina Owczarz, Gold Medal Winner in the Polish Amateur Boxing Championships

Production for Todas Contra Mexico is set to begin the week of March 14th in Chiapas, Mexico where Karolina Owczarz is set to have her professional debut.  Karolina will be joined by Keisher “Fire” McLeod-Wells on the international team as each contestant vies to win the $100,000 dollar prize. For more information Click on the Eastside Boxing.com story here.

Women in Sports

To coincide with the International Women’s Day on March 8th,  there have been a few articles from the world press that have addressed the issue if inequality in women’s sports.  From an article by Mike Beamish of the Vancouver Sun and published online in the Montreal Gazette.com, Beamish makes the point that, “Women will come out fighting for the first time at the 2012 Olympics in London, 15 years after British boxing authorities claimed their menstrual cycles made them too “unstable” to box. The concern for women’s reproductive systems and supposed frailty are time-honoured excuses that harken back to the 19th century and, apparently, still have dubious cachet today.”

The story in the Torontoist entited, “Sporting Good: The Toronto Newsgirls,” while not a polemic about the state of women’s sports, is an article about the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club, dedicated to empowering women through boxing.  The club, founded by Savory Howe supports women and girls of all abilities from beginners on through amateur champions with Olympic dreams.  The club offer classes in boxing, individual training, sparring and regular “fight nights” for club participants.  As well, the space is designed to offer women an environment that encourages women’s athleticism at all levels and a safe haven from the work-a-day problems of the world at large. A link to the article is here. For more information about the club click here.

Kaliesha West back to boxing?

8countnews.com is reporting that Kaliesha “Wild West” West is eyeing an April return to the ring after her layoff from competitive boxing following a car accident.  Kaliesha also participated in a podcast that is well-worth a listen.  A link to the article and podcast can be found here.  Please also have a look at an interesting feature story run on Kaliesha last year in PE.com entitled, Boxing Column: Times have changed for Kaliesha West.  A link to the earlier story can be found here.

Losing is no fun

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Losing is no fun

As with many experiences, sports can provide terrific highs as well as terrific lows. Heartbreak losses in the ring can be devastating to one’s morale, never mind that recovery from injuries sustained is made that much tougher when the fight ends up in the loss column.

One can listen to all the jibber-jabber about being in the game for the sake of it, but there is no feeling like winning whether it’s an amateur bout, a chess game or acing a paper. What particularly stings is when the winner takes that extra moment to grind in one’s loss whether it’s trash talk in an interview or some snide comment in an email. Whatever it is — one can cry in one’s proverbial beer or get into gear for the next something head held high for having tried in the first place.

It’s the latter that feels the hardest — especially when plans have to be adjusted, strategies rethought and importantly, the inevitable shoulda’, coulda’, woulda’s have to be worked through.  I’d offer up Grandma’s advise again — about having a good cry, washing your face, and moving on — but sometimes that doesn’t quite reach the moment.  Sometimes the “screaming-mimi’s” need to take over with a good dose of the “it’s-not-fairs” before one can begin to approach anything resembling the acceptance that leads to moving on. And that’s where the heavy bag comes in handy — ’cause in those moments it’s really good to hit things as a way of working out feelings of anger, sorrow and plain old disappointment.  The point being to find you’re inner heavy bag, that space where you can release all the feelings you have without taking them out on others or expressing them negatively on yourself — and thereby find your way to getting where you need to go whether it’s sending your latest work onto another publisher, having your team scream “rematch”! or quietly working your way back into the gym to fix whatever technical flaws you found, say dropping your left when you counterpunch, that leaves you vulnerable to attack.

So have a good cry and get back at it ’cause deadlines have a way of reappearing before you know it!  Oh and remember what my old therapist Ralph used to say, “happiness is the best revenge.”

 

 

 

When the soul is willing but the body’s on the “blink”!

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When the soul is willing but the body’s on the “blink”!


This past Saturday, I was at Gleason’s figuring that I’d go full-bore into training mode.  Something about my walk to my daughter’s Aikido Dojo, however, should have tipped me to the fact that I was going to be dragging!

Once I got to Gleason’s admittedly fairly spry on the stairs, I was in sweat-stinging-my-eyes mode by my third round of shadow boxing – and grateful for the end of the fourth and the one-round break I had before the double-ended bag was up and ready for me to use.

The killer, though, was when Lennox called out to me and said, “step it up,” on the second round of the double-ended bag.  Sure, I’d been throwing combinations and had dedicated the first round to mostly jab-jab-hook sequences as I worked my way around the bag in right and left circles, but what he wanted was to see me move around the bag, as in “push-it-girl” kind of move.  And that’s when the dog-pant started to kick-in and the flashbacks to my doctor saying – “you need more cardio”!

Okay.  So I got through those four rounds – kicking butt, so to speak and after my one round break started in on the focus pads with a “can-do” spirit in force if ever I felt one.  My body, however, was in a different mode.  It was saying, “Are you kidding me or what???”  Still, I tried, pushing myself even as my muscles were caving.  And here’s where the interesting thing happened.  In the third round, I didn’t have as much “pop,” but having dug deep into my core I was using my abs to throw cleaner, crisper shots at a faster rate.  It’s as if by ratcheting back just a little in terms of absolute “punch-power,” I was finding another kind of throttle on my engine – with breath that started to sound like breath again instead of the ragged tortuous sound of the previous round.

By the end of the fourth I was no longer “dead on my feet” at all as I had been after the four rounds on the double-ended bag.  And yes, while I was a bit slow during my first speed bag round, the other three were down right peppy, and I even had enough energy left to do three rounds of abs on the a small abs bench, not exactly the deepest sit-ups ever, but enough to feel it.

So where did this leave me?  Good question.  Perplexed for one, because I’m not sure why my energy was so low on Saturday, but glad that the way around it was to remember that adjusting my stance to take advantage of my core strength not only leveraged the energy of my body, but allowed me to pull back from the edge of my rapidly depleting muscle energy stores that meant I couldn’t enervate my breath never mind a left hook.

And here we are again.  Back to the fundamentals: stance, core strength, stamina and conditioning … and yep, C A R D I O !

84th Annual Daily News 2011 Golden Gloves Quarter Finals reminder and Sonya Lamonakis fight reminder!

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84th Annual Daily News 2011 Golden Gloves Quarter Finals reminder!

The full week’s schedule is:

3/9/2011 – Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 317 Clermont Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225 >>> For ticket information, contact Gleason’s Gym at (718) 797-2872 or click on link here.

3/10/2011 – Elmcor Recreation Center, 33-16 108th Street, Corona, NY 11368

3/11/2011 – Glen Cove High School, 150 Dosiris Lane, Glen Cove, NY 11542 (8:00 PM Start Time)

3/12/2011 – Suffolk PAL, 99 Third Avenue, Brentwood, NY 11717 (4:00 PM Start Time)

For more information click here.

 

Fight Reminder for Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis March 12, 2011!!!

Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis

Gleason’s own four-time Golden Gloves winner Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis #1 ranked WIBA U.S. women’s heavyweight will be fighting on the undercard of the Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez vs Sergiy Dzinzinuk bout on March 12 @ Foxwoods to be broadcast live HBO.

For a limited time, Gleason’s Gym is offering tickets at $75 each.  (Purchasing through Gleason’s will save you the $12 service fee.)

Gleason’s advises to buy tickets now as they are going fast.  For more information contact Gleason’s Gym at (718) 797-2872 — you can also request information by email: info@gleasonsgym.net.

Click here for a nice write-up on Sonya by Peter Czymbor entitled Sonya Lamonakis: Lady Likes to Fight over on the 8 Count News Boxing/MMA website.  The link is here.

 

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Tied up in knots…

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Tied up in knots…

It’s one of those rainy days when the chores have felt as a never-ending stew of this and that — and every time I looked up for a bit of sunshine, the weather conspired with the list to keep me bound to it, no matter how miserable it felt.  Least ways, around here with laundry done, paper garbage bound and disposed of, second round of dish washing underway and most of the homework completed — the tasks still seem unrelenting.  There’s my daughter’s book report with a page to go — and hence her misery and for me, flash cards for her Social Studies test, the bathroom, third round on the kitchen and the reading I never got to.

Oh well.  In my estimation that means milk and cookies time — and the chance to break frame before returning to the “have-to-get-this-stuff-done” pile.  Oh … and the yoga I never got to this morning, but enough of the poor-me … suffice to say, if that kind of mood hits the only thing to do is to listen to a little Patsy Cline and succumb before washing my face and beginning again!

Women’s Boxing and Women’s MMA

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Women’s Boxing and Women’s MMA

 

Holly Holm (right) in her MMA debut, Photo: D. Archuleta

 

I’ll admit to being fairly new to the MMA concept, but boxer Holly Holm’s announcement that she would switch gears from fierce women’s boxing competitor to MMA has been fairly stunning.  Well last night in her MMA debut, Holly proved herself more that able as she dismantled her opponent, Christina “Machine Gun” Domke, in the second round by TKO.

In the preamble to her debut contest New Mexico’s own fighter Holly said, “I’m passionate about wanting to learn and do this …”  And learn she did, applying her super-charged southpaw boxing power to her kickboxing roots to become a winner, ending the fight with just that, a disabling kick to her opponent’s leg.

The bout has drawn a fair amount of buzz, especially in the MMA community as Holm considered by many to be pound-for-pound the best women’s boxer out there may well be the type of fighter to help galvanize the women’s MMA sport.

As I am really new to MMA — I’ll appreciate reader feedback on the sport, as well as some education.

For some video footage of last night’s fight click here and here.

Women’s Boxing: Todas Contra México

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Women’s Boxing: Todas Contra México

Maureen Shea

The new Mexican reality TV show Todas Contra México to be aired from Chiapas, Mexico, will showcase women’s professional boxing at its highest level.  The premise of the show is to feature bouts between a team of Mexican women professional boxers against an international team featuring none other than Gleason’s own Keisher “Fire” McLeod-Wells.

Keisher "Fire" Mcleod-Wells

As noted in the Girlboxing piece Women Boxing Everywhere!, the show will be hosted by New York’s own Million Dollar Baby, Maureen Shea.

The New York Daily News published a fabulous must-read piece by reporter Tanyankia Samuels about the show entitled, “Boxer Maureen Shea, who trained Hilary Swank for ‘Million Dollar Baby’ tapped for reality TV show.”

As quoted in an extensive piece in Eastside Boxing.com, Maureen Shea said “This is a big moment for female boxing.”  Shea continued, “For a long time, the public ignored female boxing but there has been a shift in recent years in the perception of the sport.  Women in boxing are gaining more respect with the way they are being portrayed, and the sport is gaining in popularity among females due to the women’s empowerment movement. After this show, the world will have to take notice of female boxing.”

There is talk of finding an outlet for the series in the US, however, that has not been reported as yet.  Meanwhile, this exciting new showcase for women’s boxing will begin filming in Chiapas towards the end of March.

Congratulations and a huge Girlboxing shout out to Fire and Maureen!

Boxing connections

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Boxing connections

While focusing on my prana breathing this morning the Yogic term for unifying the body through the energy of the breath, I got to thinking about how boxing seems to energize people in the same way. And yes, I was off in a mind movie about boxing, but figure that the “connection” on “connections” was all within the spirit of the breath!

So what do I mean — mostly that the community is small and practitioners from living room shadow boxers on through elite athletes, share a love for the sport, a passion for the practice and derive inner satisfaction from all of the hard work.  Not to say that every boxer would articulate it that way, but the community, especially among women boxers from 8-80 seems to derive a lot of strength from knowing that there are other women out there boxing their hearts out.

Case in point:  I do not know Christy Martin at all, but reading last night that a rib injury in the gym might sideline her from her March 12th PPV fight on Showtime really bummed me out.  (See Boxing Scene.com story here.)  We’ll know more today, and yes it will be news, but my relationship to it feels personal.  As if a close friend is at risk for a huge disappointment.  And I’m not talking as a fan per se, but as person that understands what it takes to step out in the ring and thus I feel a connection to what she’s been trying to achieve.

This blog is teaching me as well.  It’s connecting me to folks I’ve never met or spoken to, and yet through language and an evolving understanding of shared experiences, I feel it’s made me some friends, and “virtual” or not, whether I ever meet them face-to-face or not, working hard in the gym has a language all its own that you can share across huge divides.  Now I’m not going to get all sappy here, but the point is, the work has a language all its own that only needs the step of the doing to be a part of.  And no, I cannot share what it feels like to have the jitters before a championship match, but I can relate it to the experience of sparring for the first time, or putting gloves on for the first time and realizing that the itch on my nose would go unscratched unless I asked for some help.

The key perhaps is just that.  Boxing is not a solo experience.  In the end the connections are essential. Without them there’s no tango, no intricate dance whether between two fighters in the ring, boxer and trainer, or friends goofing around in the locker room.  So even if you are shadow boxing alone in your room, you’re still dancing with your shadow and that counts for something too!