Tag Archives: Gleason’s Gym

Olympic Fever! Yep, girls boxing everywhere!

Olympic Fever! Yep, girls boxing everywhere!

Whether it’s prepping for the first EVER women’s boxing Olympic trials next week or waking up to the fact that there are some fabulous women boxers out there, women’s boxing has arrived!

WNYC Radio has had a fabulous series running entitled Women Box: Fighting to Make History which has included remarkable photo essays by Sue Jaye Johnson as well as radio interviews with Olympic contenders, amateurs boxers, coaches and pro boxers.

Last night, WNYC hosted an event at The Greene Space in lower Manhattan that featured Photojournalist Sue Jay Johnson, 16-year-old Claressa Shields who will be competing in the upcoming Olympic Trials in Spokane, Washington, World Champion Alicia “Slick” Ashley, Golden Gloves contender, Heather Hardy, and host Rosie Perez.

The sold-out event adds momentum to what has become a veritable crescendo of positive media stories that have celebrated the tenacity, hard work and plain courage of these remarkable athletes.

The Greene Space event link is here and includes the video!

Wordless Wednesday, 2/1/2012, Summer Boxing.

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Wordless Wednesday, 2/1/2012, Summer Boxing.

Summer Boxing, Gleason’s Gym, 2011

Wordless Wednesday is a group of bloggers who give words a rest once a week.

Big days, little days.

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Big days, little days.

Some days are filled with big things and others have the “usual suspects.” The same it seems with working out: peppy for two or three training sessions in a row and then the dogs. We’re talking no energy, no pop and not so much going through the motions as just having no energy to get where you want to go!

I had one of those mornings at Gleason’s Gym today. Sure, I did my sweet 16 (four rounds each of shadow boxing, pad work, double-ended bag and speed bag), but did I ever have to work for them. Lennox kept shaking his head saying, “wake up, girl!” And maybe that helped because I did manage to bring it towards the end with two hopped up rounds on the double-ended bag and some serious da-da-da-da / da-da-da-da on the speed bag.

In analyzing it later, I realized that part of the problem is I’m still not doing enough during the week to keep the momentum up for a meaningful Saturday session. A clue on how to do that in an otherwise busy life came from my old Peace Corps buddy Mark who had a post on Facebook today proclaiming that he’d hit his goal of 1,000 sit-ups in a week.

I thought, “1,000!?! That is a lot!.” Breaking it down to daily increments, however, brought it more in line with what actual humans can achieve! Reading further, Mark wrote about his formula for success: starting at just 130 for the first week until he had brought himself along to 1,000.

Given that I struggled through my 100 sit-ups this morning at the gym (having only done 20 all week) — it occurred to me that if I followed Mark’s formula of defining weekly goals, it might get me off my tush and into a regular daily sit-up routine. Not wanting to set the mark too high for myself the first week, I’ve settled on accomplishing 300 between Sunday and Friday. That means 50 a day — meaning about 10 minutes! Seen that way, there is no way I shouldn’t be able to achieve it. The same thing for push-ups — or my version of them which means on my knees or against a bar at this point. Sure, I did 20 today at the gym (in two sets of 10 each), but it was hard and strained my shoulder. So there again, I’ve decided on setting a goal between Sunday and Friday. I’m staring off with 60, that means 10 a day — or another 5 minutes a day at most!

Summed together, if I give myself a mere 15 minutes a days, I can meet my weekly goal and have sacrificed nothing. No excuses here!

Kudos to Mark for a great idea!

Getting back in the swing!

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Getting back in the swing!

Whether it’s perfecting your left hook or flexing your mind (as in keeping a “daily” blog) – getting back to a regular regimen is tough going when you’ve been away from it for a while!

Having stepped into the gym on Saturday for the first time in three weeks was a case in point. I’m nursing sore abs, a creaky shoulder and a mindset that is less focused on perfecting the minute shifts of tuned-up training, than just getting to the gym at all.

So my job is to push my momentum, meaning, getting myself back on a weekly gym schedule that *builds* rather than maintains! I’m also trying to talk myself out of the neat excuses for not going such as, “I’ll be out of town on Saturday” or “I’m tired” or “it’s raining out” … you know the drill!

I can say the same for writing! When I don’t write every day I get out of the habit — so, starting today, I am bound and determined to get back on the writing stick! And yes, I’ll even give myself some slack for having finished up my degree, et alia, but a daily blog is just that, a daily blog. That means putting fingers to the keyboard with a mindset that can get past the range of reasons *not* to do something.

Meanwhile, it’s 2012 and I’m already over three weeks behind in getting my resolutions in order for the year! So here goes!

1. Write a daily entry for Girlboxing!

2. Gain more strength, endurance and flexibility. Being in my late 50s means I need resistance training and a lot of it to keep my bones strong. I also need to do more aerobic training, and yoga. That means getting back to a training schedule that has me doing at least one thing a day and on some days all three!

3. Eating better! Yikes. This one is tough. Having been diagnosed with LPR (Laryngeal Pharyngeal Reflux) and GERD (Gastric Esophageal Reflux Disease) PLUS having Barrett’s Esophagus (the cells in the esophagus near the gastric junction actually CHANGE due to acid erosion), I’ve been living a low-acid/low-fat life! What I have to get to, however, is better balance in selecting meals and foods and how they are combined. This one is a tough to sort out – and I’ll actually do a column on it sometime soon, suffice to say that I’m getting there. I’ve lost nearly 25 pounds since the change in my eating regimen in July 2011, now the trick is to go the rest of the way (another 10 pounds), while continuing to build muscle (which has suffered as late) so that when I eventually meet my goal, I’ll be a healthy and toned – rather than depleted and weak.

4. The next project: now this is the tough one! I’m thinking book and just have to move into the space by DOING rather than angsting about it. And therein lies the sticky problem: getting to the DOING part. Again, it’s a matter of starting and once in the habit continuing the process until it is concluded. Easier said than done? No, probably not ‘cause we all have goals that we set and follow. It’s that pesky issue of getting started!

What it all comes down to for the year: Doing!

So, day one in my reforecast New Year means putting the fingers to the keyboard to say thanks so much to my Girlboxing friends for listening and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

And how nice that it happens to coincide with the Chinese celebration of the Year of the Dragon!

GONG XI FA CAI

Sonya Lamonakis: Working to make it a lucky 7!

Birthing the baby, the “MA” that is …

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Birthing the baby, the “MA” that is …

First off Happy New Year!

I’ll add that it’s great to be back to Girlboxing! This last month has been a whirlwind of finishing my master’s thesis and prepping for my oral defense. With both behind me I am excited to announce that my master’s thesis entitled Boundaries in Motion: Women’s Boxing has been accepted. Next step??? Who knows, suffice to say I’ll begin blogging in earnest again tomorrow.

One upcoming event to watch for, Girlboxing friend Sonya Lamonakis will be fighting on Saturday, January 21st on the Broadway Boxing Card! I’ll be posting an interview with her in the coming days!

Thanks for your kind indulgence over the last few weeks. I’ve missed this tremendously and appreciate that folks have been coming to the site even though I have been on a hiatus.

Again, best wishes for a fabulous 2012!

The boxing gym.

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The boxing gym.

My daughter had an assignment to write an essay using imagery for her 7th grade English class. She rocked my world with it!

Gleason’s Boxing Gym

Gleason’s Boxing Gym is a place in Dumbo that many people go to. When you hear about Gleason’s, what you may picture is a nice clean gym with the best equipment in the world. However, once you go all that you really see is sticky duct tape holding the heavy bags together, and dirt that is probably two years old.

This is what I love about Gleason’s the most:

When you walk into Gleason’s, what you see are boxers that are young or old, the heavy bag swishing back and forth. People are skipping and sliding trying to dodge the fast perfect jabs from their sparing partners. I hear the speed bag that sounds like a helicopter, the encouraging loud criticism from the trainers.

In Gleason’s Boxing Gym all I can smell and taste is the stench and sweat that comes from lots of hard work. However, as soon as I start to train I can feel the cotton of my hand wraps, the linen covering the ropes. I can feel the pads that I hit, the concrete when I try to strengthen my hands. I can feel the leather speed bag hitting my hands and then coming back, as if asking for more.

In conclusion, I think and believe that Gleason’s Boxing Gym, home to many pro-fighters, is an amazing place filled with imagery. At Gleason’s everything that happens sets your mind into a frenzy of images that will come back when you think about the moments that you have had at Gleason’s Boxing Gym.

Women’s Boxing: The brave, the few.

In celebration of the art of boxing.

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In celebration of the art of boxing.

Mischa and Kristina

My schedule has been hectic and fraught with the conflicting needs of family, job and thesis writing, so getting to the gym yesterday felt triumphant.

Lennox Blackmore and I had miscued on our time which meant I did most of my work out on my own starting off with my usual four round sets: shadow boxing, heavy bag, double-ended bag and speed bag. When Len arrived, I pulled out four more on the pads working my jab-jab-right combination plus the right-left dig, left hook combo. My last was to work my way through 80 ragged sit ups — but they did count.

The point of writing about it is less to “crow” about boxing for a solid hour — and more about the work itself and the work of everyone in the gym. ‘Talk about inspiring, everyone and I mean every last person was pushing themselves and hard. That meant young kids, older kids, men and women of a “certain age” and everyone in between, not to mention the boxers sparring with speed and tartness prepping for upcoming bouts!

It got me to thinking that with all the controversies of late whether it’s bad refereeing, bad judging, obnoxious fighters mouthing off unnecessarily or the specter of female athletes wearing short mini skirts in their debut at the 2012 Olympics, the other side of boxing, the miraculous side is all the time spent in the gym, working.

That is what boxing is, isn’t it? At its essence? The magic of aligning the mind and the body to perfect exacting movements so that when a boxer enters the ring there is an opportunity to soar as an improvisational artist at the height of his or her craft.

As with jazz musicians who spend hours a day practicing scales and sonorous trills to keep their lips, fingers, hands, arms, legs and every other part of the body in condition, so does a boxer spend hours at a time perfecting the body and the subtle movements necessary to ply the art.

That doesn’t only mean round after round of throwing the intricate combinations, but understanding the subtleties of the pax de deux — after all, boxing is not a solo sport, but an intricate dance. No tag team, it is a one-on-one battle of skills, stamina, ring knowledge and what we all call heart. It is also performance art as there is that extra shot of adrenaline that happens precisely because it is a competition on a stage bounded by the four sides of the storied boxing ring.

And that is part of it — despite the hype and the crappy stuff that seems to accompany the professional side of boxing and even the amateur side; the ring itself is an arena of magic. It is the place where all of those hours of gym work and road work and mental work thinking about boxing gets played out in the brief snippets of time between the bells.

I know that boxing can be a heartbreaker — as terrible and cruel as any indifferent lover, but it is also a place of work and pride that at the end of the day every practitioner can feel triumphant about.

So yes, while the split decision of the latest Manny Pacquiao versus Juan Manuel Marquez championship bout may feel like ashes in the throat to some, we should also celebrate the hard work of boxing, it is after all what brought those two remarkable athletes into the ring in the first place.

Short takes from my week.

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Short takes from my week.

The past week or so has been a blur of too much to do and not enough time. I mean I sparred with Lennox last Saturday (make that Saturday — a week ago) and think of it as having occurred months ago!

Casting back, however, I can truly say it was a fabulous four rounds of me getting popped in the head — a lot — ’cause I can’t seem to stay out-of-the-way of Len’s left hooks to my right side, but meanwhile I did manage to get one really sweet shot to Len’s nose that seemed to make up for it all.

Suffice to say, every time one gets in the ring there’s a moment or two of truth and mine was figuring out that I really did like landing that punch. I mean really liked it, which reminded me that in spite of what of my general “nice person” demeanor, at the heart of it I will go for the jugular if given the opportunity.

So knowing all of that, I learned a tougher lesson two nights ago walking around the Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn. It was around 7:00 PM and very crowded. As I walked through, I became aware of child crying and yelling loudly. At some point, coming into the main area near the entranceway (I had walked into the space from the LIRR side entrance), I saw a woman beating her four or five-year-old son with a belt. There were people seated, standing and walking all around her and the child, and no one, and I mean no one said a word. It was as if there was this women, her belt and the boy, and the rest of the world as two separate spheres.

Taking this all in, I screamed out, “stop beating that child” and seeing no effect, I yelled it out much louder. The woman momentary stopped and shouted back at me, “I’ll beat your ass too.” So, what happened next? Did the crowd take up my denunciation? Did they come to the aid of her child? Give up?

Right. They yelled at me for “interfering.” Well. I didn’t give up and kept yelling while looking for a police officer or a security cop. None were to be found and meanwhile, the woman got tired of whaling her poor kid and left after nonchalantly putting her belt back on. The whole thing made me feel sick — and I realized that the killer instincts that I had in the ring sparring with Len were not the killer instincts I expressed at the mall. Yes, I had expressed my outrage, loudly, but I had not put myself into the sphere of her seeming protected space. In reflecting on it, I know that I was in shock at the surreal nature of what I saw — to the point of experiencing a sort of cognitive dissonance. I also remember having a dialogue with myself, wondering if anyone else was going to interfere, how many people were with this woman (there were at least three other people with her), what the odds were that I would get into a huge physical altercation with her, what the crowd of seemingly disinterested people would do if I waded in. In the calculus of those questions, I opted for calling attention to the acts in the hopes of getting the crowd to turn against her. When that didn’t work, my tactical retreat was to find some sort of assistance to help me wade through. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to call 911 which was likely the best course because, really, if this woman felt that she could just beat this kid with impunity in the middle of a mall (which she did except for my shouts), what was she going to do to him at home.

Just as I learned something from sparring with Lennox, in my confrontation at the Atlantic Mall I learned that in the realm of real combat, my instincts are for the preservation of myself first and foremost. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about that yet. I remember in a first responder “first aid” course I took once, the instructor kept saying that our first duty was to see to our own safety before jumping in to render aid. Perhaps that was my instinct in a crowded space of uncertain people. I still don’t feel good about it though — and even though my voice was the only voice speaking up for the child being beaten, the truth is, my voice wasn’t loud enough or definitive enough. I guess I’m going to have to work on that too.

Fighting the numbers.

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Fighting the numbers.

I went “natural” on my hair color a couple of years ago.

It was a combination of really hating all those chemicals on my hair and scalp tinged with a bit of laziness (every four weeks is a drag) coupled with the alternative — monthly appointments with a colorist which are e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e, especially if you go for double-process (color plus highlights!) Not to say that I was particularly bad with coloring my own hair — I did make it look pretty good with out the tell-tale home-brew color of really dark ends or the weirdest shade of red you’ve ever seen — but after a while, the silvery flecks got longer and longer at the roots until one day I just screamed enough at myself in the mirror.

To enhance my marker of aging, I do admit that I primp a lot in front of the mirror when it comes to getting the silvery white hairs to shimmer just so as a way of counteracting any perception that the crop of white hairs nudging out the chestnut browns is in any way a factor of tired-old-age. What I did notice in my recent experiment with growing it longer, was that the shimmer wasn’t quite so shimmery and those white patches were beginning to look as if they were definitely gaining the upper hand — something I am not quite ready to embrace just yet. So this week I went back to really short hair with lots of product to bring out the shine.

I bring all of this up because the white hair on my chestnut mane (what’s left of it) seems to be indicative of other changes as I make my way through the latter part of my 50’s. As an example, I applaud my recent loss of 12 pounds thanks to low-acid-diet living, but I still have some serious kilos to go if I’m to become youthfully svelte again. And yes, I can actually run a mile and keep going — albeit slow and steady to save my creaky, crackley knees — even with months of fairly vigorous workouts at Gleason’s I still start to crash somewhere in the middle rounds before finding my way back to renewed stamina and energy. This last is interesting because I used to be able to get into condition much faster and easier.

If there’s a cautionary tale at all in this for my younger friends out there — it is to consider keeping fairly steady with diet and exercise over the whole of your life, and as for my compatriots of a certain age, keep at it! Whether we like it or not things do change, all we can do it mitigate what we can with things like eating healthy foods, keeping our bodies lithe and strong through regular exercise and strengthening, keeping ahead of ailments large and small, and perhaps most importantly, keeping ourselves feeling great with whatever it is that gives us that extra bit of shimmer.

Wordless Wednesday – 9/14/2011

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Wordless Wednesday – 9/14/2011

Mischa and Kristina, Gleason's Gym, September 10, 2011

Wordless Wednesday is a group of bloggers who give words a rest once a week.

My dinner with Mischa Merz!

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My dinner with Mischa Merz!

Mischa Merz

Former Austrialian national champion Mischa Merz and author of the book, The Sweetest Thing: A Boxer’s Memoir has come to New York to meet up with old friends and promote her book. She’ll be reading a chapter tonight (September 8th) at the Sidewalk Cafe (94 Avenue A @ 6th Street) in the East Village beginning at 6:30 PM.

Mischa will also be reading in at her Bookstore Boxing event along with author Binnie Klien, documentary filmmaker, Leyla Leidecker and for the “main event” a women’s boxing exhibition featuring WBC Super Bantamweight World Champion Alicia Ashley and 2008 Golden Glove winner Camille Currie. The event will be held at BookCourt (163 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY) on Sunday, September 11th beginning at 7:00 PM.

Last night, I had the opportunity to meet up with Mischa at Gleason’s Gym and after a workout we headed over to Rice Restaurant on Washington Street for some well deserved dinner!

Generous with her time as always, Mischa talked about the process of writing her book noting that much of the book “wrote itself” because as she put it, “I have the luxury of this great reality I can write about.”

For those Girlboxing readers who have not read Mischa’s book, it is a personal journey through the world of women’s boxing in the United States at a particular place and time — and ends with an epilogue about the 2010 Women’s World Championships in Barbados.

In talking about how she came up with the concept for the book she wanted to write a contemporary history of women’s boxing so that the flashes of brilliance found in such fighters as Bonnie Canino wouldn’t be forgotten. “In another five or ten years it’ll be like trying to dig out people that are just lost,” she said.

This germ of an idea expanded to become a more personal journey through the story, and as she says, a lived experienced. “The book was more about spending time with people and training with people I’d admired from a distance,” adding that in writing the book, “it was a matter of producing, it was a matter of tying it up. It was a very tight deadline I had 6 months to write it and live it. I spent 5 weeks here fighting, writing up notes every night in cafes about what was happening and then from August to December I had to turn it into a manuscript.”

The book is also a sojourn through a personal passion best stated in the preface to her book:

My relationship with boxing has been like one you would have with another human being. I have loathed it and adored it. It has both invaded my dreams and turned my stomach. I have resolved to reduce its significance in my life only to see my passionf or it intensify. Boxing is my man. Even my husband will tell you so. (ix)

Sitting across a dinner table, Mischa is no less passionate about the sport. Talking about the 2010 Women’s World Championships in Barbados she said, “Barbados really was a dramatic seismic shift in my mind. It was like every where you looked the women boxers were really great: explosive, technical, hitting hard. Many women don’t know that they can be much more explosive, but these women were amazing. There were 300 or so and they were fighters, not just women, but great fighters.”

When Mischa isn’t taking fights or working as a boxing trainer in Melbourne, Australia, she writes.

“As a journalist, I continue to write about women’s boxing, but I like to write about other things as well, not get stuck too much. I’ve discovered another potential book, but it’s much more Australian. It’s about an aboriginal boxing gym, in Melbourne. It’s history is actually connected to the Black Panthers movement here, and the [American] civil rights movement, was its inpsiration. That movement has been completely derailed in Australia. The gym has got the boxing at its core, but the ripples go beyond. It’ll be more of a historical book, but again, I may need to write it in the same way, by being inside.”

Having spent a lovely evening talking about boxing – not to mention a fabulous meal, we headed off in our separate directions. If you can make it through the water logged streets of New York, do try and catch her reading tonight @ the Sidewalk Cafe and for you Brooklynites (or folks who just love a great time), do try and make it BookCourt on Sunday evening. Otherwise, R-E-A-D Mischa’s book, its great!

Wordless Wednesday, 9/7/2011

Ann-Marie Saccurato: Consumate women’s boxing professional!

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Ann-Marie Saccurato: Consumate women’s boxing professional!

Ann-Marie Saccurato (15-6-2, 6-KO’s) is a consumate boxing professional. Shaking off her recent upset loss against Argentinian fighter Erica Farias, Ann-Marie has arisen to take on new challenges with a new city, West Palm Beach, Florida, and a new job as a personal trainer and coach with the Institute of Human Performance.

Taking time from her busy schedule (new city, new home, new job!), Ann-Marie has graciously shared her thoughts and plans through a series of emails. She is not only inspirational, but gets to the core of what boxing is all about.

We thank Ann-Marie for her taking the time to give so much of herself to Girlboxing readers!

***

Your story is particularly inspirational in terms of what you’ve overcome in your life both physically and mentally. Given where you are now as a professional, how does having overcome such odds affect you now?

Overcoming the odds is something that has been a part of my life since I was a kid. I always knew that I had something very different and special inside me. I had this hunger and drive that was burning inside, along with a knowledge, not just a feeling, that I was meant for something more in this life.

I always wanted to be a professional athlete because I thought it meant I would make enough at what I love to take care of my mother and brother (lol…definitely not the case), but I also had a very strong urge to make it as a professional athlete because I wanted to use it as a way to pass along what was inside of me to others, to be able to be an inspiration to other kids or anyone else going through struggles. And, now I am doing that through motivational speaking, and through my job as a performance coach/trainer at the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton, Florida.

Overcoming odds in and out of the ring has made me soo much stronger not only on the outside, but more so, and more importantly within myself. It has caused me to look at things, choices, obstacles and life in general in a whole other perspective. And by following what I feel within, and by staying positive, focused, determined, and continuously believing in my dreams I have slowly brought them all into my life. It’s an incredible feeling of fulfillment and blessings that I want to pass on to others and help them to achieve. And the best part is, my journey in and out of the ring is still far from over, and in many ways I’m just starting…just like a Phoenix I’m continuously reborn growing stronger every time with every step.

***

How has boxing helped you? What is it about boxing you feel can help other women overcome their problems and challenges?

Boxing has helped me to really look within myself. Stepping into that ring causes you to really face yourself, it’s your truth, and will give you all the answers to what you really have inside. The training takes you on the journey of how far you are willing to push yourself and what you are truly capable of. How far beyond your limits can you push yourself. You realize if you are just a “boxer” or truly a warrior, a fighter.

Boxing gives women a chance to really grow stronger within, not just on a physical level, but mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. It gives them a sense of empowerment, inner strength, self confidence, and self esteem that they may have never had. And from that they will grow and transform in not only their personal but professional lives as well.

***

What are you feelings about the sport of women’s boxing now? Have you seen it change in the 12 years since you first donned gloves as an amateur? Do you feel that the the inclusion of women’s boxing in the Olympics will have a positive effect?

Women’s boxing has definitely grown in the depth of it’s athletes and their level of skill, and the popularity of the sport, but it still has a way to go. The amount of support and the exposure of the sport and the boxers in it is far from where it should, and deserves to be. There are more coaches in the sport giving female boxers the time, coaching, and respect they deserve as boxers, not as women. However, promoters across the board are still not allowing females the spotlight to shine, although it has gotten better. Yet it still seems that main stream television is continuing to shut out women’s boxing, even though they’ve started televising women’s MMA.

We need television behind to add more exposure to the sport and the quality fighters in it. The problem is that way too many times female fighters are so mismatched on televised fights it has not shown the quality of where the bar has been raised in the sport. I’m hopeful that the inclusion of the sport in the Olympics will elevate the exposure and support, as well as the popularity of the sport. The inclusion is long overdue, but at the same time the sport really needs the promoters and television stations to get behind it, and for their to better match ups on major fight undercards.

***

You’ve been such a stalwart of the New York women’s boxing scene, what is prompting your move to West Palm Beach, Florida? Will you continue your work as a personal trainer and giving motivational talks in addition to professional boxing? (And will you visit us from time to time! BTW, I love seeing your championship banner hanging @ Gleason’s Gym!)

Ann-Marie Saccurato, Gleason's Gym

I am and forever will be not only a New Yorker, but a New York fighter inside. And, I am so incredibly proud to have a World Champion banner bearing my name at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn. That is something that is soo heartfelt and special to me, especially coming from the life and struggles I’ve been through, but I guess at the same time that is exactly what makes not just boxers, but fighters, and champions. Because, it is not what we go through or have gone through, but what we do to overcome and where we take ourselves, in and out of the ring. So, that banner is not only an honor but also extremely symbolic.

And, yes I have just moved to West Palm Beach, Florida because of another dream coming true in my life. I have been given the opportunity to work for world-renowned performance coach, my own performance coach, and the man whose school of thought and teachings I’ve studied under as a performance coach, Juan Carlos Santana, at the Institute of Human Performance (IHP), in Boca Raton, Florida. I am a performance coach there now, which is something I have dreamt of doing for years. It is an incredible opportunity for growth as a trainer, and gives me the opportunity to train not only elite athletes, but also to train elite fighters, including many American Top Team fighters. And to work under, and alongside JC is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am so blessed to have. I also will continue to do motivational speaking on my own, as well as with IHP. And, yes I will miss Gleason’s and it will always have a special place in my heart, and I will be sure to visit on my tips back home.

***

In your last fight with Erica Farias, you sustained a cut that continued to bleed through a couple of rounds which led to the Referee calling the fight. Do you feel he jumped the gun on that or on balance, was that the right call? As a follow-up the fight until that point was tremendously exciting, are you in talks for a rematch?

My last fight with Erica Farias was truly devastating. I was in the very best shape of my life, and added a great deal to my game in terms of technical changes. However, my warmup was cut short and I just couldn’t get into my rythym until the 4th/5th round. That’s when I started landing the shots I needed to, and when I started to put together what I needed to and started to fall into my game. However, then the clash of heads in the 7th. I knew I didn’t do enough, nor did I do anything close to what I came to do, trained to do, or am capable of.

I felt completely fine, physically better then I have ever felt in a fight, I did not feel that the fight should have been stopped at all, but it was, and I am what I am which is a champion and a fighter. So, I will do what I do…come back harder, stronger, and hungrier.

This has given me a whole new focus, a whole new drive, and so I welcome the challenge and just say…BRING IT ON 😉 and yes I want a re-match and Erica did agree after the fight. However, it is up to her promoter or any American promoter with interest to make it happen. But, outside of that fight, I’m here and I’m hungry.

***

What are your longer term goals in the sport and for yourself as a role model in the sport?

As for my goals in the sport, I just want to keep seeing how far I can take myself, and hope to continue to be a positive force and an inspiration through my career and my journey in and out of the ring. Boxing may not give you all the money in the world, but what it has given me inside, the journey it has taken me on, challenges it has strengthened me through, lessons it has taught me, and the lives it has allowed me to touch is something money could never buy, and what I am so grateful to have as part of my personal journey and hopefully part of the legacy I hope to leave behind. What the future holds I do not know, but I do know that I am going after it full speed, back on the climb to the top, embracing each moment and each challenge with open arms, grateful for the life I have, blessed for the lives I touch, and hungry for what lies ahead.

This life is a gift, it’s yours to do and go after what you want, so LIVE IT! Believe in those dreams, stay true to them, and follow what is in your heart, listen to what your soul yearns for, because you can have it ALL. Welcome all haters and obstacles because they are there for you to overcome and grow stronger from, so welcome the challenges to see what you are capable of within. We may not all be boxers, but we all have the opportunity to be a fighter, so look within yourself, dig down deep, face your fears and truths, and make your dreams reality.

LIVE, LOVE, LEARN, LEAVE A LEGACY, STAY STRONG, AND ALWAYS BELIEVE!!!

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