Saturday gym time I had a great workout today though I have to admit I am tired, tired, tired, with deltoids that are craving a warm bath and a swim in the waters off Maui. Oh well … back to reality in Brooklyn. Gleason’s was really hopping which helped to up my energy whenever I felt as if I was flagging.
The best part was running into Keisher “Fire” Mcleod-Wells who is getting ready for her fight on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 @ B. B. Kings promoted by DiBella Entertainment. This is what she had to say:
Fire’s got five (5) tickets left — and will love your support. For more information call Gleason’s Gym @ 718-797-2872. Tickets can also be purchased at the door on fight night.
Ukrainian Women Warriors, photo by Guillaume Herbaut
It seems that there’s some press around lately on the theme of “getting real” when it comes to fitness. For our friends in Chicago, Chicago Now has a piece about the Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness gym and its affiliated Knockout Boxing Club in Downer’s Grove, Il.. As the author put it:
“What I was looking for: – I didn’t want to join a large gym and do a cardio boxing class. I wanted the real deal, the same workouts fighters do. – I refuse to wear makeup or dress up for the gym. – I don’t want to be treated like a girl.”
What she found was an environment of hard work, sweat, and the inspiration of watching a group of highly skilled, ranked women fighters across a spectrum of disciplines from Boxing to MMA to Kickboxing. Article link here.
New York City has also seen press lately about the idea of the urban warrior. In a recent article in the local Chelsea Now paper, women’s boxing is touted as one of a select group of “alternate activities to stretch your mind and body in more dynamic ways,” the others being target shooting and rock climbing. Article link here. I know from my own experience I didn’t walk into a boxing gym so much for fitness as to engage in a physically demanding full-contact sport.
When I search around for women’s boxing news, I inevitably find some press related to new boxing or MMA classes and programs for women every few days. That coupled with the upcoming debut of women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympics the sport is building a lot of momentum not only in the United States, but globally.
Andrecia Wasson
What’s cool is while I didn’t walk into a boxing gym until my early 40’s, girls like my daughter know the camaraderie and hard work of the gym starting as young as 8. Detroit fighter, Andrecia Wasson is a case in point. She first walked into the Warriors Boxing Club at the age of 12 and now as an 18-year-old Women’s Middleweight World Champion is starting her quest for Olympic gold.
The thing of it is, go to Gleason’s Gym on any Saturday morning and what you’ll find is a group of dedicated women boxers of all skill levels and ages plying their craft with heart and a lot of positive attitude — and then realize that those kinds of scenes are repeated all over the United States. Then consider that it’s also repeated in places like India, China, Jordan, Zambia and Afghanistan. That’s pretty heady stuff and something to feel very proud to be a part of.
Girlboxing is having one of those busy days! Too much work, too many obligations, not enough time! To pep it all up and to remind us all that Spring *will* come — here are some secrets on how to perfect your Jab from across the pond!
One of the great mantras of boxing is to protect yourself at all times. That construct proved pivotal to Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” and as every trainer will tell you, never turn your back on a fighter.
The art of the handwrap — while not as dramatic an idea as getting cold-cocked by Lucia Rijker does give a boxer the protection required to keep their hands reasonably safe from chaffing, cuts and broken bones.
My first trainer, Johnny Grinage used to wrap each of my hands with two handwraps, placing a foam rubber pad over my knuckles with the second wrap. This was just short of a “professional wrap” with batting and adhesive tape — which he did for me once or twice and I have to admit it felt great.
In those days, he had me training in 18 oz. gloves on heavy, heavy bags. As Johnny was famous for shouting “I don’t want to see no pitty pat,” this meant that my hands took a lot of punishment – so my protection was to have “mummy wraps” and even then I had a lot of red knuckles at the end of a training session.
When I train now, I use the “Mexican” wraps, extra-long with a little bit of spandex in them. I wrap them fairly snug, but not too tight — and as I train with 10 oz or 12 oz gloves I only need one on each hand. When Lennox Blackmore wraps them, he uses a technique that adds a little extra padding to the knuckles, but I find that I am okay without them. I’ll add that when I do a lot of heavy bag work, I will add a bit of foam to keep the knuckles safe.
There are also handwrap “gloves” on the market filled with foam or gel. I personally find them to be uncomfortable inside a pair of boxing gloves, but will use them for speed bag work or the double-ended bag. These types of gloves resemble MMA grappling gloves and are generally filled with some type of gel solution or foam. The ones I use are made of leather and have thick foam over the knuckles.
Still, nothing beats a professional tape job by a master boxing trainer!
Tomorrow is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The U.S. Congress adopted the day in 1986 to honor female athletic achievement and recognize the positive influence of sports on women. This year marks the 25th Anniversary with the theme of “Play, Believe, Achieve.” In New York City, a commemoration event will be hosted by PSAL (Public Schools Athletic League) at the Theater in Madison Square Garden. Who knew, right?
A coalition of Women’s athletics groups and the Girl Scouts are also sponsoring events around the country. In particular, the Woman’s Sports Foundation, founded by Billie Jean King, and recently joined by new president and boxing’s own, Laila Ali, are key partners in promulgating girl’s and women’s sports participation. (For more information click here.)
Growing up in New York City where a girls sporting event meant running for the bus my exposure to sports or anything related to athleticism was rudimentary at best. Thus the notion of a day to celebrate women’s sports and athleticism truly hits home especially when I see my daughter and her friends take to athleticism with such each. At 11 years of age, these girls are strong, lithe and full of confidence having been exposed to sports and exercise as a regular part of their lives.
The recent Colgate Women’s Games for the girls 11 and under held over the last few weekends was a case in point. Watching these girls compete was truly a sight to behold. Girls as young as 7 ran there hearts out with incredible courage. In particular we cheered-on my daughter’s friends as they completed in the 800 meter having already run the 200 and 400 that same day. These girls showed heart and wore smiles a mile wide as they crossed the finish line. Particularly heartening has been listening to my daughter and her friends trade tips on warm-up exercises and their ab-routines with the same ease as talking about music and dance moves.
If you can, take a moment to think about this tomorrow and while you might not be able to participate in an event, be aware that we’ve got a long, long way to go before girl’s and women’s athletic programs truly live up to the ideals of Title IX.
Dicky Eklund surprised Christian Bale on stage at the SAG Awards 1/30/2011, Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images
Congratulations to the cast and crew of the Micky Ward biopic The Fighter for picking up fresh awards from the Screen Actors Guild last night. Aside from Christian Bale who won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for playing boxer Dicky Eklund, Melissa Leo won Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Micky Ward’s mother Alice Ward.
Gleason’s own four-time Golden Gloves winner Keisher “Fire” McLeod-Wells (3-1), will be fighting on February 9th, 2011 at B.B. King’s on a card promoted by DiBella Entertainment. This will be Keisher’s first six round bout where she will face off with San Francisco fighter Melissa “Mighty” McMorrow (4-1-3). For tickets and more information about this bout, contact Gleason’s Gym here.
Rock Chicks Live has a piece about it here. WBAN has a piece about it here. And take a visit to Fire’s website here.
The Sweet Science.com is carrying a story about the Bob Arum’s move from HBO to Showtime-CBS — and the potential of putting “terrestrial television” aka plain-vanilla broadcast TV back into the mix. The main thrust of Bob Arum and Top Rank’s deal is giving him “ad spots and live coverage during CBS programming [that] will run either the first or last episode of a four-part promotional countdown to the fight show on CBS in prime time (the others will run on SHOWTIME). In addition, Top Rank will be allowed to sell ad spots that help cover the production costs of that show.” [Link to the full article here.]
This is pretty heady stuff and puts in my such glory days of boxing as the kind of main event fights that played on broadcast television from the 1950’s on through the great warrior battles of Muhammad Ali well into the 1970’s.
Howard Cosell and Mohammed Ali
The net effect of Arum’s move to Showtime-CBS will certainly bring more viewers for his upcoming Cotto-Mayorga fight, but more importantly will give him time to promote Manny Pacquiao’s May 7th fight: a cross back into the realm of broadcast television thereby burnishing the place of the prize fighter in American lore.
Imagine this — the deal includes live promotion on CBS Morning Show and will also feature Christy Martin on CBS Talk Shows. As well, in the run up to the Pacquiao fight, a feature spot will run on 60 Minutes one week prior to the fight.
As I’ve stated in an earlier column on the popularity of The Fighter and the splash that the new series Lights On is having on FX, boxing has found new life as people begin to view boxing as a way of battling through their own issues large and small. For the fighter, it may still be a way out of “Palookaville,” but for the rest of us it’s a way out of powerlessness in a world that is moving way to fast for its own good. I don’t know enough about the promoting game to be a fan one way or another of Bob Arum, but what I can say, is that his move to the wider audience of broadcast television shows that he is in touch with the subtle changes in the place of boxing on the American consciousness. From the perspective of boostering women’s boxing, Bob Arum is also placing his money on the future place of women’s boxing in the prize fighting game, and given where we are vis-a-vis the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, that is a great thing.
When one embarks on any sort of daily regimen of exercise, diet, writing or otherwise — or what I call the daily something, some days feel great and others are to put it charitably, “tougher” than others.
At best, one feels something a kin to a “glow” of self-satisfaction for having put in the work and effort while basking in what feels like tangible results. At worst, however, is that feeling of being in the mud having worked and worked without getting anywhere — and maybe even losing some ground.
Like any annoying Pollyanna, my response is to say focus on the bright-side, but when one has schlepped oneself day after day to some activity, or to the discipline of say, no chocolate except on Saturdays and the scale looks back with numbers on the wrong side of the goal, that is small solace.
To put it more plainly, when one is my age, a later rather than sooner 50-something, a scale that tips the wrong way feels like a miserable defeat! Inevitably (with a pardon to the youngsters out there) it becomes one of those “shut-up” moments when the whole hot flashing, weight fluctuating, mood altering, welcome to crone-hood stuff comes crashing down in a giant, “G-d damn-it” because in my world it means I can’t find my glasses again to even keep the awful number on the scale in focus.
That’s when my other, less grumpy, too cheerful for her own good self makes an appearance and screams out “suck-it up!”
Let’s face it, 26 days of a daily something is an amazing achievement — and what’s meaningful is the “and counting” part of it. So whether it’s shadow boxing before dawn, writing a poem a day or blogging about it, or any of the myriad of great things we all work hard to achieve, congratulations to you for even trying.
For those who didn’t catch this over the weekend, the New York Times did a feature piece on boxer, Christy Martin as she readies herself for her comeback fight on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto v. Ricardo Mayorga bout to be aired on Showtime pay-per-view March 12th. The article, written by Joyce Wadler, looks in-depth at Christy’s career and recent troubles. The “money” quote of the piece is at the end in response to a snarky question if ever I heard one regarding Christy’s motivations for returning to the ring. “You know,” she said, “I was a fighter before, so I’m just going back to work, and through my work maybe I can inspire other women, or give them strength to deal with situations and move forward.” Way to go Christy! The link to the piece is here.
Ana Julaton
Another great Philippine “Pac-Woman,” Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton has announced the “return of The Hurricane,” in her bout to be fought against Francesca “The Chosen One” Alcanter. Of interest is the fact that the fight night will feature a mixture of Professional Boxing, Amateur kickboxing, as well as live music and comedy acts on three stages. The event is set for February 25, 2011 at the Craneway Pavilion in Riverside, CA, and will be broadcast live in the Philippines. For further information, check out the link here and here.
Flyweights, Ava Knight (r) & Gloria Salas
The Sweetscience.com is carrying a piece by David A. Avila, about Golden Boy Promotions’ recent efforts to support women’s boxing. As Avila points out, “Golden Boy kept its word and female prizefighting was showcased on another fight card [this past Friday]. Working with Claudia Ollis, a new powerbroker in women’s boxing, the Los Angeles-based boxing giant Golden Boy has made waves in the boxing world. Now other boxing promotions are jumping on the bandwagon with female fighters included on their respective cards.” This is great news for the sport and couldn’t come at a better time as we enter the countdown to next year’s debut of women’s boxing at the 2012 Olympics in London. The article can be found here.
The new International Amateur Boxing Association’s (AIBA)is seeking to strengthen the position of women’s amateur boxing both before and after the 2012 Olympic games to include adding weight categories at future Olympic games. As well, the association has set an agreement for the 2011 Women’s Youth and Junior World Championships to be held in Ankara, Turkey from April 28 – May 8. For more information click here and here.
Now that I’ve gone to a once a week training schedule for boxing, I find myself getting really excited by the time Friday comes along. The daily fitness routine I’ve found that can work with my schedule these days is based around early morning yoga, but it’s the thought of boxing that gets me pumped up and ready to go.
My Saturday morning boxing routine begins with dropping my daughter off for her Aikido practice, after which I take a nice long walk over to Gleason’s Gym. By the time I get there I’ve logged 2-1/2 miles at a pretty fast pace so I am nice and loose. About a 1/2 mile out, I start pumping my arms a bit so that by the time I hit the gym I feel ready for one of my two favorites: three rounds on the double-ended bag or three rounds of shadow boxing using the slip-rope.
For those who don’t usually practice, the slip-rope is real old-school consisting of something as simple as a clothes line tied between two poles or across the ring around 15 feet apart at about chest height. The object is to move forwards and backwards along the line and “slip” under as practice for slipping a punch. The slip-rope is also great for practicing upper cuts under the line — or for simulating jabs to the body and jabs to the head. By around the third round, I feel loose enough to dance around the slip-rope going forwards, backwards, and circling. Having the rope at chest height not only helps to “remind” me to slip, but also gives me an approximation of where to place body versus head punches.
Alternatively, I’ll use the double-ended bag for warm-ups starting with a round of lefts and finishing the second two rounds with combinations and a lot of hooks or upper cuts off the jab.
If I can train with Lennox Blackmore, we’ll do three rounds of pad work — with an aim of getting to four rounds by the end of January, five rounds by the end of February and six rounds by the end of March! Once we’re done with the pads, it’s back to the double-ended bag for three rounds to work on punches and combinations that Lennox and I focused on during the training session on the pads. This helps to solidify moves, especially slipping punches to counter — a Lennox special. After that, it’s on to the speed bag for three rounds and then a whole lotta’ abs! I’ll add that if Len isn’t around, I might work-out for three rounds on the heavy bag in lieu of pad work, or add in an extra three on the double-ended bag.
By the end I’m exhausted, but happy — and ready for the quick walk back over to pick-up my daughter. I hope to keep this going for about three months so that by April I’ll be fit enough to get back into the ring for some light sparring. We’ll see!
Alicia Ashley and Crystal Hoy, Brooklyn Explosion, January 19, 2011
Alicia “Slick” Ashley whipped some butt last night, coming on top to win her 8-round bout against Crystal “Baby Faced Assassin” Hoy on a unanimous decision. “Slick” truly lived up to her name through a combination of her stick and jab style, smart defensiveness, angles that seemed to defy gravity and a decisive 8th round knockdown that sealed her dominance throughout the fight. The judges agreed with one scoring the bout 80-72 and the other two scoring the bout 79-72.
Alicia "Slick" Ashley v. Crystal "Baby Faced Assassin" Hoy, 1/19/11
Maureen Shea is to be applauded for putting on a terrific show that included four under card bouts — along with her gamble of promoting a woman’s boxing bout as the Main Event.
Young Afghani Women Boxing, Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images
MSNBC is carrying a fabulous photo essay of young Afghani women boxing. The joy in their faces says it all. The link is here. The photographs were shot by photojournalist Shah Marai for AFP.
Alicia "Slick" Ashley, readies for her Main Event fight on January 19, 2011.
The Brooklyn Explosion boxing card @ Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple will feature Alicia “Slick” Ashley in main event bout against Crystal Hoy tomorrow night. Promoted by New York’s own “Million Dollar Baby,” Maureen Shea, the evening is historic as the first promoting a woman’s title bout as a main event.
LaTarisha Fountain, Photo credit: Savulich/News
The New York Daily News in its continuing series on up-and-coming Golden Gloves contenders had a terrific piece on Olympic hopeful LaTarisha Fountain. The former point guard for Pace University won her first Golden Gloves last year at 152 lbs. and hopes to repeat it again in her quest for a spot on next year’s US Olympic Women’s Boxing team. The link to the article is here.
84th Daily News Golden Gloves
As a reminder, this year’s Daily News Golden Gloves gets underway on Thursday, January 20th at B. B. Kings Club.
It’s not all Manny Pac-man: Pac-women’s Boxing in the Philippines
Philippine Women's Boxing Team
When boxing enthusiasts think of the Philippines, they tend to think of one thing, Manny Pacquiao. Well move over Manny because there are a lot young, talented women boxers who are vying for an opportunity to represent the Philippines in the 2012 Olympics. With such talent as Asian Games silver medalist, Annie Albania as potential representatives, the Philippines stands a good chance to contend for a medal at the historic London games. Other potential fighters include, flyweight Alice Kate Aparri, bantamweight Ana Liza Cruz, and featherweight Nesthy Petecio.
What with the critical acclaim of the Micky Ward biopic, “The Fighter” and FX channel’s new series, “Lights Out,” one could think that boxing’s gone mainstream again.
After all, there was a time when Friday night fights were as ubiquitous as Friday night football in big towns and little towns across America. The recent renaissance of small venues coupled with the play that MMA is getting on local and national television, however, does seem to be fueling a groundswell of renewed interest in the sport that has been growing since the phenomenon of “White Collar Boxing” in the 1990’s.
More to the point, boxing continues to be a “working class” story. Talk to any young boxer trying to make it and hear a story as old as Horatio Alger: young man or young woman determined to “make-it” through the sweat of his or her brow. In boxing, however, that’s a literal thing. It literally takes sweat and a lot of it to gain the conditioning necessary to fight a round of boxing never mind 12 — all while being pummeled with the ever-present threat of serious injury or worse. Those are some kind of odds — and yet boxers take them.
As “The Fighter” shows, the desire to “make it” can also be “fought out” against the dynamic of family madness or personal demons. Ask anyone why they like to hit things and believe me, you’ll get a story.
Melissa Hernandez
What’s interesting is that the kind of “truth” that’s being explored in the latest media incarnations of the sport are attempting to work through the genre elements to arrive at a statement about who we are and where we are as a people at this particular point in time. A lot of our old middle-class dreams are falling away — and in that instance, what’s left? Strip away mortgages, high-priced dinners and all the other trappings of the middle-class life and one is faced with a sort of raw truth of life on the margins: of making it or not based on family relationships and one’s own gumption.
A return to boxing seems to imply a reglorification of the ring as a stand-in for our own sense of what we’ve lost and what we can find. Boxers as heroes and demi-Gods has a potent place in the mythology of the sport — and as a pointer for the new reality of folks facing displacement from their dreams, it offers an alternative stream of what life can offer. That’s certainly good for all those young kids preparing for the Golden Gloves this year, and as a marker for the “grown-ups” in the crowd, offers a kind of hope for redemption from the ills of economic debacles and all the rest that happens when dreams fade and die.
I had a great workout today though I have to admit I am tired, tired, tired, with deltoids that are craving a warm bath and a swim in the waters off Maui. Oh well … back to reality in Brooklyn. Gleason’s was really hopping which helped to up my energy whenever I felt as if I was flagging.
Girlboxing 
