Just When I Think All Is Well...But I Do have A Fan!

Well,  there will be no more sparring videos from Bloor on this blog.
Just when I thought things were going well, some asshole has to spoil it.
Would you believe that someone actually complained about my video recording our sparring? This is done by many boxing gyms so the boxers can review their performance. Yeah, excuse me for being helpful. I'll have to remember to not ever do that again.
Why the hell would someone complain? Oh yeah, this is Bloor Street Fitness, the cry-baby capital of Toronto.
I was told by Kobe that I can not have the camera in his class any more. I think I should be able to record my own sparring, however it is his class, and I don't want to upset the babies.
It still bothers me. My God, you are a boxer. Be a man. Shit!
Interestingly, Mike, the manager, asked me to photograph the boxing event on December 3.  That's fine. Mike is a nice guy, and I don't mind helping him.
Also, I was discussing  the sparring with some friends who also train with me at Stockyards. There is some concern about it. First of all, some guys are not wearing the proper gear. You should always have mouthgaurd, headgear, and sparring gloves. We have noticed that this is not always the case. Even if this is supposed to be soft sparring, you should wear the proper equipment. Why is the proper use of gear not being enforced? A lot are not wearing headgear, and one was actually wearing bag gloves instead of sparring gloves. All the gear should be checked before sparring, and anyone not wearing the proper equipment should not be allowed in the ring. It is very simple.
That brings up another issue,some guys are hitting 'way too hard for soft sparring. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I don't care. If a guy hits too hard, I hit back equally as hard.
However, what if someone gets injured?  Knowing that place, some cry-baby will complain.
Then what if Boxing Ontario finds out? Bloor is still not officially certified for sparring. Plus, we did not have a coach this week, and they don't have a regular coach.
Bloor should have a full-time coach certified by Boxing Ontario, plus the venue needs to be certified as well. Although they did get a temporary certification for the boxing in December, it is not allow sparring on a regular basis.
If one of the cry-babies complains, and Boxing Ontario finds out, they will have a shit-fit. You think Paul Ryan's shit-fits are bad? You don't want to see a Boxing Ontario shit-fit. It could very well affect future requests for certification. 
If Boxing Ontario refuses future requests by Bloor, it could mean a total shut-down of all the boxing programs at Bloor Fitness. Seriously, Paul might close the boxing gym. Of course, that will mean I will no longer be going there, along with a lot of other people.
This is typical of the usual drama that goes on at Bloor Fitness.
You know, I could make a soap opera based on Bloor Fitness. Hmmmmm....

In other news on the boxing front, the other day at Stockyards after training, someone came to be and said, "You are Blue Corner?"..."The Blue Corner Blog, That is you?"
Wow! This is great. It is nice to know that I have a regular reader who recognizes me. Thank you for your support. Actually, thank you to everyone who reads my entries. It is because of all of you that keeps me motivated to keep writing. Also, if you have any suggestions for future entries, feel free to use the comments section.

Video from Thursday's sparring class:
{This is where the video would go, but thanks to Asshole, there isn't one...Thanks Asshole.}

Paul "The Brick" Brec
Stockyards Boxing Team, Masters Novice Division, Heavyweight

Sparring At Bloor: The Video

Hi all.
I talk a lot about sparring, and they have a great class at Bloor Boxing. Kobe is a pretty good teacher. Of course he is a pretty good boxer himself.
I have decided to start video recording the sparring. It is a great tool for boxers to grade their performance.
Whenever I can, I'd like to share some sparring sessions with you. If you have never boxed before, and are interested in starting, this will give you a good idea of what it is about. If you are a boxer already, it may give you a few ideas, or maybe you can give me some. Sometimes the best coach is another boxer.

This first sparring round was a bit short because we spent the majority of the round getting instructions from the coach. This round was me vs. Oliver. Oliver is a good friend who also trains at Sully's gym.

This was two consecutive rounds with one of the new guys. This guy hit pretty hard, so I hit him hard as well. In between rounds, the instructor provided some feedback.

I hope this helps give you an idea of some of the stuff we do in sparring class. I hope to be able to upload a bit of video from each class.


Paul "The Brick" Brec
Stockyards Boxing Team, Masters Novice Division, Heavyweight

A New Coach At Bloor Could Legalize Sparring

Another week of boxing training has proven to be interesting.
As usual, Junmar killed me with his class on Tuesday, I did my own training on Wednesday, but Richard was not around for some reason.
On Thursday, I did the usual sparring class at Bloor, but there was something different about it. They have imported a coach from another club to oversee the sparring.
This is a very interesting turn of events. Having a certified coach during sparring, "legalizes" the sparring at Bloor.
I recognize this coach, but I do not remember his name, or the gym he represents.
I am not sure of the underlying reason why Bloor is bringing in this coach. Right now he is not really coaching in the true meaning of the word.  He is just watching the sparring and providing instructions based on the sparring. There may be plans in the future for this coach to provide classes as well. You need both, feedback and classes.
In the meantime, I am still attending Stockyards. Richard's boxing classes on Saturday are still very technically intensive, which is good.
The funny thing is Richard approached me on Saturday and was basically amazed that I was still attending his gym. Well, why not? Rick is a great coach. He was very appreciative at the fact that I have not switched full-time to Bloor.
The truth is, I don't want to switch full-time to Bloor. It is still questionable as to what is going on there. At least with Stockyards, I know exactly what is happening, and the expectations.
As I mentioned, they really still don't have a full-time coach at Bloor. Standing outside the ring, barking instructions is helpful, but not enough.
Rick has actual classes where he teaches boxing. Bloor Fitness is still mostly an aerobics studio. Although, I appreciate what they are doing there, it still needs work. I suggest, in addition to Kobe's sparring class, have actual technical boxing classes as well. That might be the plan with this new coach, but it is too early to tell.
The sparring class at Bloor is getting very popular. They had some more new guys again.
This one guy, I sparred first, was very fast. His first jab nailed me square in the nose! Shit! This guy is fast! I can usually defend pretty good against a jab. I did not even see that coming, until it hit me. The sharp pain through my nose was a good indication that it was quite possibly hit by a flying leather glove with a nice hard fist in it.
OK, so this is a good practice for defense. Pain is a very good teacher.
One thing I am finding, younger guys are more aggressive when boxing. The guys in my division tend to not hit as hard. It makes sense, I mean, you don't have to knock me out to win. It is only a sport. However, the guys in their 20's are full of aggression, and like to hit really hard.
I'm tough, so it does not bother me that much. Like I said, pain is a good teacher.
I sparred six different guys on Thursday, including one in my division.  What I have learned is that when a guy gets too aggressive, the best thing to do is to do the same. In most cases, I have found that he will back off a bit. Believe me, I can hit hard too! Try me.
That is all for this report.
I would like to remind everyone that "Fight Night 3" will be happening this Friday at Stockyards. So far, there are nine confirmed bouts. I hope you can come out to join us. Bouts start at 8 PM. I will be video recording the bouts. Contact me to purchase a copy.
Bloor will also be having boxing on December 3.

Paul "The Brick" Brec
Stockyards Boxing Team, Masters Novice Division, Heavyweight

Sparring the Coach..Oh, No, Not This Again !

I went to Richard's boxing lesson yesterday.
He put us through some rigorous training and technical boxing for about an hour.
We did ab work and tons of  push-ups (my favorite), and of course boxing drills.
We worked on the 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, and then add a slip. How about 1,2,3,slip, 1,2,3,slip,4...?
Then we did the same on the bag.
During a lot of class, Richard was sitting at his desk "working" on the computer. He was just yelling instructions to us. Sometimes he joined in, but did a lot of other "work" as well.
After class was over, some of the other students left, and then Richard said to me, "We are sparring today, gear up".
I did not have my sparring gear, because I was not expecting to spar, so I had to borrow the gym's equipment. I don't like doing that, so from now on, I will just bring my gear every Saturday. I have all the gear, I should be using it. I even have sparring gloves now. Apparently "real" boxers have separate gloves for sparring and for the bag. I guess that makes me a real boxer, doesn't it?
I am not a fan of sparring the coach. I guess I have a "complex" about receiving comments from the coach. I am so used to the wise-ass comments and dirty looks from that other so-called boxing gym, I guess I am now just expecting it. Of course, Richard is not like that. He actually provided a lot of useful feedback.
I found out that I have a habit of dropping my left when I throw a right cross. How did I find out?
He told me that every time I dropped that hand, he would nail me. Take a guess what happened? I dropped my left, and he nailed me with a hook...a few times.
Besides that, he told me that I needed to work on Cardio. He said that I was tired after one round. Well, yeah, what was I doing for the last hour? Did I not just train for an hour as opposed to sitting at my desk? I don't think that was fair. I could spar 85 rounds if I was walking into the ring fresh. Give me a break.
After sparring, was talked a bit, and he told me that he does not really know about my chances of ever competing again. According to him, we need to do some more training and sparring.
Well, at least that is an honest answer. I don't expect him to give me an answer right now. He has been my coach for how long? Just over two months? It is too early to tell. I will do anything he suggests in order to get back into that ring again, and in the meantime, I will be keeping in shape. That is the whole idea of getting back into boxing.
Moving on to Sunday. I slept in really late, and missed class at Stockyards, so I went to Bloor instead.  Usually Bloor is quiet on Sundays. This week there was some guy there who thinks he knows how to box, and he was playing some Gawd-awful music. Seriously, I am going to create a new music category called "Gawd-awful".
This is a bit off-topic, but I am going to be talking about this in one of my future Broadcasting Blog entries.  There is a running gag about my feelings about modern music.  On February 4, 1993, music officially began to suck. Therefore, all of my favorite songs are before that date. There is more to it than that.
Check out 'Comments From Behind the Camera' for information about my experiences and comments about Broadcasting and Media.
Well, that is all for this entry.

Paul "The Brick" Brec
Stockyards Boxing Team, Heavyweight Masters Novice Division

Someone Needs A Boxing Lesson...

How do you like the new intro photo ?

I put some photos of my training at Stockyards on Facebook. Someone from work made some comments about them.
I will discuss that a bit later, but for now, dum...dum...da...dum... a Bloor Sparring Class update. (Echo)
Sparring class with Kobe at Bloor Gym was very busy this past Thursday. I ended up doing 10 rounds of sparring. All different classes and skills. I had some newbies, plus the big professional was back. All together there were 10 people in this class, which was the most I have ever seen there.
There were a couple of girls there, too. I will not discuss this any more, as you all know how I feel about girls in combat sports. However, if they want to get involved, it should be girl verses girl. Don't put girl with guy.
They had a bit of that during Thursday's class, but please don't put me against a girl. I really would not like that.
Anyway, overall it was a very constructive class.  I learned a few things and taught a few things.
Now, speaking of teaching. Here are some photos from Wednesday's training at Stockyards:

Defensive shadow boxing

Straight right

Footwork practice

Heavy bag, jab

Heavy bag

Speed bag

This gives you an idea of a training session at Stockyards Boxing Gym.
Someone from work said, "Too many arm-punches. You need to put more shoulder into it." This person has obviously been boxing for a very long time. (Sarcastic)
You do not put shoulder into a jab. You step into a jab. You use your shoulder for your right cross, which I do as you see in the photo above.
I know these people mean well, but if you have never boxed before, you really should not be offering advise. Especially since my coach is a former professional whose last opponent was Hector Camacho.
I'll listen to Coach Rick, before anyone from work.

Here is a little video of me on the speed bag. This is different from the one on Facebook. This one was a FAIL!

That is all for this entry.

Keep your hands up and your chin down.
--Paul "The Brick" Brec
Stockyards Boxing Team, Heavyweight Masters Novice Division