His Body Says Stop...His Spirit Cries Never!

Fifteen rounds. 

Remember when fifteen rounds was the standards for a professional bout?

Well, that is how much sparring I have done this week, and I feel really good about it.

I feel that I have really accomplished something.

I did three rounds on Monday, and twelve on Wednesday.

I found that I have made a lot of progression in boxing. Not just technical, but physical as well.

I am in the best shape of my life, and getting better. This time last year, there would have been no way I could have done that many rounds.

Keeping in mind that these are training rounds, so they are three minutes each. Regular competition rounds for the Master's are two minutes or less.

It is a case of the body wanting to stop, but you keep going.

That is the only way you will ever get any better.

Thanks to Will from the Bramalea Club, I have broken my bad habit of leaning forward when I throw a right cross. 

The leaning is gone, my footwork is getting better, my defense is getting better. 

All around, I am becoming a much better boxer.

I am also a lot more confident in the ring. 

I am much more aggressive. I am now more often forcing sparring partners back into the ropes.

That is a lot of improvement, since all Stockyards boxers are very good.

In other news, come out and support your local boxing gym.

There is a boxing show in March being hosted by Stockyards. 

I will not be in it, but Metropolis TV will be video recording it, and it will be available for viewing about a week later.

As a reminder, we no longer provide hard copies of programming (DVDs), but most bouts will be uploaded to archives on our YouTube channel, 'Metropolis Community Media'.

I feel that if I continue to go to the gym daily, and spar at least twice per week, I will have my first competitive bout in the spring. 

If spring ever gets here.

Cheers.

UPCOMING BOXING SHOWS

March 8 at Stockyards Boxing Gym, 7 PM

Watch it on Metropolis West TV starting March 16.

TORONTO WEATHER, February 28 2014

Clear. Low -23c / High -14c Wind Chill Warning

The `80s Called...They Want Their Boxers Back

The 1980s was a great decade for boxing.

Some of the best boxing films of all time were released, and we saw some of the world`s best boxers.









Salvador Sánchez, Roberto Durán ,  Marvin Hagler, Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard,
Alexis Argüello, and Hector Camacho.

Also, in the late `80s, Mike Tyson made his professional debut, and didn`t try to bite someone`s ear off.









However, there is another professional boxer from that era that many of you may not have heard of.

Rick Soucé 1988

His name is Richard Soucé. Also known as Rick.

He was a `No-Name`from Brampton, Ontario.

Although, he is probably more known now, than he was back then. Especially in the Toronto area.


He is currently coaching a who new breed of boxers at the Stockyards Boxing Gym in West Toronto. 
Along with his assistant, Junmar Emon, who  currently competing professionally, they coach one of the largest boxing teams in Toronto. Including, myself.

That is amazing, since Stockyards is just a little less than three years old...or maybe not.
Stockyards has one of the best coaching staff.

Rick Soucé NOW

As you can see, Richard has barely aged in 25 years.


WATCH RICK SOUCÉ VS. HECTOR CAMACHO (1988) HERE


It is kind of creepy when I watch his old bouts. It is like being stuck in a time-warp.





Rick has turned out to be a great coach. Turning out great boxer after great boxer. Maybe, a future world champion.


However, there was another boxer from the `80s, who was even lesser known.

You know him now as `The Brick`, but back then he was just Paul.
Yes. I started training in boxing in 1985.

You may find this hard to believe, but I was once a tiny, little weakling. 
You know, the one who was always picked on by the bullies?

Well, my dad got tired of it. You know what dad's are like. He took me to this little boxing gym in the basement of the Normahurst Community Centre in East Hamilton.
The gym was called McGrory's, and the coach was Vinnie Ryan, who is apparently still coaching.

After just six months of training, I did not have any more problems with bullies.

McGrory's Boxing Club at Normanhurst Community Centre

McGrory's Boxing Club is no longer at that location. The city of Hamilton sold the building, and it has since been demolished. 
McGrory's found a new home in the basement of a church a few blocks west on Barton Street.

I trained with Vinnie for three years until we moved to Toronto. I did not bother to return to boxing, until just about four years ago.
...and you all know the continuation of that story.

I pulled up this old photo of me posing with huge 16-oz gloves in the floor-level ring at McGrory's. 1987. 
Look at all that hair!

"The Brick" at McGrory's Boxing Club, 1987.

Don't laugh!

Cheers.

Back In the Ring To Take Another Swing

Well, with my renewal now processed, I can spar again. 
Although, Junmar is still away, I went in earlier on Monday for Rick's class. 
Some of the competitive guys were in, so we arranged some sparring.


While waiting for the others to get ready, Rick took me into the ring for some pad work. 
It has been a long time since Rick has done any one-on-one work with me in the ring.
We worked on the 1-2-3 combo. 
For those who don't know, that is a Left Jab, Right Cross, and Left Hook. 
It is a common training combination. 
Of course, you don't use that a lot in competition. It is too predictable.

I will have to go over those with you some time. There are actually eight offensive moves used for training, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. It can be quite interesting. 
I will cover this in a future entry. 
I am working on a column about technical training for boxing, which will appear in this blog by the end of this month.

Back to sparring:
Monday sparring went quite well, I thought.
Richard was in charge, which meant I only got to do two rounds. 
I sparred Paul (One of the many other Pauls), and someone else, whose name escapes me right now.
Paul has already had one competitive match, and it seemed that our sparring session was quite even.

That means that I should be getting close to having a real bout.
I realize that opponents are hard to find in the Master's division, but as I said, I am willing to do exhibitions. Stockyards has a lot of Master's boxers.
Exhibitions, though they don't reflect a win or loss on an athlete's record, they do count towards ring experience. 

Richard will be hosting another club show in March, and I really hope I can get into it, even with an exhibition.

Junmar was still not present for Wednesday's sparring, and neither was Richard. 
Will from the Bramalea club was there. He helped with our sparring.

Justin was there with his hooks, although I did not get a chance to spar him.

I did eight rounds of sparring, which is the most I have ever done. 
Will wanted me to focus on my jab. For some reason he does not like my jab. He feels that it is too "flicky". 
I have always thought a jab was supposed to be "flicky". 

Anyway, I jabbed like crazy, and my left arm was so sore after.
I also threw a few rights. 
You may remember, I had this habit of leaning in when I throw a right. Will helped me correct that. I find that I am no longer leaning. I now have a wicked right cross, and I am not afraid to use it. 
Look out for that, guys.

Also this week, I "fixed" Richard's treadmill. It was dead.
I figured out that someone had initiated the emergency stop. 
Well, it is a stupid dumb thing. No where does it say that the emergency stop has been activated. It just shuts off, and you can't restart it until you reset the emergency stop.
Rick was going to call 'the guy'. Yeah, and pay for a service visit just to reset the thing.
I should have asked Richard for a free month of training. It would have been less expensive than a service call.
However, I would never do that to him. I will always pay for my use of the gym. Anything extra I do is a favor for a friend.

That is all for this entry.
For my colleagues on the Stockyards Boxing Team, I will try to be in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. The other days I will train at the other gym.

It is always a pleasure working with the great athletes from Stockyards, and we are very lucky to have such great coaches.

Cheers.

"The Brick"

Perseverance Pays

Good day all.
Welcome to another "Blue Corner".
I have just surpassed the 140th entry in this blog, and almost 50 000 views.

The key is perseverance. 

I have been writing these entries since I decided I wanted to compete again. That was over three years ago.  November 2, 2010 to be exact.

I am disappointed, because I am still hearing people tell me that they are too old to box.
Why am I doing all this, then?
I may as well stop writing this blog, stop training, and forget about competing. 
I will just check myself into a retirement home, since I am "too old" to do anything.

Do you know what that is? That is giving up. Giving up on life, and giving up on yourself.

I don't ever want to hear that come from some body's mouth again.

To put this into perspective, my dad managed a Home Depot until he was 76. 
He ran around that store for 10 hours a day. He climbed up ladders, and took heavy product down from the top shelf. He ran circles around the younger guys.
This is another example of 'perseverance'. There was no way my dad was going to check into a home. 
Unfortunately, Alzheimers took over and he had to quit, but the man kept going until then.

Here is a photo that sums up everything:

This thumbnail is of a video. The video is actually a PSA about sensible gambling, knowing when to stop. Where the slogan is "Perseverance Does Not Always Pay." 
Well, maybe not for gambling, but for boxing it does.

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHsdyiUrSck

The point is, I do not write this just to complain. That comes with the territory. 
I am trying to provide a real-life example of what happens when you focus on something, keep at it, and keep raising the bar.

Eventually, I will be back in that ring again, and hopefully come out with a winning trophy.

My goal is to be in the Pan-Am Games. 
In all honesty, I don't think I have a hope in hell of being on the Pan-Am team. However, when you pursue something as I am doing, you need an ultimate goal. Even, if it seems out of reach. Without goals, we would not achieve anything.

This applies not only to sports, but to life in general.
In an odd way, you can look at life as one long round of boxing. 
Sometimes, you will get knocked down., then you get up again, or take a really bad beating against the ropes, you shake it off and keep going. Keep fighting.
Sometimes, you are the one giving life a beating. 
Those are good times, but they don't happen without a bit of work...
...Perseverance.

Normally, I would end it here, but I wanted to share a sign I saw at Bloor Fitness. 
It was not there last week:

Amazing. 
That is all I have to say about that.

Also, for those who have been following my weigh-ins, I am now one pound away from my goal of 188.
This is going quite well for me. 
Do you think I will be happy at 188? 
Probably not. 
Here is an example of raising the bar.
How about 185?
I have lost over 20 pounds in 6 months, and this was after I had stopped taking any fitness classes.
What does that tell you?
Hey, I am not saying anything bad about fitness classes. They are great for some people, but obviously they did not work for me.
I did this all on my own.

Perseverance.

Cheers.