SPECIAL BRAMPTON CUP ENTRY: It's a Masters World

    SPECIAL ENTRY


IT'S A MASTERS WORLD AT THE BRAMPTON CUP

In all the years I have been boxing, I have never seen so many masters registered for a tournament.
12 masters in all with 5 in my weight class including myself are registered for next weekend's Brampton Cup.

I could potentially have three opponents and I know all of them.
William Kohler is from Detroit, and although older than I, he could be a very interesting and challenging opponent. As I always say, don't underestimate the older guys. 
David Cyrus used to train with me at Stockyards. I've sparred him a few times, so I know his style although things could have changed since then.
You all remember Jay Persad. I have already met him in the ring last April in Hamilton. That was when I screwed up really bad. This could be my chance to redeem myself.
John Marunchak will not be my opponent because he is out of age range.

I am, however, the most experienced of all, but we all know by now that means fuck all.

Another interesting point is that my club has three other masters all in the Super-Heavyweight class and any one of them could meet Dan Kizyma in the ring.
Dan was my opponent in the Golden Gloves and he was lighter at that time, but you all remember what happened there. 
However, I have sparred all of our masters. They are really strong guys, tough guys, hit hard, and have good technique.

Speaking of lighter, I need to get lighter. I am currently 2 kg over, so I need to cut, and I have one week to do it.
Not impossible.

I will be training and sparring Monday and Tuesday mornings and then two last technical and conditioning sessions on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, then...that's it. If I am not ready by then, I never will be.


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--Paul 'The Brick' Brec

MASTERS BOXING ON REDDIT

My Brampton Cup Strategy!

    ENTRY 450


BRAMPTON CUP STRATEGY

I have a strategy ready for the Brampton Cup.

Here it is:

49 20 77 69 6c 6c 20 73 74 61 72 74 20 69 6e 20 61 20 64 65 66 65 6e 73 69 76 65 20 73 74 61 6e 63 65 20 61 6e 64 20 61 6c 6c 6f 77 20 68 69 6d 20 74 6f 20 61 74 74 61 63 6b 20 6c 69 6b 65 20 63 72 61 7a 79 2c 20 77 68 69 6c 65 20 49 20 73 6c 6f 77 6c 79 20 6d 6f 76 65 20 66 6f 72 77 61 72 64 20 61 6e 64 20 66 6f 72 63 65 20 68 69 6d 20 6f 6e 74 6f 20 74 68 65 20 72 6f 70 65 73 2e 20 54 68 65 6e 20 49 20 77 69 6c 6c 20 6f 70 65 6e 20 75 70 20 6f 6e 20 68 69 6d 20 77 69 74 68 20 61 6e 20 61 6c 6c 2d 6f 75 74 20 62 6f 64 79 20 61 74 74 61 63 6b 2e 20 54 68 65 6e 20 74 61 6b 65 20 74 68 65 20 72 65 73 74 20 6f 66 20 74 68 65 20 72 6f 75 6e 64 20 6a 75 73 74 20 6b 65 65 70 69 6e 67 20 68 69 6d 20 61 77 61 79 20 77 69 74 68 20 73 74 72 61 69 67 68 74 20 70 75 6e 63 68 65 73 2e 20 20 

Your computer will understand.

That being said, there is only about a week left and I really need to work hard for this to work. 
This could be my last tournament in a very long time if not forever and I can not let down my coaches and team.
This will be a win for Cabbagetown. It has to be.

There are already four masters registered for the tournament with still two days left to register. 

The draw will not be until Thursday, which is unusual. They usually draw on Monday.
It is what it is.

This will be the last entry until after the Brampton Cup since next week I want full concentration on training.

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--Paul 'The Brick' Brec

MASTERS BOXING ON REDDIT

If It Ain't Broke...

    ENTRY 449


BRAMPTON OR BUST

My coach told me yesterday that I was going to Brampton.
Personally, I am thrilled since I have never been in the Brampton Cup before. 
I went last year, but if you remember my bout was cancelled.
Let's hope that does not happen this time.

I hope the club gets a hotel room like in Niagara Falls. I know Brampton is not that far, but the weigh-in is at 8 in the morning and they are held at the hotel. 
It is a huge freaking pain in the ass to get to Brampton at that time in the morning on a weekend without a car. 
It would be easier to just stay there overnight.


IF IT AIN'T BROKE...

Okay, so I have to admit that some of my boxing techniques are based on Mike Tyson's techniques. I also have to say that some of my coaches are not huge fans of Mike Tyson's way of boxing. 
That has lead to some conflict.
I have adopted his form of defense. Both gloves up with thumbs pointed out to the sides.
It works for me quite well. However, one of my coaches absolutely hates it when I do that.
He insists that I hold my gloves further away from my face and apart so I can parry.
Okay, but I don't feel comfortable defending that way. I feel that there is too much room for something to get through, and I prefer to block rather than parry. Mike's way doesn't allow anything through and it works for me.
I can understand coaches making suggestions when an athlete is doing something that isn't working, but what I am doing is working, so why change it?

WORKING ON BODY DEFENSE

While on the topic of defense, I found out the hard way this week that I still need to work on body defense. Even though Mike's defense works great for me against Head Hunters, the rest of my body doesn't agree.
Sparring was tough on my ribs and abdomen area this week. I am still in pain as I write this.
One of my sparring partners likes to go after the body. He seemed to have a very low hit ratio when trying to hit my face and head but was much more successful at landing body shots.
Working on body defense will be a priority going into the Brampton Cup.

I know some of you are thinking that is the reason the coach wants me to change the way I defend, but holding by hands further from my body is going to make defending my body more difficult. Won't it?

I am going to speak with all the coaches about this to find the best solution because there is no way I am going into the Brampton Cup with piss-poor body defense. 
Especially with all the masters currently registered for the Brampton Cup having very few bouts or none at all, they are for sure going to be very aggressive against a guy with 9 bouts.
I have to be ready for that.


BRINGING HOME THE CUP---AGAIN

Last year Cabbagetown Boxing Club won the Brampton Cup cup.
Honestly, I didn't even know there was a physical cup. I thought that was just a name, but no, there actually is a Brampton cup. It is currently sitting on a shelf in the Cabbagetown Boxing Club. I never though to photograph it. I should have.
Anyway, it is given to the team that has the highest percentage of wins during the tournament.
That puts pressure on me. Not just myself, but all of the Cabbagetown boxers. We want to bring home the cup again this year.
Best of luck to my teammates. Everyone work hard this next couple of weeks. 
Let's show the world that the best boxers are from Cabbagetown.

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--Paul 'The Brick' Brec

MASTERS BOXING ON REDDIT

Leave It To Me To Piss Off A Radio Station ~ Karma Got Me

    ENTRY 448

I'VE BEEN TOLD

After I heard morning host Stu Jefferies on Boom 97.3 singing along to Neil Diamon's 'Sweet Caroline', it prompted me to post it to the Reddit community r/radio. 
I figured it would create an interesting discussion, and after all, that is what the internet is for.
I posted a video of the radio recorded while Stu was "singing", and called it "Annoying Morning Show Host"

It did start an interesting discussion.

I even received a response from the program director:

First of all, thank you u/paulbrec for posting this. Allow me to chime in as the Program Director of boom 97.3, Toronto. When Stu first started doing this, I was all..."WTF, is he doing?". The old school radio guy in me scratched his head and thought "that's bad radio". Then, I realized it for what it was: a morning radio guy having fun, breaking the rules, being DIFFERENT and relating to the 1000's of people that do the same thing when they hear the song. BTW, have you ever been to a Neil Diamond concert?

Then, the audience chimed in and they LOVED IT. Well, 97.3% of them did - so, it is what it is. If you don't like it, don't listen. If you do, sing a long. Also, it's not like you can't find this 50 year old song (as of this year) on its own somewhere and listen to it however you like. Kudos to Stu!

In addition, on Friday morning, Stu read the post on his morning show and he was very nice about it. Ultimately, he said that it was all done in good fun.
He handled it well.

It is just that when I worked in broadcasting, talking over the music was considered unprofessional.
I guess things have changed, and with all due respect to Stu Jefferies, being different on the radio makes for an interesting show.

Read the Reddit post HERE.


KARMA

Sparring was rough on Friday morning.
We are ramping up for the Brampton Cup and I asked for more aggressive sparring.
That I got.
I caught a few more punches than usual. I learned how to block punches with my face.
Rougher than the usual session.

I was beginning to feel like Karma was getting me for what I posted on Reddit.

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--Paul 'The Brick' Brec

MASTERS BOXING ON REDDIT

Congrats To Jennifer ~ Moving On Down

    ENTRY 447

CONGRATULATIONS TO JENNIFER

I would like to extend best wishes to Jennifer Huggins who is now the new head official for Boxing Ontario.
Although I was not a fan of her coaching back in the day, one thing that I liked about her was the "classroom" training. She always did one class where she would teach her boxers the rules of boxing. That is important and is one thing that I feel that more coaches should do.
Jennifer is very knowledgeable of the rules of boxing, so in this case Boxing Ontario made a good choice in selecting her as head official.

I look forward to working with her.


MOVING ON DOWN

The count down to the Brampton Cup is underway. 

I am working hard to not only make up for the month off but also I need to loose a bit of weight to get down to the lower weight category. I need to get back down to the 81 kg class.
I moved up a class for the Golden Gloves and that didn't work out well.
Every time I do that, I pay royally for it. You would think that eventually I would learn. 
I am currently at 83 kg, so I need to drop 2 kg or about 5 lbs. by weigh-in.

With my new work schedule, I can go into the gym every day. That doesn't mean I will but I am able to.
I am on my normal tournament training schedule of six times per week.
I will make sure to get a lot more sparring in as well. Very important.

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--Paul 'The Brick' Brec

MASTERS BOXING ON REDDIT