Tweet
Sometimes you might run across a guy in boxing that you never heard and never will. But he is still in the game and has the chance to influence someone's career one way or another. I remember a guy I knew from around the gyms. He was an older guy and claimed to have been a professional boxer in the past etc. Maybe he was, I don't know.
But one conversation we had made me know that he would never train me.
I saw him at the mall in Manchester, waiting outside a store to get a glimpse of Muhammad Ali who happened to be coming there that day to promote his cologne. This trainer had a kid with him about seventeen years old, a slim white kid with a clean and unmarked face. I was talking to the trainer and he introduced me to this teenager. He said "This is Lionel. In one years time he is going to beat Breland" (Mark Breland was in his second reign as the WBA welterweight Champion of the World.) I thought to myself that this guy must be a good pro that he brought in from out of town to work with. I asked "How many Pro fights does he have?"
The answer? "None," he tells me.
Now I am thinking, "Well this kid must have been an awesome amateur and will rapidly rise through the pro ranks."
"How many amateur fights does he have"?
"None," he replies.
Now I am thinking this kid must be a phenom! Must look awesome in sparring with good pros. "Who does he spar with?," I ask.
"Oh, he has never sparred yet. But I hold the pads for him. This is the fastest kid I have ever seen."
At that moment I realized this guy was totally out of his boxing mind. A baby faced white kid, very much a suburban kid, still a sop****re in high school, who has never fought pro before... never been to an accomplished boxing gym...never fought amateur before... never even SPARRED before... was going to beat the Olympic Gold Medalist and the reigning WBA World welterweight champion in less than one year! This belief coming from a licensed amateur trainer.
(That brings me to another interesting little fact. Just because a guy is a licensed amateur trainer, well, don't take it to the bank that it means you are getting the next Eddie Futch. In case you are wondering how one becomes a licensed amateur Boxing coach here in the USA, basically, you pay thirty-six dollars and you take a test that I am willing to bet some of the greatest trainers ever couldn't pass. I myself couldn't even pass that test without a little help from some friends that were in attendance that afternoon.)
So, when you bring little Bobby to a gym somewhere in the USA and you ask -out of parental concern for your child- what type of trainers does the gym have and the coach, who never boxed a day in his life, says "Oh, well, don't worry. I am a licensed level 2 coach under the guidelines of Olympic style boxing according to the USA/ABF in Colorado Springs, Colorado," well, translated, that means this guy took a test of 100 questions and passed.
A test with questions like:
#23: If a boxer works out for two solid hours in a sauna suit he will become:
A- Tired
B- Taller
C- Book smart
D. Better looking
If you answer "Tired" then you get that one right. Answer most of the 100 similar questions correctly and you too can work a corner at an officially sanctioned and licensed USA/ABF Amateur Boxing show in any state in the USA. Forget the fact that you wouldn't know a jab from a hook and you wouldn't know a boxer from a football player. You passed that test. The first time I took the test I got to question number 86 and raised my hand. "Yes, John?," the guy running the meeting replied.
"Yes, uh... I was just curious... do any of these questions have ANYTHING at all to do with boxing?," I asked
Nope, not a one.
But one conversation we had made me know that he would never train me.
I saw him at the mall in Manchester, waiting outside a store to get a glimpse of Muhammad Ali who happened to be coming there that day to promote his cologne. This trainer had a kid with him about seventeen years old, a slim white kid with a clean and unmarked face. I was talking to the trainer and he introduced me to this teenager. He said "This is Lionel. In one years time he is going to beat Breland" (Mark Breland was in his second reign as the WBA welterweight Champion of the World.) I thought to myself that this guy must be a good pro that he brought in from out of town to work with. I asked "How many Pro fights does he have?"
The answer? "None," he tells me.
Now I am thinking, "Well this kid must have been an awesome amateur and will rapidly rise through the pro ranks."
"How many amateur fights does he have"?
"None," he replies.
Now I am thinking this kid must be a phenom! Must look awesome in sparring with good pros. "Who does he spar with?," I ask.
"Oh, he has never sparred yet. But I hold the pads for him. This is the fastest kid I have ever seen."
At that moment I realized this guy was totally out of his boxing mind. A baby faced white kid, very much a suburban kid, still a sop****re in high school, who has never fought pro before... never been to an accomplished boxing gym...never fought amateur before... never even SPARRED before... was going to beat the Olympic Gold Medalist and the reigning WBA World welterweight champion in less than one year! This belief coming from a licensed amateur trainer.
(That brings me to another interesting little fact. Just because a guy is a licensed amateur trainer, well, don't take it to the bank that it means you are getting the next Eddie Futch. In case you are wondering how one becomes a licensed amateur Boxing coach here in the USA, basically, you pay thirty-six dollars and you take a test that I am willing to bet some of the greatest trainers ever couldn't pass. I myself couldn't even pass that test without a little help from some friends that were in attendance that afternoon.)
So, when you bring little Bobby to a gym somewhere in the USA and you ask -out of parental concern for your child- what type of trainers does the gym have and the coach, who never boxed a day in his life, says "Oh, well, don't worry. I am a licensed level 2 coach under the guidelines of Olympic style boxing according to the USA/ABF in Colorado Springs, Colorado," well, translated, that means this guy took a test of 100 questions and passed.
A test with questions like:
#23: If a boxer works out for two solid hours in a sauna suit he will become:
A- Tired
B- Taller
C- Book smart
D. Better looking
If you answer "Tired" then you get that one right. Answer most of the 100 similar questions correctly and you too can work a corner at an officially sanctioned and licensed USA/ABF Amateur Boxing show in any state in the USA. Forget the fact that you wouldn't know a jab from a hook and you wouldn't know a boxer from a football player. You passed that test. The first time I took the test I got to question number 86 and raised my hand. "Yes, John?," the guy running the meeting replied.
"Yes, uh... I was just curious... do any of these questions have ANYTHING at all to do with boxing?," I asked
Nope, not a one.
Comment