TIME TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL, “OLD SCHOOL” THAT IS
Charlotte, NC– What a treat a couple of weekends ago was. It was Father’s day weekend, and I had sole control of the remote control and TV. With this power came the opportunity to watch 12 fights from around the globe! I should have been in fisticuff fan heaven. And while there was some good action, and some courageous fighters, I truly enjoyed my time watching leather swapping, I also saw enough to get my “Old School” blood to a near boil.
Trainer Eddie Futch
REAL TEACHERS NEED APPLY
Never having been more convinced than ever that there must be only a handful of trainer-teachers of the once “Sweet Science” left in the world. The Professor says that because I just do not see the craft being worked out in the ring anymore. Admittedly, I certainly was no “world-beater” when I was fighting, but my trainer, Lou Kemp Carangio (who himself had over 240 professional bouts, and held Lou Ambers to a ten round draw in 1932) taught us there are at least six ways to keep your opponent from landing his left jab.
SOMEBODY NOT BEING TAUGHT OR REFUSING TO LEARN
So, for a jab to land over and over means either one of two things; 1) the fighter eating the jabs ain’t the brightest or quickest, or, 2) the trainer has been lax, ignorant or both in teaching his fighter how to avoid a left jab. From what I observed over Father’s Day weekend, there can’t be more than a handful of trainers that even teach slipping the jab any more. It will be interesting to see if David Haye can live up to his own hype and avoid the piston like jabs of Wladimir Klitschko.
EATING JABS LIKE THEY WERE CANDY BARS
Even with at least six ways to avoid the jab, you would have thought jabs were appetizers! Where have all the trainers, the teachers, the people who care about the craft of boxing gone?
PROFESSOR PLUGS HOLLYWOOD’S ROCKY
As with any fight weekend, in between the fights, we were treated to both warm up shots of the fighters in their dressing rooms, as well as training montages from training camps. I am truly thankful for Sylvester Stallone, I still enjoy the “Rocky” movies, I own all of them on DVD, I would go see “Rocky VII,” but there are a couple of things that must have come from that series that put goofy ideas in fighters and trainers heads.
SEINFELD: “I DON’T LIFT WEIGHTS ‘CAUSE THEY’RE TOO HEAVY”
Part II will appear Friday here at RingTalk.com
Professor Chuck Marbry