Pledging the Fistic Fraternity: A Brief Boxing Story

[Steve]

Several years ago, I trained at Chicago’s storied Windy City Boxing Gym. (It has since closed due to some building code violations in the old warehouse where the gym owners had rented space.) It was in a fairly rough part of the city and was a classic boxing gym, with a rich past, like something out of a movie.

Aside from my first coach, no one there knew my name. All the guys just called me “Lawyer.” It seems everyone had a nickname–Mad Dog, Underdog, Crusher–and “Lawyer” was mine.

Although I was a “serious” amateur boxer who competed, I guess some of the guys there at first dismissed me as someone who was just trying the sport as a fitness regimen and was not going to work hard. I didn’t even perceive that until the first time I sparred at Windy City, but that experience let me know some of the men thought I was merely dabbling in the sweet science and not to be taken seriously.

In those days, I was training regularly with the rest of the amateurs in the late afternoons. The coach we had was a smart guy; he would not just “throw me in there” for sparring until he was convinced that I really had boxed before and knew what I was doing. Even so, after a week of training with the guys, our coach told me I was going to spar that day.

After putting on my foul protector, headgear, and gloves and inserting my mouthpiece, I climbed into the ring and began to move around a bit as I waited for my sparring partner to get suited up. I had sparred in that ring before (while training with my previous coach), so I felt comfortable there. As I did a little shadowboxing, I saw a few of the other boxers standing outside the ring talking quietly and chuckling. Two of them put their hands over their mouths and pointed to me and laughed. They expected me to get my ass handed to me and may even have been eager to see that happen.

Eventually, my sparring partner entered the ring. He was a Hispanic kid. I was 33 at the time and he was about ten years younger than I. The other fellow clearly felt as comfortable in that ring as I did. He was friendly enough, but I knew he’d be all business in the sparring. My assessment was accurate: he was all business in there, and so was I.

He and I mixed it up for three hard rounds before our coach said, “Good work, men,” and told another pair of boxers that they were to be next in the ring. Although the other man and I were pretty evenly matched, I felt good because if it had been a scored bout, I was pretty sure I’d have won every round. It was close, to be sure, but my partner had a habit of holding his right out a bit too far from his face and that made it fairly easy to score with my left hook. Taking advantage of his surprise, I was usually able to follow up the hook with a quick jab to the face, and once or twice even with a good right cross. It was good work, as boxers often call sparring, and we were both fairly tired at the end of it.

After shaking hands and congratulating one another on some good practice, my sparring partner and I climbed out of the ring to let the next boxers have their turn. The same guys who had been laughing and pointing before the sparring came up to me. To my surprise, they were all enthusiastic and full of praise. “Great job, man!” said one of them, high-fiving me. Another added, “Yeah, you really looked good in there. Dude, you know what you’re doing. Wow!”

At first, I was a little taken aback by the comments. “Well, what the hell did you expect?” I said to myself. My initial resentment didn’t last long; it was melted by the enthusiastic smiles of the men who clearly considered me a new friend. The price for entry into their brotherhood was clearly to do well in a sparring session, or at least to have the courage to get into the ring and trade some punches.

Their congratulations were sincere. Although they had been skeptical, the guys who had expected to see a young lawyer get his ass kicked by a “real” boxer were happily surprised to see the lawyer hold his own and even do a decent job of pressuring his sparring partner during a tough three rounds.

After that day, I was treated differently. I could sense the changed attitude those men had toward me. In a place where what one does for a living counts for little, if anything, the guys enthusiastically accepted me as one of their own. Everyone still called me “Lawyer” for the duration of my stay at Windy City, but that had become an affectionate nickname rather than a skeptical, even somewhat derisive moniker. I had passed my initiation into the fraternity of fisticuffs. Yes, I was still a lawyer, but far more importantly, in the eyes of my gym mates, I was a boxer. A real boxer. Just like them.

[Chris Correia]

Hey, Steve, good of you to share that.

So, what's up now with your training, boxing or otherwise?

[Steve]

Thanks, Chris.

As for my training now, I am in a transition period. The athletic club where I had been a member for almost 17 years closed at the end of August. I immediately joined a new gym. I didn't want to have any extended period where I was disconnected from organized sport and fitness.

I've resumed my boxing training at the new gym and I'm happy about that. I am hoping some of my friends from my old club will join me. I should be able to get some good coaching there and some good sparring.

I am also looking forward to resuming my weightlifting. I've been away from it for a while and I miss it. I plan to pick up with the help of Ian King's and Lou Schuler's The Book of Muscle. The big challenge now is dealing with the new location and figuring out how I can most effectively schedule boxing and weightlifting for the best fitness benefit. I also moved out of my office at the end of April and have been mostly working from a home office since then, so this is a time filled with changes.

It's kind of a bittersweet time for me. I miss my old club. At the same time, I am making friends at my new gym; everyone is really friendly there. I am determined to maintain a positive attitude and turn this transition into a good opportunity for myself.

How's your training going, Chris?

[Chris Correia]

I always find it a challenge on balancing weight training, and any other training, with martial arts training. Too much of the former make the latter more difficult, in terms of taxing the body and recovery and such.

I hope you find the right balance.

My training is going well. Since I've made master instructor, I train more on my own, less frequently with peers, as opposed to getting into it in class with students as in the past. So, I'm still figuring out that change, but I'm enjoying it in many ways. Just want to stay pretty sharp.

[Steve]

Thanks, Chris. I'm confident I'll find the right balance. I'm just a little disoriented because I am dealing with several changes in my life at the same time. But that's a good challenge and I know I will learn from it.

At this point, the main issues involve scheduling. Once I get that down, things will go more smoothly.