Help please...

[Rocky Balboa]

Hi guys,

I have a bit of a problem. I am 14 years old and for the past 2 years I have been working out/boxing (nothing big, just at home on the bags). I have gotten pretty strong and well-conditioned but I saw a huge flaw in... technique. So I have been asking my parents to go to a boxing gym and now they have agreed. I really want/need to spar. I have been examining my technique to perfection now I need to use it in a real life situation. As we all know sparring is vital. So anyways I wanted to go to a boxing gym and spar. Now my parents agree.

So I start looking for a boxing gym in my area... nothing. Oh ya, 1. But basically a "boxercise" place for women : NOT what I want. So there is one place but it also does MMA. I though might as well try it out. I go to the place with the "boxing" program. It turns out to be another boxercise place. Good workouts but nothing serious. I tried the Krav Maga as well just outa curiosty.

So they ask, "How did you like it?" I said "Well, I'm serious about this, and I it doesn't look like I will be getting the necessary training here." They said, "Hold on, we will call you back." I said, "fine"

They call back saying, "The manager says he is looking for someone serious looking to compete and asks you to try it out longer and that he will look to set something up for you". I said, "Alright"

So I go the next week and the boxing trainer steps me aside and says, "Boxing starts very basic. Now do 3 sets of 50 straights, then 50 hooks, then 50 uppercuts with these 2lb weights." I say, "ok", and plow through it like I have done a million times. Then I do some basic combinations.

I then try jiu-jitsu as I wait for the Krav Maga. NO!!! They said I would do really well and that I'm exceptional at it but I am NOT going to do that again. I really don't like rolling around on some sweaty guy hugging him. I'd much rather box. So I do Krav Maga, but this isn't helping me nothing.

They say, "Try Muay Thai." (This is all free of charge so far: trial"). I say, "Alright"

So I try it out. The instructor is a solid guy and clearly knows his stuff. His stance is perfect (not that square MMA stance), he knows the little things. He is drawing, feinting, really well. I thought, "This guy knows his stuff". I do the whole thing. The problem is Boxing doesn't have elbows, knees, nor shins. This is good but its NOT boxing!

Meanwhile my dad is talking to the manager Joel Gerson (former shootfighting champion, and 5-time judo champion, NOT a boxer). He says, "You see, your son is young and I think it would be better for him to learn all kinds of styles so he would have more knowledge. Even though he is only going to box, he would be more well-rounded." I have to disagree. This is an MMAist talking. How many champion boxers do I see out there that have done anything but boxing. To get to a high level that is all I need to do. Not get distracted by knees and elbows and shins.

I would drop this place in an instant but the problem is: there are no other boxing places in this area of Toronto.

Help guys, time is ticking out for me if I'm going to be a world champion like I'm determined to be and like I've worked to since I was 12.

[Chris Nagel]

Just in case, look through the online directories and see if there's any other boxing gyms around. Some might be a little further away, but if you're serious about it, then it's worth the extra gas.

Try, Boxing Gym and Club Directory - BoxingHelp.com
or...Boxing Gyms and Boxing Clubs

You might want to talk to Von Milash or some other people that have also done other martial arts for their opinion.

[wesrman]

Toronto is huge. There has to be a gym somewhere.

[Youngblood]

I've hooked you up with a link specific to boxing gyms in that area through our own listings before, and they are that, boxing. Associated with and registered with boxing ontario. Even suggested I could dbl. check them to see if they are active on the boxing circuit. They may not be exactly in that area...but are in the GTA and it is more densely populated with gyms there then any where else in the province.

Can't help you more then that. But anyway...I'll link it again.

Club Directory

[sourpuss]

Just a piece of advice. When you do find a proper boxing gym it would be wise to humble yourself a bit and not walk in there and tell them that you've already taught yourself everything and are ready to spar.

Chances are that if you've been 'home training', no matter how careful you are, you've developed some bad habits. It's best to show up to the gym as if you've never thrown a jab in your life and ready and WILLING to learn and absorb everything your trainer tells you. The slowest progressing boxers at my gym are always the guys who think they already know everything.

[wesrman]

Just a piece of advice. When you do find a proper boxing gym it would be wise to humble yourself a bit and not walk in there and tell them that you've already taught yourself everything and are ready to spar.

Chances are that if you've been 'home training', no matter how careful you are, you've developed some bad habits. It's best to show up to the gym as if you've never thrown a jab in your life and ready and WILLING to learn and absorb everything your trainer tells you. The slowest progressing boxers at my gym are always the guys who think they already know everything.

QFT.

Also if you act cocky they may put you in the ring with someone that you arent prepared to be in the ring with. :P

[leggy]

and you may get beat to fuck wich will then put you off

[sourpuss]

I don't know about you guys but at my gym when we get a cocky guy who isn't open to learning, my coach just sticks them off in a corner and has them hit the bag or shadowbox endlessly and ignores them. They get a fraction of the coaching that the rest of us get, and rightly so.

[Rocky Balboa]

Youngblood- yup and that has been a great help. I've been using it since you sent it to me. It's just Toronto is a big place and they all seem to be on the other end.

Others- I made absolutely sure to act like I hadn't thrown a jab before. I walked in there thinking, "I want to be like a perfect student: humble and obedient." I didn't say nothing about my home training or anything. I made myself sound perfectly new to this but extremely interested in competing.

[Youngblood]

Well not sure the travelling distance in time in Toronto, but I've often had to ride my bike which is an hour drive...to and from boxing. So an extra 2 hours on top of training atleast just to get there, x 3-4 times a week. If I didn't do that, I didn't go. This after having to deliver newspapers to pay for the lessons. This wasn't a money thing either, we're far from poor, just that my dad has certain ideas about earning and respecting things and made it clear to me in the actions I had to suck it up and pay my dues.

The point being, if you want it bad enough...you do what you have to.

I don't think there is anything wrong with being confident. I'm a cocky sunnamabiach and won't deny it, but sure wasn't when I first got there. I was scared stiff. Also had to train for 6 months before sparring.

As has been mentioned in this thread, just be careful what you ask for. I had an issue with my coach using me as his beat stick last year. If anyone was new and didn't want to spend the time doing the not so necessarily fun stuff, that being just training, learning punches, defence, stance, doing the cardio workouts, before stepping in the ring...he'd put them in with me and tell me to go hard. I didn't enjoy it to be frank...for it discouraged more then a couple of people and likely hurt them too. It didn't exactly make any new friends either.

Maybe your posts comes off different then your actual demeanor. But yea, humility when at the gym is a good thing to have, and most certainly when you are new.

[sourpuss]

Others- I made absolutely sure to act like I hadn't thrown a jab before. I walked in there thinking, "I want to be like a perfect student: humble and obedient." I didn't say nothing about my home training or anything. I made myself sound perfectly new to this but extremely interested in competing.

Perfect.

[Rocky Balboa]

The point being, if you want it bad enough...you do what you have to.

Got that... I will go to the ends of the earth if need's be

[jezibel]

So I start looking for a boxing gym in my area... nothing. Oh ya, 1. But basically a "boxercise" place for women : NOT what I want.

lol

I know a lot of women who could kick your ass from "just boxercising"

[Rocky Balboa]

So I start looking for a boxing gym in my area... nothing. Oh ya, 1. But basically a "boxercise" place for women : NOT what I want.

lol

I know a lot of women who could kick your ass from "just boxercising"

Hahaha... no