Since I have announced my intentions to box again and pursue my dream, I have spent the week trying to put together a team. My team. The DreamTeam. Angela Scaturchio is back on board, she will be taking care of my nutritional plan. I got in touch with Dr.T and he has welcomed me back to take care of my body and all the enevitable aches and pains that will come in the future. I have learned enough in the last 2 years to take care of my own strength and conditioning, for now. The only piece missing, the most important piece of all, where am I going to train, will anyone even train me? The past 2 years has been a disaster for me, in terms of finding a trainer.
Greg Post wasn't a good trainer and really didn't want me in his gym, Chris Johnson had a lot of good boxers at his gym but had no time for me, Dewith Fraser was a nice mix of having no time for me AND not wanting me in his gym! Coach Rob had time for me but zero boxers in his gym and only MMA guys. It's been very frustrating for me to find somewhere that I feel comfortable, I don't necessarily have to find someone who believes in me, I just want to find someone that is willing to teach me what I need to excel at this. Most of what I've learned about boxing is from youtube(which is great by the way,at age 40 I learned how to properly peel a banana...pinch the bottom, who knew?) Although informative, not exactly an ideal way to improve. You can join a gym, get your work in, get sparring rounds, but most trainers spend time with the young guys, the prospects, boxers that they feel might have a future in the sport. I get it, really I do. Hard for anyone to believe that their time would be better served with a 40yr old who has an improbable goal, rather than with a 21yr old going to the Olympics. To get to where I want to be, I need attention from a trainer, everyday kind of attention. But to develop any athelete in any sport really, you need money, I don't have it. So I have been resided to the fact that I would join a gym, learn what I can, and just work hard, and hope that I can get a fight. I'm not going to go into depth, but boxing is very political. It isn't like any sport where you can register and compete when your game is up on the schedule. There are no assigned dates when you know that you can enter and compete. If you want to get a fight in boxing, the red tape is extensive. It is an event, put on by a promoter. Not unlike a dj getting a gig at a club. You need a venue, a dj that can play, then, most importantly, you need to sell tickets to the event. The better the djs, the more the created interest, the more tickets sold. Pretty simple math right? My situation is a little more difficult. I need to get clearance medically, I need approval from the boxing commission, I have to prove to the commission that I can fight and not get killed, a trainer has to back me and vouch to the commission, for that I need a trainer that believes in me, and wants to support me enough to let me represent him and his gym. A fight then needs to be found, an event promoter then needs a reason to put you on a card and match the fight with an opponent of similar experience. THEN the commission has to approve the fight. You then need another medical for the commission and the promoter. If you think this is confusing, trust me, it's much more complicated then this, I'm just giving you the "coles notes" version. And the funniest thing is, I still don't know the entire process! But I know enough to know that for me to have all this happen would be a tiny miracle, especially without a trainer, willing to stick his neck out. I have one card to play. One. I believe I can draw a crowd. I believe people will come watch me fight. I believe I can sell tickets.
That's where Joe Phillips comes in. Joe is a successful boxing promoter, an ex-fighter himself, him and his family have been legendary in Canadian boxing. Joe came into BeerTown and had a conversation with our bartender(the lovely Miss Tanna Towers, and NO, she did not do porn). After hearing my story, Joe took that story to his partner, who just so happened to be a Canadian icon in the sport and one of the, if not, the best trainer in Canada; Syd Vanderpool. Syd did some homework. He checked out my blog and some Youtube footage and agreed to meet with me. This meeting took place yesterday.
Syd has agreed to train me and Joe is willing to back me and my training. Although we haven't agreed to anything specifically, I've put my trust in Joe and Syd, who seems nothing other than sincere. I have a training session with him on Monday, where he will assess where I'm at and give me an evaluation, AND...will set a date as to when he feels I would be ready for a fight! So, I have a home, at Destiny Gym in Kithchener. Although it is early, I don't want to get too excited, I've learned from the past, it's a rocky road, the last 2 years has proven that. But I feel good about this, and meeting Syd was amazing. To be trained by him, an honor. Yesterday was a day to remember, a day I'll never forget, I felt euphoric in some ways, similar to the feeling I had when I put boxing gloves on and hit a punching bag for the first time.
