Guns Down...Knuckle Up. (Archive post 11/07)

Hello fight fans and welcome to another day in beautiful Buffalo, New York. Today, I sit in front of my computer amidst a snow storm. It's below freezing temperatures and high winds are tearing down trees. What's great about Buffalonians is that we can weather the storm, literally. No matter how cold it is, we still find our way to the store, the club, the bar, or a Bills game. We eat cold weather for lunch and that's something to be truly proud of.

Now the flip side...

I recently read an article in the Buffalo News reporting the homicide rate of 2007 was dramatically lower than the homicide rate of 2006. Well, you could of fooled me. In that same paper I read of several shootings, assaults, and a homicide. Most of these crimes were perpetrated by or against young people. As a child of the 70's, I can't fathom the thought of taking a life at such a young age. What's happened to our children?

NOT A DAMN THING!

Don't blame little Johnny because he blew another kid's head off. Don't blame Johnny because he can't read. As adults, we have to take responsibility for neglecting little Johnny when he needed us most... before he picked up a gun. As a child I can remember adults taking an interest in young people (other than as a predator). Over the summer you could play football, basketball, learn to play an instrument, or become a boxer. There was always someone willing to be a coach or a teacher in their spare time. Today, not so much.

Guns Down...Knuckle Up.

In high school and college, I played football (very well I may add), but in my adult life I wanted to be a boxing coach (go figure). Mainly because it was easy to get into and I love the fight game. To become a certified amateur boxing instructor is not difficult at all. Watch a few boxing matches on HBO, go to a coaching clinic, get certified, and you're good to go. Please, don't think that every Tom, Dick, and Harry are boxing coaches. The coaches that I've met in my travels are excellent at what they do, but some still slip through the cracks.

My experience as a boxing coach was better than I could have imagined. When I started my boxing club, I solicited the help of an experience coach and I played the assistant. He trained the open (experienced) fighters while I worked with the sub-novice (non-experienced). For me, it was all about the kids learning "the Sweet Science", losing weight, and having a safe haven to go to. Out of the 20 kids on the team, only 2 of them could actually fight. To be honest, I had no problem with that, but to the boxing community, I didn't get IT. Some coaches feel, if a kid can't fight, why waist time training him or her? My answer to that is... because he or she came back to the gym consistently. When you give up on a kid's ability, you give up on the kid. Remember that.

Guns Down... Knuckle Up. Saving a life one punch at a time.