Anyone done white collar boxing?

Underground fight club is where the fun is. There are several in London, I'm just researching a piece on one of them.

I don't know if health and safety is different from when I was a young fella Rob but you certainly didn't have to jump through hoops to spar back then. They'd have you in the ring doing pads work first night and have you sparring pretty quickly if that's what you wanted.

Same as being in a band - Bring 20 mates paying the door fee and you'll get a gig.

You have to hand the cash over before you weigh in in the places I know that do it.

EO.. I was probably exagerating somewhat regards two years before a spar, but like I say, a proper fight, with a ref, one on one in front of an audience, that is what I want and ten weeks seems a reasonable commitment time, god only knows how long it would take for a 37 year old bloke to get that gig going down the traditional route of joining a proper(and by proper I mean full of jailbirds) boxing gym.

The overall standard will be a lot higher at a proper boxing club. Nothing to stop you going along though.

Idon't care about the standard as long as I win.  If I have one fight in my iifetime and 20 family and friends are watching then winning is an absolute must.

kenny manns yer man then

I think a boxing club might be the better option. If you catch a tartar it might be one fight too many in a lifetime.

apparently he used to box back in the victorian era

That's half correct bito. I boxed in the mid 60s when I was about 16.

Lol - the other guy will be trying to win too.

Are you a fighter?

Boxing is a sport so speed of movement and thought, co-ordination, fitness etc is required but you need to have that fighting instinct.

I have the fighting instinct. Went to prison on the back of that, though I was younger then and not proud of it.  It is my conatant desire to hit people that makes me want to do Boxing in the hope that it, for wont of a better Phrase, "learns me up a bit".   I am a good fielder at cricket (fielder of the year is a regular gig for me at the christmas dinner)and a good goalkeeper at footy but not a good batsman or a good footballer out on pitch...  Good reactions, athletic..will dive around a bit... But not touched with the genius that makes you a good batsman/footballer.

Any kid who's actually been in the ring (ie trained up etc) would ko you in one round.

Yeah that is why I want to do white collar boxing, against a like minded person who has only 10 weeks training like me.  Dont wanna fight an actual proper trained up boxer, that is a mugs game.

rob at training (he's the guy in the speedos)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj-dJZrarLk

Do they have safeguards to ensure that all participants havent boxed or been trained at all in the past.

No, that is a worry dotchinite.

What comedy line(s) are you going to deliver to your opponent? "I must break you" is the obvious one, but I'm sure there are others.

I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and I'm all out of bubblegum - Roddy Piper

I don't think you should go straight in with some lad who has 10 weeks' experience. I suggest you start off with something easier - like Audley Harrison.

I bet spelling' would love to fight you.

He'd beat you to a pulp, too.

rob doesn't hit common people

You wanna live like Common People?

not really,too hardcore

First ever training session tonight.  Within 30mins I was sparring with a former commonwealth heavyweight champion and he had only lost out on points for a world heavyweight belt, strangely enough though he got beaten up by Brad Pitt.  Shouldn't take too much googling.  Of course that is an exaggeration, he had pads on and I had gloves and he would come at me with the pads and I had to react quickly with the gloves and block.  Basically it was great fun and I was blowing out my @rse at the end and could have wringed quarter of a pint of water out of my t shirt.

Smart fella Scott for a boxer. I think he's done or did well outside the ring in nursing homes if memory serves me right. Always seemed a decent sort. Wasn't it Akinwande he lost to?

Correct, just seemed a sound lad and his son was there too, he helped us with the footwork.  It was all good, think I did alright but my left arm is seriously lacking in coordination, embarrassingly so.  Highlight was that 60 seconds with Scott, nothing else relied on reactions.  Have to admit the first time He came at me I kind of ducked like a girl and he said "Its alright, I'm not actually gonna hit you"

Just a tip Rob but google Lennox giving Deontay Wilder tips on the jab in some car park in America. Bang on the money and he got that from Manny Steward. You don't need to jab from in front of your face and the short jab travels half as far and much more quickly. One other thing newbies do is telegraph the jab either through a shoulder movement or slightly dropping the arm just as they release the jab.

Early days of course.  Saw a few of the regulars boxing as we were waiting to start, fk me do they move quick and punch hard.

when i was young had a couple of friends who were really talented in that department the idea of competing simply did not enter my head you got to want it

Well I did 3 sessions.  Really enjoyed it then the inevitable blow – the week's free introductory training was up and time to pay.  They wanted £30/week direct debit, which included 4 sessions a week plus all the nutritional advice (whoopee) etc and access to the facebook group (whoopee) and that.  Alright if you’re going 4 times a week that is £7.50 a session, just about reasonable, but I can only make once or twice a week.  So I’ve found another one nearer home, where you just turn up and pay £5 a session.  First session tonight, see how we go.  I reckon it will be a bit less intense as it is a mixed session and I think a lot of people are just doing it for fitness.  At the very least it is a good core session for my Ironman training (can’t be @rsed doing situps and squat thrusts and stuff on my own, need someone shouting at me) and I will pick up a few skills along the way.  Perhaps I’ll have a go at that ultimate white collar stuff next autumn after my Ironman and have an actual fight in a ring.

Saw a couple of bouts on London Live recently.

One match was between two 35-year-olds both of whom were ex-amateur boxers but hadn't boxed since they were 17 but it was like watching the Premier League compared with the Evo Stick Div 2.

So who was like the Evo-Stick Div 2?

A couple of office-type bods about 30ish. Very slow and sluggish.

The two ex-boxers were in good shape. One worked for an investment bank (a trader, I think) the other, a scrap metal dealer.

I reckon it is hard to be proper good at any sport unless you start quite young.  In fact 17 isn't that young, I always imagine good boxers to have been doing it from age 10 or 11 or something.  Or at least a lot younger than 37.  Good you can still give it a go at these advanced years though.

I wish they wouldn’t call it white collar boxing, why not just call it beginner’s boxing or something.  Makes it sound like you are a load of investment banker hoorah henrys, bally ho six of the best and a bunch of fives.  That lot I was training with last week didn’t look very white collar to me.

Yes you're right although there are some pro boxers who had no amatuer career and didn't even lace up a glove until they were in their late 20s.

Re the ex-amateur boxers - they hadn't boxed for 18 years ie SINCE they were 17. They probably did take it up at a very young age.

Oh yeah, I follow.