What's goin' down at Tocco's (video):

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They were all escalating the situation. It was obvious it was going to end bad, they were trying to take each others heads off straight away.
 
lol that was crazy. My instinct is that, out of the two, pink gloves in the super hero outfit was being the larger douchebag.

Well, yeah. He was the guy that started the brawl by sucker-punching the other guy while they were re-tying his headgear. And then punched his coach/cornerman a minute later.

Before that, it was just hard sparring, which isn't necessarily wrong all by itself. But he was also the guy that probably amped up the level of sparring himself right at the opening- by throwing haymakers over and over so hard that he took himself off balance. IMO, it was basically all Piccolo's fault

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He was also holding and then yelling for Alex to let him go.
 
So the bad news is I don't train Joseph (Bandito) anymore. I don't want to get too deep into it but let's just say that there are people out there who you can do a shit-ton for, and all they'll ever think about is what you didn't do exactly the way they wanted, and I got no time for that.

Good news is things are looking up for my squad as a whole, and even for some of my newer students getting ready to debut in the Amateurs. Here's some goodies just on the gym in general, and an event here that I didn't have any fighters at (that I recall) largely due to the tournament:





Also, not sure if I posted this or not but Fernando Vargas was interviewed at our gym on a night when one of his Pros was sparring one of my guys and he made a point to have me do a cameo:

 
My heavyweight MarcAnthony (light grey shirt, black headgear). 18 years old, and 1-1 in Amateur fights. He's here sparring a Cruiserweight with 70 fights who has fought in the National Qualifiers a bunch of times:



You don't hear me during the round a lot because I have a rule, if the other guy doesn't have a corner he can trust, I don't do any coaching during the round and only give a tip or two between rounds.

Bonus: Most everyone here who knows who I am knows I was with Mike McCallum for the better part of 5 years. He's recently been working with Devin Haney, and this guy:

 
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My heavyweight MarcAnthony (light grey shirt, black headgear). 18 years old, and 1-1 in Amateur fights. He's here sparring a Cruiserweight with 70 fights who has fought in the National Qualifiers a bunch of times:



You don't hear me during the round a lot because I have a rule, if the other guy doesn't have a corner he can trust, I don't do any coaching during the round and only give a tip or two between rounds.

Bonus: Most everyone here who knows who I am knows I was with Mike McCallum for the better part of 5 years. He's recently been working with Devin Haney, and this guy:



That's a very fair rule and I guess it helps with getting different fighters through the door for your fighters to spar against?
 
That's a very fair rule and I guess it helps with getting different fighters through the door for your fighters to spar against?

It just lets them know that we play fair, but Ruben is a member of our gym. He had just split with his trainer earlier in the day and still wanted to spar
 
From the most recent First Friday, my Light Heavyweight Karam, this dude Zeno from another gym tried to blitz him. For most of you who asked how to stay cool and take command when a guy goes too hard, this is how it's done:



"Iceman" John Scully also turned up:

 
From the most recent First Friday, my Light Heavyweight Karam, this dude Zeno from another gym tried to blitz him. For most of you who asked how to stay cool and take command when a guy goes too hard, this is how it's done:



"Iceman" John Scully also turned up:



That was beautiful to watch your fighter start out tentative, you could see the fear coming off him with his hesitation and body language, but then every round he started gaining confidence and dishing it out worse and worse, getting more and more effective not just with his punches but his whole movement and defense.

Those were lovely shots he was doing and it was turned completely around before the halfway mark. It's so cool to witness a milestone in someone's development. Not only did he get less afraid he also got significantly more measured and sharp, almost like another person. Other guy was tough as nails but I loved how the tables turned and they switched places mentally. Kinda like a movie scene.
 
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Guy walking forward blocking shots with his head, getting scrambled up and doing nothing but missing single shots while his corner can't shut up and is egging it on/giving useless advice. Corner did him no favours. Guy got absolutely zero out of that sparring sesson besides less functional hardware.

Anyway, your guy did good. Stayed very consistent and cool which was nice to see.
 
Guy walking forward blocking shots with his head, getting scrambled up and doing nothing but missing single shots while his corner can't shut up and is egging it on/giving useless advice. Corner did him no favours. Guy got absolutely zero out of that sparring sesson besides less functional hardware.

There is a very large lesson there if he is willing to learn it.
 
There is a very large lesson there if he is willing to learn it.
I highly doubt it based on what was going on from both of their reactions and their rapport. Going too hard, ego, tough guy mentality, "just punch him more", rewarding winging at air with no setup, no attempt to adjust, disappointment. I very well could be wrong though, and I hope so. When you take an ass kicking you'd at least want to learn from it.
 
I highly doubt it based on what was going on from both of their reactions and their rapport. Going too hard, ego, tough guy mentality, "just punch him more", rewarding winging at air with no setup, no attempt to adjust, disappointment. I very well could be wrong though, and I hope so. When you take an ass kicking you'd at least want to learn from it.

I'm not saying everyone is willing to accept what they need to learn. But it's there for him if he wants to think about it.
I'm sure he'll be thinking about it one way or another, and that's the time to be objective about it since he's already going to be mulling over it.
He doesn't seem like the type to suddenly change his style of thinking or fighting that drastically, you're certainly right about that, but you never know-- Foreman after Ali was even less likely by a factor of a few thousand%, but look what happened.
 
The guy in his corner isn't his trainer, he had two fighters there of his own, one of whom made it to the semi-finals of a National Qualifier in his first attempt, doing better than the #1 ranked kid in his division. His cornering was on the spot and as a favor, and to be frank, he said about the only kind of shit that dude listens to.

Just saying, there's always more to what's going on.
 
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I really love this thread. I always comes back to it when i work night shifts.

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The guy in his corner isn't his trainer, he had two fighters there of his own, one of whom made it to the semi-finals of a National Qualifier in his first attempt, doing better than the #1 ranked lid in his division. His cornering was on the spot and as a favor, and to be frank, he said about the only kind of shit that dude listens to.

Just saying, there's always more to what's going on.
If it's not his trainer and they don't work together then it makes more sense. They definitely didn't respond to each other. Just sad seeing someone go in there and work like that. Hope that's not how his regular sparring sessions go because then it doesn't look well for his health or his future.
 
If it's not his trainer and they don't work together then it makes more sense. They definitely didn't respond to each other. Just sad seeing someone go in there and work like that. Hope that's not how his regular sparring sessions go because then it doesn't look well for his health or his future.

Unfortunately it probably is. He was supposed to start working out here at Tocco's and never did. World of athletic talent, questionable decision-making.
 
Unfortunately it probably is. He was supposed to start working out here at Tocco's and never did. World of athletic talent, questionable decision-making.
I guess you can't save them all.

His coach should be on that. I know some guys are almost impossible to get through to, but as someone who works in (neuro)rehab I think it's a coach's responsibility. If a dude wont listen, you put the hammer down. These kids entrust their health and possible career to the trainers and a lot of the time they simply don't know any better. You have to save them from themselves as no one wants to look "weak". There's nothing tough about the outcome of brain damage though, infact it's entirely the opposite. The neurometabolic changes literally damages your limbic system and autonomic responses and predispositions you to fear based behaviors, impulsiveness and addictions.

Is it easy having that responsibility? No fucking way. Students, clients, patients, well people, are daft as hell. With that said, if you a person isn't up to the task then they shouldn't be coaching in a dangerous profession period. A healthy fighter is nonetheless one that performs well.

Ahh the juxtaposition of working with traumatic brain injuries and loving combat sports. It's quite ironic. I know it's a rough sport, but it's just sad that so many people have to suffer down the road when so much of it could be avoided or at least minimised.
 
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