New Paint Job

Most of the new paint job is done. Still just a little touch up and Coach Jimmy is planning on painting the floor while we're closed for the holiday. The place looks a lot nicer now. We've still got a few more things to work on but it all takes time and money - two things that are always in short supply around here. Jimmy signed a new contract the other day and he has a fight in the works for March. I'll be posting the details as soon as everything is settled.

For those of you planning on fighting in this year's Golden Gloves, it's time to start training hard. Get your roadwork in and start picking up the intensity while your in the gym. Check your weight after all the good cooking from the holidays as well. We're looking to have another good showing in Indy.

Painting

Civic Center basement
right before Jimmy's fight.

Photo taken by Surly Camera











Coach Jimmy and I spent most of the day yesterday painting the gym. The bottom of the walls need a second coat and we need to finish the stripe that will separate the top from the bottom on the walls, but we should have that finished up before Thursday evening. It's a lot brighter in there now.

Closed Saturday for New Years Day.

Josh

I received this picture of Josh the other day. Josh was with us from the start and is now serving in Afghanistan. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Best Wishes from all of us here at the club.

Holiday Closings

The gym will be closed Sat. the 25th of December and Sat. the 1st of January.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes from all of us here at Demotte Boxing Club.

The Fighting School Teacher

It was a great night for fights but it wasn't the best night of fights, especially for Coach Jimmy's opponent. This was the first time Jimmy has fought for People's Champ Boxing and, unfortunately, the show didn't get off to a very good start. The doctor didn't show up to give the fighter's their physicals on time and when he did, he himself appeared to be in need of a doctor. Another doctor stepped in and finally got things underway. I didn't see the first couple of fights because I was in the dressing room but I can tell you that the third fight of the night rocked the house.

Our own Gentleman Jimmy Holmes, The Fighting School Teacher, entered the ring to the cheers of his many fans, friends and family that made up a big part of the crowd. This was Coach Jimmy's first fight in about 20 months but his opponent, Joseph Harden, was tailor made for his style of fighting. Jimmy was on the guy right from the opening bell and had his man on the canvas within thirty seconds with a left hook to the body. It was ruled a slip but Jimmy told me later that he caught him solid with it. As soon as Harden was back on his feet Jimmy worked his way back in behind a solid left jab, both to the head and to the body. Harden hit the canvas a total of four times before Referee Kurt Spivey called the contest at 2:27 of the first round.

The NWI Times had a short article about the fight but due to deadline issues didn't include the last fight of the night. This one was between local fighter Devon Lopez and a Cuban fighter, Giordi Bartolemi (I think). Devon's opponent was warming up in the locker room while Jimmy was showering and I was amazed by the hand speed he was showing while working the mitts. I figured this was not going to be good for whomever he was fighting. When I found out it was going to be Devon, I was thinking disaster. I met Devon a couple years ago when Jimmy was sparring him and he struck me as a nice guy/regular fellow but nice guys don't always win boxing matches. As it ends up, Devon didn't win this one either but he fought a real good fight. The fast guy had no power on his punches and actually didn't land many anyway.

I hope the People's Champ Boxing promotes some more shows in the area. The promoter couldn't have gotten rich off this show with a crowd of only 700 people. Probably 40 - 50 were friends and family of Jimmy. The DeMotte Boxing Club was well represented, thank you very much. Someone needs to step in to replace One In A Million to keep boxing in the area. It has to be tough putting on a show like this, particularly with the new commission and all the changes that has brought about. Hopefully People's Champ will continue to put on shows in the area. It won't be long and we might have a couple of pro fighters ourselves.

Surly Camera was on the job last night taking photographs. Check his link for photos from last night and Demotte Boxing Club action.

Coach Jimmy is fighting at the Hammond Civic Center this Friday night. Tickets are only $20.00 and there should be some real good bouts on the card. The weather looks to be half way decent, so get out in the crisp winter air and watch some professional boxing. Jimmy has tickets for sale if you need a couple.

Surly was at the gym last week taking some photographs. He posted a nice one of Jimmy on his blog. Click on the link and check it out.

Silver Gloves Results

Jimmy took four fighters down to Terre Haute over the weekend and got three wins. Kreed got beat but won the Sportsmanship Trophy. Matt, Jonah and Doug all won handily. Two of the boys are going to be advancing to the Regionals in January. Congratulations to all the fighters for your efforts and for being such good representatives of the DeMotte Boxing Club. We're all real proud of you.

Silver Gloves

Hope everyone had a safe enjoyable Thanksgiving. All of us here have been blessed with much to be thankful for. I received an update on Josh B., who's now in Afghanistan. He's doing well but not much information is coming out due to the remote location he's stationed at. Joe B. is in the process of joining the Navy. Tim "the Bleeder" is back at the gym, having recently moved back to the area after completing his schooling at the Hobart Welding Institute. We've been lucky to have had such fine young men associated with the gym in the couple of years we've been open.

Some of our up and comers will be going to Terre Haute this weekend to compete in the Silver Gloves - Doug, Jonah, Matt, and Kreed. The boys have all been looking pretty good in the gym, so we expect some real good action in their fights. Wish the boys luck.

Don't forget, Jimmy will be fighting at the Hammond Civic Center December 17th. Tickets are available at the gym or from Jimmy. You don't want to miss this one. Since One in a Million Gym closed along with the changes from the Indiana Boxing Commission, the area is no longer having the number of fights it had in the recent years. Come out and support professional boxing and Coach Jimmy. It should be a real good card.

Also, check out the photos from our recent fundraiser at Surly's site. He posted some really great shots. There's still time to get some photos ordered for Christmas gifts or your scrapbook. Just click on the link in the sidebar.

Silver Gloves Photos Are Up

The photos from our last fundraiser show have been posted on the Surly Camera site. To check them out, go HERE. Lots of nice pictures there. Order a bunch for keepsakes /Christmas presents. I'm sure Grandma would love to have a nice 8x10 of you getting punched in the face! Thanks Matt for coming out and doing such a good job for us.

The Silver Gloves is only about a week and a half away. The pairings still aren't made up but we should have about six fighters going down to Terre Haute to compete. Everyone has been looking pretty sharp in the gym, so we're looking for good things to happen at the tourney.

Jimmy is fighting in Hammond at the Civic Center December 17th. He has tickets available for sale - only $20.00 for the cheap seats. He'll be fighting a journeyman boxer that's been around for awhile, so he's sure to stand in there and fight. Come out and support Coach Jimmy and see some good professional boxing at a place that has been home to some great fights for a lot of years.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We'll see you on Saturday.

Fundraiser Show

Photo by Surly Camera

The show last evening was a big success. A good crowd came out to cheer the fighters on and all the fighters, regardless of their experience level, were able to showcase their talents before an enthusiastic crowd. Chris Guzman of Bolo Punch Boxing Hour not only did his usual great job of announcing but donated a couple of items from his personal collection of boxing memorabilia to be auctioned off to help the club out. Several fighters were making their debut appearances before a crowd but did really well in spite of a little case of the jitters. One of the great things about these in-house shows is that the boxers get a chance to fight in front of a crowd. It's one thing to spar in the gym when you're in with the same bunch of people you train with all the time. It's a lot different when you've got an audience out there and the lights get dim.

Photos will be available from Surly Camera in a few days. I'll let you know here and I'll post it at the gym.

Thanks to everyone who fought, worked, coached, photographed, set-up & took down, cheered and pitched in financially. We'll be taking several fighters to the Silver Gloves due to your generosity and continued support. It takes all of us working together to keep these fine young men and women in the gym and training.

Fight Tonight

Fundraiser show tonight to send our fighters to the Silver Gloves in a few weeks. Tickets are $8.00. Doors open at 6:00 - fights start at 7:00. Come on out and support our young men and women and have yourself a good time.

It's Been A While

I haven't posted in a while but things have been happening just the same. Anthony fought this past week at a show in Hammond. He fought a good fight and roughed the other guy up pretty well but was penalized for a low blow and hitting behind the head. Typically you receive a warning before having points taken away but not this time. Anthony is a clean fighter, so we'll just chalk this one up as a learning experience.

We've got an in-house show coming up this Friday the 12th. We've got quite a few new people in the gym lately and for several of them, this will be their boxing debut. The shows are always fun and the proceeds will go to defray the expenses of taking our fighters to the upcoming Silver Gloves in Terre Haute. Doors open at six, boxing starts at seven. Tickets are $8.00 and are available from the fighters or at the door.

Coach Jimmy won't be going to Brazil after all. Apparently, his opponent's people thought better of it. Too bad. Jimmy was training hard and it would have been a big step if he could have beat this guy. He will be fighting in December at the Hammond Civic Center, however. Come out and support Jimmy and the rest of the fighters on the 17th.

Fight Results and Fundraiser

We had five fighters in the show at the Civic Center last Friday. Matt and Jonah took home wins. Doug lost a split decision with Anthony and Kreed losing their fights even though they fought well. I wasn't able to attend due to a prior commitment but Coach Jimmy and Coach Mike both said everyone fought hard. Hopefully we'll be able to get to Hammond for some good sparring in the future. The Hammond Boxing Club is young but they have some great coaches, so look for some real tough fighters coming out of their gym in the future.

We've got another show this weekend at our gym. We've got a lot of good fights lined up as always. It should once again be a great night of boxing. The show starts at 7:00. Come out and support all the fighters.

We'll also be putting on a little outdoor action next week. We'll have our portable ring set up as part of the Police Night Out at the Fase Center West of DeMotte on State Road 10 on Tuesday afternoon, weather permitting. If it looks like rain, we'll still be doing some mitt work and having some fun. They had free hot dogs in the past, so if nothing else stop by and get a cheap dinner. The fun starts at 5:00.

Civic Center Fight

We've got several fighters lined up this evening to fight at the Hammond Civic Center. Originally only two fighters were to be on the card but it looks like as many as five will be competing. The Civic Center is a great place to watch fights and with the Hammond Boxing Club putting on the show, you can bet there'll be plenty of good competition.

Come out and root the fighters on.

Thank You

The Birthday Boy

Coach Mengel

Lots of Nice Cards

Pretty & Tough

What's a Party Without a Pig?

Some of the Group

The Landlords

Without Their Generosity There

Would be no Demotte Boxing Club

Edgar, The Heffe of the Grill

Thanks to all who came out today to celebrate my birthday, the second anniversary of the club and to wish Jimmy well on his upcoming fight. It was so nice that the members of the Demotte Boxing Club family could all get together on this beautiful Labor Day weekend.

The club has been a success due to the efforts of all the fighters and coaches but also to all the many parents and family members who make the sacrifices to support their fighters. Bringing the fighters to the gym, washing the smelly handwraps, traveling to the fights, helping out with our fundraisers and all the other things you do to help out around the gym. It's all greatly appreciated and you are helping to raise some very fine young men and women. The lessons learned in the boxing gym will help them as they go through life. We have a very good core group of fighters here and we will hopefully have continued success in the future.

Jimmy has been training extremely hard for his upcoming fight - he might have eaten a little too much today but no one can just eat one plateful of Edgar's cooking - he still has six weeks to drop a few pounds.

We'll be having a fundraiser show October 2nd. We've already got some fighters signed up. The rest of you, be sure to get your name on the sign up sheet next time you're in the gym.

The gym will be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Have fun, be safe and we'll see you on Thursday. Thanks again for the beautiful cards and sentiments. You made an old man's day.

Coach Mengel

Party Time Reminder

Don't forget this coming Saturday we'll be celebrating a little after our regular hours with a cookout. We'd like to see all of you at the club whether you've been boxing lately or not. Stop by and bring us up to speed on what you're up to these days and have a bite to eat.

I forgot to give a photo credit for the Town and Country Days exhibition. Thanks Renee!

Party Time

The Club will be having a little cookout on Saturday morning September 4th. We'll be celebrating Coach Mengel's 60th birthday, the Club's 2nd anniversary and the really big news: Coach Jimmy is going to be fighting in Brazil in October. This is his long awaited shot at the big time with a decent purse and a chance to become a ranked fighter. As you would expect, we're all very excited for him. Edgar will be manning the grill on the 4th, so expect some of his excellent Mexican cuisine.

Town & Country Fest

The whole group prior to the start of the parade.

Roberto & Anthony

Jimmy and Ron after we put the ring together on Friday night. Coaches Ernie and Mike haven't been able to be at the gym lately due to work commitments so Ron has been picking up the slack for us. Nice to have good people around you.

Kreed & Kaelynn squaring off.

Matt giving Biscuit a lesson in counterpunching.

Jimmy working the mitts with Coach Callahan from the Hammond Boxing Club. Thanks for stopping by Jack!

Biscuit holding the trophy for the Most Unusual Float in the parade.

The boxing demo and the parade entry were both crowd pleasers and the club got some good publicity. In fact, another local business is interested in having us put on a show. The portable ring worked out pretty well and is relatively easy to set up and knock down. While making the ring and getting everything worked out for the weekend was a bit of work for both Jimmy and I, it was time well spent and the fighters always have fun showing off their skills.

As always, a special thanks to Stormy for all she does for the club.

Tasting Good

Jimmy had a grilling competition Saturday night that I was lucky enough to attend. I got to sample plenty of really good food - not the kind of thing you want to attend too often if you're trying to make weight. Since my days in the ring are long gone, however, I had a big plateful and a couple of desserts. We missed Edgar, though.

I picked up the material for making our portable ring for this weekend. We'll be boxing from 12:30 to 1:30 at the Town and Country Days Festival. We'll also be in the parade and some of the fighters will be running in the 5K Run. You can sign up all the way to race day if you haven't yet. Race starts at 8:00 AM.

Hope to see you out there.

Upcoming Events

Things have been rather quiet lately with the summer heat and vacation schedules. I, Coach Mengel, missed a couple of nights myself due to my working the blacksmith shop at the fair. School will be starting up in just a few weeks and then we all should be settling back into our regular workout routines. Coach Jimmy is waiting on a call for a fight in a few weeks. He's training hard, so let's hope the fight comes through for him.

The club will be putting on a show at the Town and Country Days festival on the 14th. We need to put on at least an hour's worth of entertainment. This would be a good chance to showcase your skills and have some fun in front of the hometown crowd. This will be right after the 5K run and parade. The run is one of the better ones in the area. It's very well organized, has great trophies and a big raffle. Sign up sheets are available at the library and many of the local retailers. Run in the morning, spar in the afternoon.

The Hammond Boxing Club is planning a show in September. It looks like we'll be taking some fighters up there for the show. Time to get back at it if you want to get on the card.

Friday's Results

The boys did well on Friday night. The fight was held at Washington Park in Indy. Nice venue - air conditioning was on and it was the same crew that normally runs the Golden Gloves. All the fights, not just ours, were very evenly matched, making for some lively action.

Jonah and Doug were our first two fights and both fighters won handily. Jonah wasn't sure he was even going to have a fight when he arrived. He tore into his opponent like a man possessed, however, and gave three rounds of non-stop action. Kreed wasn't as lucky but fought a good fight against a taller opponent. Every time he'd work his way in and start to score, the other fighter would clinch and Kreed would have to fight his way back inside again. Even though he didn't get the win, he looked real good. Matt got a walkover win, so he didn't even have to break a sweat.

Anthony fought a rematch against Hud Mellencamp and looked much better against him than he did in the Golden Gloves this Spring. He had him stunned in the second round but let him off the hook. If you looked closely at the two fighters after the fight, you would have thought Anthony was the winner, he roughed Hud up a little this time. He just didn't do quite enough for the win. It was an excellent fight to watch, though. Lots of action.

Roberto also was in a rematch with a fighter he had previously beaten. Roberto came forward as he always does and chased the guy around the ring for three rounds. The rounds were only 1-1/2 minutes long which worked in his opponents favor. Roberto had him huffing and puffing as he was back pedaling. Roberto clearly won the second round and the first and third were close. It was so close in fact, that the other fighter won by only one point. One more punch by Roberto and he'd have won the fight! It was kind of hard to hear the announcer and the referee initially raised Roberto's hand. He thought Roberto had won, as did I. No argument, though. It was just that kind of a fight.

Congratulations to all the fighters for a real good performance. They did the DBC proud.

Tim "The Bleeder" stopped by this morning at the gym for a little workout and to proudly show off his new diploma. You can check it out at Shop Teacher Bob. Josh B. also stopped in the other day showing off his new Camaro. Nice car! Josh is leaving for Iraq in about a month. We are, of course, very proud of him also and wish him a safe journey.

Fighting In Indy Friday

We have a few of the fighters traveling to Indianapolis this Friday afternoon to compete. Right now it looks like Matt, Roberto, Anthony, Doug and maybe Jonah will be competing. Anthony is scheduled in a rematch against Hud Mellencamp, who he fought in this years Golden Gloves. Anthony is going to have to step up and fight more aggressively than he did in March if he wants to win. He's plenty capable - just needs to get it done.

The gym had a good crowd last night. We had a few guys who hadn't been there in a while plus some of the regulars. It was real good to see Jerry and Carlos again. Plenty of good sparring and lots of mitt work for everyone. Most everyone got in, worked hard and got out. That's the way I like to see it. Lots of serious effort. It looks like we'll have some fighters on the Hammond Boxing Club show in September. That's when the hard work and effort will pay off, just like it always does.

Photo and caption from here:

A More Happy Fella Than Yesterday.

New York -- Brawny Gene Fullmer and his wife Dolores stand in front of Broadway's Imperial Theater where 'The Most Happy Fella' is playing; an appropriate spot for Fullmer the morning after his victory over Charles Humez in a bloody ten-round fight at Madison Square Garden. The Fullmers are heading for their West Jordan, Utah, home. The 24-year-old mining welder stood out as the number one challenger for the Middleweight crown of Sugar Ray Robinson after his victory over France's Humez. Fullmer said a millionaire friend would underwrite a $1,000,000 guarantee to Robinson if necessary to entice the champion into the ring. (1956)

Here's a photo from the era when the fight game was jam packed with great middleweights. Along with Fullmer and Robinson, there were Zale, Graziano, Benvenuti, Tiger, and Griffith among others. These were the fighters I grew up seeing on TV and listening to on the radio. The fight game doesn't command the national audience it once did but when I was a kid all the champion fighters were household names, especially the middle and heavyweights. Maybe it was the snappy looking ties they wore.

Catching Up

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I came down with something that has prevented me from going to the gym lately.

Coach Jimmy took four guys to a fight on June 27th and we had two wins. Joe Barcelli and Matt Mezzacapo both won their bouts by finishing strong and dominating the third round. Patrick Garcia lost a hard fought close decision and Anthony Perry lost a split decision. Congratulations to all the fighters.

Things are a little slow now at the gym due to summer vacations and the nice weather we're having. It's hard to keep the fire lit when you don't have a fight to train for and the weather keeps calling you outside for a dip in the pool or spending time with your friends.

Several of us will be doing the Rotary Ramble 5k in about 6 weeks. It would be a good time to start doing some roadwork if you're planning on running it. The club will also be putting on a boxing demonstration of some sort that day as part of the Town and Country Days festival as well. Last year we had a mobile boxing ring in the parade with "Peaches" Grady and "The Bleeder" McDaniels duking it out for about an hour straight as I pulled them down Halleck Street. It'll be hard to top that act but I'm sure Jimmy will think of something equally exciting.

If you're looking for a good workout or want to learn some boxing skills, stop by and check us out. We've got the air conditioning on!

Gas City

The trip to Gas City was productive, for the most part. We had two out of three winners. Both Roberto and Matt won decisions by working the body on their opponents and finishing strongly in the third round. Kreed had the type of draw that nobody wants - the toughest guy in the house! The bright side is that if you watch the tape when it's over, you can learn something and get better. Not much fun while you're out there, however.

We have another fight this weekend with five fighters entered. Coach Ernie is on the card, which should be real interesting. He's really improved in the last year. He's got the type of work ethic everyone should have. He's motivated and tries to improve in some way every time he's in the gym. Unfortunately, he's been a little under the weather the last few days. He should be good by Sunday, though. Joe B. will be fighting as well. He's been gone do to work commitments for a while but I look for him to do well. He missed the Golden Gloves this year and this is his chance to shine.

Fight Night

Photo by Surly

This is to keep one of the two fighters in the photo happy. I won't say who, but he's wearing a blue shirt.

You Bet Your Life

Photo from here:

Marilyn Burtis from the television show You Bet Your Life. You remember that, right? Say the secret word - Groucho Marx? Just as I thought. Only Coach Mengel's old enough for that one.

The Good Old Days

Photo from here:

Coach Mengel when he was a couple of years younger. I'm the guy on the left.

Vacation

Coach Jimmy and I will both be gone for a few days starting on Thursday the 10th. The gym will still be open for workouts while we are gone. Those of you who will be fighting on the 19th., be sure and get some time in on the bags and do your roadwork.

Speaking of roadwork, don't forget the Rotary Ramble will be on the 14th of August. We'd like to see the gym well represented in the 5K run or walk. I'll be racewalking the event again and trying to stay ahead of Coach Ernie. The time to start training is now.

Movie Star

The DeMotte Boxing Club made it's theatrical debut Sunday afternoon. The gym was used as a set for the upcoming horror/zombie film Post Mortem, America 2021. Coach Jimmy and I got the opportunity to give some quick boxing lessons to a couple of the actors. The lead player in this scene was Larry Laverty. Mr Laverty has a pretty impressive list of film and television credits. He also seemed like a regular guy. Not much of a boxer but if he hung around for a couple of months, we could take care of that. All the people involved were very nice and it was fun way to kill a couple of hours.

If you get a chance to catch the movie when it comes out, look for the scene shot in the office. My shorts are going to be famous!

Closed Monday

The gym will be closed Monday for the observance of Memorial Day. Please remember those that gave their lives for our freedoms.

We will be open Thursday at our regular time.

Heartbeats

A good indication of your fitness level is your resting heart rate. You should get in the habit of checking your heart rate first thing upon waking up in the morning before you even leave your bed. As you gain fitness, your heart rate should start to go down. Find your age and heart rate in the chart below and see where you fit. If you work out real hard for a few days in a row and find your resting heart rate more than three or four beats higher than usual, you might be over training and need to cut back a little. If you're training for a specific event - a road run or a fight - this is a real easy way to monitor your training. Don't expect your heart rate to drop substantially after only a couple of weeks of training. It takes a lot of work to get it from 72 to down into the fifties. Some world class runners and cyclists have numbers in the low forties and even into the thirties. Their heart becomes so efficient, it doesn't have to pump very often to get their body the oxygen it needs while at rest. Most of those athletes carry a medical alert card advising emergency personnel that a low heart rate is a normal condition.

It's important to establish a baseline by checking your resting heart rate for several days in a row. If it's exceptionally high or low, the first thing you want to do is get it checked out by a medical professional. Of course, you should always get checked out before starting any exercise regimen. I'm not sure what the numbers should be for those younger than eighteen but if you can spar three good solid rounds without huffing and puffing, your definitely doing something right, anyway. I would suggest you young ones work hard in the gym but concentrate on having fun with your boxing. As you age, you can work harder to win those titles.

Men
Age	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	56-65	65+
Athlete	49-55	49-54	50-56	50-57	51-56	50-55
Excellent	56-61	55-61	57-62	58-63	57-61	56-61
Good	62-65	62-65	63-66	64-67	62-67	62-65
Above Average	66-69	66-70	67-70	68-71	68-71	66-69
Average	70-73	71-74	71-75	72-76	72-75	70-73
Below Average	74-81	75-81	76-82	77-83	76-81	74-79
Poor	82+	82+	83+	84+	82+	80+

MENBbeAGE18 -2526 -3536 -4546 - 5556 -6565+ATHLETE49-5549-5450-5650-5751-5650-55EXCEL'T56-6155-6157-6258-6357-6156-61GOOD62-6562-6563-6664-6762-6762-65ABOVE AV66-6966-7067-7068-7168-7166-69AVERAGE70-7371-7471-7572-7672-7570-73BELOW AV74-8175-8176-8277-8376-8174-79POOR82+82+83+84+82+80+