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!