Rainy Day Punches

I remember my late mother, who was a casual boxing fan, saying of Ken Norton Sr., "Norton's an intelligent boxer."  She liked the way he carried himself in interviews.  Unfortunately, Mr. Norton is now the latest boxing legend who has passed on.  Norton was 70 years old.  Muhammad Ali suffered a broken jaw at the hands of Ken Norton during a fight they had back in 1973.  Ali lost to Norton in that bout.

The rain matched my sour mood earlier in the day. I'm not totally focused on the fight that I may have at the boxing show next week, and there are ongoing issues that need to be resolved with my former employer. Summer is not ending on a good note this year.

The crowd was a bit light:  Heather, Kyle, Malik, Matthew, Igor.  Ben With Glasses, who hadn't been in awhile, came in with a friend of his, Keith.  Alan encouraged the both of them to sign up if they wanted to continue on at the gym.

John brought in a double end bag, and when the evening was over, I put it in my locker for safekeeping.  It's good; after pumping air in it and hanging it up, it worked fine.  John held pads for Malik, who has some power in his hands.  Alan found out that Malik qualifies as a heavyweight.  Malik seems very interested in competing.  He was asking Alan a lot of questions about it.

I showed Heather how to throw uppercuts on the teardrop bag.  She wants to get in shape, but as for sparring and competing, that would be a no.  Outside of me, Heather's the only other woman in the gym this time around.

Mary asked me to sing the National Anthem at next week's boxing show.  I sure hope I'm in the mood to sing, because at the moment, I'm not.

They Reminisce Over You

I had taped the documentary Facing Ali (2009) when Spike TV showed it a couple of weeks ago.  This past Saturday, I finally got around to watching it.  I've seen plenty of news stories and other documentaries about Muhammad Ali, but this was the most heartfelt of the ones I've seen.  Ten boxers who faced Ali in the ring -- Joe Frazier, Henry Cooper, Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, George Foreman, Ernie Terrell, Leon Spinks, George Chuvalo, Ken Norton and Larry Holmes -- talk about the experience of fighting the man known as "the greatest of all time".


They also talk about how they feel about him.  Some did not agree with Ali's alliance with the Nation of Islam, and some were not cool with his anti-Vietnam War stance.  Terrell and Frazier, in particular, talk about how they didn't appreciate Ali insulting them before, during, and after their fights.  As time has gone by, a lot of the old grudges have faded, however.  Some of the boxers -- especially Chuvalo and Norton -- had some hard times after their fighting days were over.  But the boxers have ongoing respect and affection for Ali.  Frazier, in reference to Ali's current state of health, tears up when he expresses a wish that Ali "gets to live like we all live. . .he's earned it." 

This is a great documentary, that tells another side of Ali's story, from the perspective of his opponents.