Page 125 - Doug Werner Boxer's Start-Up

Journal

When Al Al starts throwing punches to make the mix
even more interesting. I throw a left and a
starts right, duck his left, slide back to my left foot
and throw a right ... and then sometimes a
slapping hook.Then he has me throw some counter-
punches. Again, the exciting interplay of
me actually working off someone.

around for We work some new defenses in front of the
real I start mirror where I protect head and body --- left
side, right side --- in a very rhythmic fashion
learning that I get and forget,get and forget --- just like
everything else at first (such a precise and
much particular pursuit, this boxing). Of course,
when Al starts slapping me around for real I
faster start learning much faster (imagine that!)
and yes, it’s a very good idea to keep even
(imagine these easy slaps from landing.The trick is to
that!) keep hands and head properly positioned
from the get-go so that any defensive maneu-
vering takes only a sleight of hand and a
minor flex in the knees.

We go over to Mr.Heavy Bag and Al shows me how to work on right
and left power punch combos. It’s all timing,where you hit the bag
during the particular moment it swings toward the punch. It’s new,
it’s difficult and I hurt my hand.So we stop and Al has me skip rope
bouncing on two feet, my right foot and finally my left. Since I’m
tired the skipping goes rather poorly, but I muddle through and Al
(ever the UPBEAT coach) says, “You did great today! See you next
week!”
BUT YOU’RE KILLING ME!
8-26-97: Lesson #8
After a lumbering warm-up in front of Mr.Coach and the mirror (my
moves are so clunky ...just can’t dance) Al puts on the slap mitts and
we work on offense and defense. I throw punches, he returns fire, I
block and counterpunch.He really mixes it up so it’s alotta fun.The
trick is to have confidence in your basic defense and punch so that
when your opponent strikes back (as he will!) you don’t flinch and
withdraw.You gotta get to the point where you don’t care what he’s
throwing because you’ve got your own game plan to worry about.

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