Martial Arts Blog

Get Your Body Into Shape By Boxing was written by April Kerr from boxingesprit.com

Have you always thought that the professional boxers are the only one who go for boxing training programs? This is a completely wrong idea as there are many people who prefer boxing just to keep their body fit and active. An active body is the key to success from all aspects. In fact boxing is the only sport which not only makes your body strong but it also strengthens your mind.

Apart from the regular diet and exercise programs start practicing boxing for at least half an hour a day. Who knows gradually you will become the champion boxer of your locality as well as an efficient worker at the office. Many of you believe that boxing is just the right way to improve the muscles and make your legs and arms more active. But this is for your information that boxing will improve your self-defense, concentration and confidence.

Techniques of Boxing

A perfect boxing training is all about few right movements and a lot of hard work. The most popular moves are power punches, aerobic moves, sparring jabs and kicks actions. If you practice the moves under the supervision of a skilled trainer then the chances are very high that you will own a perfectly shaped body with extreme swiftness and reflex.

This is also a good way to burn the excess flab around your tummy. Did you know that if you practice full fledged boxing for one hour without taking short breaks then you will end up loosing almost 500 calories?

The heart rate is maintained at around 80%. The boxing programs are different for various levels. The beginners start with the nominal boxing schedules and gradually move to the next level when they are very much comfortable with the existing level.

How to Start Boxing?

Yesternight you and your family decided that you should start boxing and you will start it from the next morning - this is not possible as you need to do little preparation for this. First of all find out a place at home where you can start practicing the basic kicks and punches with a sandbag.

You can turn your backyard or a garage into a boxing ground. Buy some good quality gloves as they are the most important equipment for the boxers. Then you will need a tutor who can teach you the core techniques of boxing. Yes you can seek help from the boxing videos and books but the best way to learn is to get someone who can show you the punches and hits practically. If you do not have anybody at home who can help you this way then go ahead and join the nearest boxing club to stay fit forever.

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The Magic Man Makes Promises To Tear Up The Hitman was written by Axel Johansson from theonlineticketexchange.com

Paulie “The Magician” or “Magic Man” Malignaggi has a pretty face as well as skills. His punches pack about as much voltage as an alcopop but all that rapid-fire jabbing manipulates his opponents into positions where he can kill them on points.

Paulie has strong legs that maneuver him away from his opponents so that he rarely gets hit, protecting his pretty boy face. That is, until the title fight against Miguel Cotto who is in the possession of fists that are probably registered as lethal weapons in some states. Cotto fractured the Magic Man’s orbital and left spectators wondering in shock and horror if Malignaggi would be able to keep his eye.

This incident did nothing to stop the Magic Man’s mouth.

“If Manny Pacquiao wants to get that ass whooping, once I’m done with Ricky, I will gladly tear that a** up all over the place,” Malignaggi said. “Tell Manny to stop disrespecting the Magic Man, stop saying you want to fight Ricky because Ricky is not getting by the Magic Man. If he wants to fight a junior-welterweight, once I beat Ricky’s a** I will gladly tear his ass up all over the place.” If nothing else can be said it is clear that Malignaggi has a fixation with “tearing up a**”.

I am deviously planning ways to get to Las Vegas for the super-fight at the MGM on November 22nd where Paulie Malignaggi will defend the IBF junior welterweight title against Ricky “Hitman” Hatton.

Hatton fights are never boring. Hatton’s crushing KO loss to Floyd Mayweather is not the end. Maybe Ricky needs to spend less time on the stage doing stand-up at benefit dinners and work himself in the ring until he has a major epiphany and starts doing things that no one has done before. Hatton has it in him.

I’m not alone. Emanuel Steward, former trainer of Lennox Lewis and Thomas Hearns, defended Hatton in the Mayweather fight: “I’ve seen that happen to a boxer before. They get too excited and over-anxious and that moves on down the line to their performance. Ricky Hatton is a very brave fighter who went in there and got careless. Why did he get careless? I think he was too wired up. He wanted to fight for the crowd and a crowd can work against you just as they can work for you. This crowd worked against him. A boxer has to have controlled aggression and I didn’t see enough of that from Hatton’s corner. I saw naked, crude aggression.”

In an interview with boxingtalk.com Malignaggi had more lip:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I knocked Ricky Hatton out. It’s something that people are going to read and think I’m ridiculous, but if you look beyond what you see with naked eye, every time he gets hit clean he’s hurt. He cannot take a punch. To the head, to the body, I’ve been saying this for years.

He cannot take a punch and that’s why he fights the way he does. He’s always looking to hold because he’s trying to prevent his opponents from extending their punches so they can get maximum power on them.”

Maybe Malignaggi has true heart and maybe his ego is bruised by the unimpressive UK fight against Lovermore N’Dou. In the eighth round of the fight against N’Dou the Magic Man broke his hand in the sixth and then had to make his hair extensions do a disappearing act which failed to impress the British public.

Malignaggi explained: “I have a broken middle metacarpal, basically the bone behind the right knuckle is broken. I have a cast on at the moment, and I have to go through the healing process but November is plenty of time away and I’ll be ready for the fight with Hatton.”

The Hitman appears to be keeping quiet, laying in wait, stockpiling ammunition for the big MGM fight in Las Vegas. Hatton is not giving anything away. He is keeping the Magician in his sights while Malignaggi tires himself out with a smoke and mirrors display coupled with excessive bursts of hot air. Be there in Las Vegas when the Hitman puts Malignaggi’s mouth where it belongs.

It all goes down in Las Vegas where we’ll see who the real man is.

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Danny Jacobs “Seven Knockouts Eleven Rounds” was written by Robert Epstein from diamondboxing.com

A superstar in the making Danny Jacobs in just 11 rounds has won 7 fights all by knockout. Even the legendary Iron Mike Tyson who like Jacobs grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn needed 13 rounds to accumulate 7 victories. Tyson went on to win his first 19 bouts by knock out. What is even more amazing the middleweight Jacobs has performed his knockout magic on the under cards of major fights in huge stadiums which is very rare for a rookie boxer.

Beginning on December 8, 2007 when Jacobs made his professional debut on the Floyd Mayweather- Ricky Hatton under card at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Brooklyn was truly in the house that night. Jacobs in matter of seconds 29 to be exact knocked out his opponent Jose Jesus Hurtado with a wicked left hook. Diamondboxing.com was present that night and instantaneously realized that Jacobs was one that needed to be watched. After his first victory the 21 year old Jacobs has gone on to fight on the under cards of Calzaghe - Hopkins and De La Hoya - Forbes with the same results. Jacobs informs us that his next bout will be on the Jeff Lacy - Epifanio Mendoza card on July 23rd at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California. One can only imagine of such a great beginning but Jacobs says he is humbled and blessed to do what he loves with great success so far.

Jacobs boxing journey started several years ago when he was in 8th grade and some of the neighborhood kids asked him if he would like to go to the gym with them. Jacobs figured it would be a good chance to beat them up without getting in trouble from his mother. Not only did he like it he was good at it. He decided to try it again the next day after sparing some more and knocking out a couple of mouth pieces he was hooked. Jacobs went on to have a great amateur career compiling a record of 137 - 7 and winning four New York Golden Glove Championships, he fell short of making the 2008 US Olympic Team losing to Shawn Estrada in the finals of the USA Olympic Trials. Jacobs close friend who he refers to as his little brother Sadam Ali also from Brooklyn, New York made the team in the lightweight division. Jacobs will also be watching his former amateur peers Gary Russell and Raushee Warren compete for the US Team in the Olympics. Jacob’s says he has a great deal of respect for amateur boxing and admires both Russell and Warren. After Jacobs missed making the Olympic Team and declining to be an alternate on the team he decided to turn pro.

Jacobs who posse’s quickness to go along with his extreme knock out power has been able to develop this deadly combination working with his trainers Victor Roundtree and Andre Rozier. Day to day Jacobs switches up his workout routine between the two trainers who have him up at 6 am to do his road work. One of Jacob’s concerns maybe stamina since his longest outing was only 4 rounds against Leshon Sims on April 19th on the Calzaghe - Hopkins under card at the Thomas Mack Center in Las Vegas. When asked if he was concerned about his stamina Jacobs was quick to say that it could be a problem but he was not really concerned. He feels that he is in great shape and can adjust to different conditions that occur in the ring. As Jacobs faces tougher opponents and longer scheduled bouts we will see if stamina plays an issue.

The focused Jacobs surrounds himself with the best business minded people in the sport. Not only is he advised by Al Haymon who has guided the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Vernon Forrest and Paul Williams, he is affiliated with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotion Company. Jacobs has fought all seven of his fights on the cards of Golden Boy promoted events and says that there is a very good chance that he will be signing on with them. Growing up Jacobs followed the career of De La Hoya and Golden Boy’s Promotions partner Bernard Hopkins. He always dreamed of fighting them but will have to settle for fighting on their under cards. But one of his other aspirations may come true with the Roy Jones Jr. - Joe Calzaghe bout scheduled for September 20th at the Mecca of Boxing Madison Square Garden, just maybe Jacobs will make his hometown professional debut on this card.

www.diamondboxing.com

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Cotto Will Defeat Margarito Easier Than Expected was written by Ja Dawson from fightinsight.com

Earlier in the year when this fight was originally signed, my assumption was that it would easily challenge the rematches between Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez and Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez for fight of the year honors. However, as the battle for welterweight supremacy quickly approaches, I increasingly see Miguel Cotto (32-0, 26 KOs) as a strong favorite to win this fight. But it does not stop there. I even think he’s going to knock Antonio Margarito (36-5, 26 KOs) out.

Before you call me crazy, hear me out first. It all comes down to competition. More importantly, how each man has fared against that competition to-date.

Cotto gets the “competitive” edge in my book. He owns dominant wins over “then undefeated” contenders like the fleet-footed Paul Malignaggi (21-0), the power-punching Ricardo Torres (28-0), and the slick-boxing Carlos Quintana (28-0). These wins were followed by defining victories against a couple of “A-list” fighters - “Super” Zab Judah and “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

Margarito’s resume is nothing to toss into the trash heap, but it simply does not match Cotto’s. Sure, he’s handed powerful Kermit “the Killer” Cintron his only two losses, and he made Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis see seven heads when they fought several years ago. However, I consider those two guys to be “B-list” fighters. When Margarito has stepped up in class, he has had very mixed results. He lost decisions (albeit close ones) to current welterweight and super welterweight titlists Paul “the Punisher” Williams and Daniel Santos, respectively. But, I can live with those losses.

The one fight that stands out to me is the Joshua Clottey fight. Although Margarito won, that fight gives me a glimpse of how he will be troubled greatly by Cotto. Like Cotto, Clottey is a well-schooled boxer-puncher, with unusual physical strength at this weight. He has a tighter defense than Cotto, but he is not as dynamic of an offensive fighter. Even so, he was able to land power shots at will against Margarito before suffering an apparent hand injury in the middle of the fight.

Margarito showed a lot of mental fortitude in weathering the early Clottey onslaught, but will not be as lucky when he meets Miguel Cotto in two weeks. If Clottey had Margarito swimming in deep water, look for Cotto to catch him with hooks and reel him in. As a matter of fact, expect the hooks to come from the left. After that, it will be over.

Miguel Cotto TKO 10 Antonio Margarito

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• Ukemi (learning to fall safely) is emphasized from the beginning. Ukemi ends up being the most practical self defense skill that there is because you will fall down many more times in your life than you will be attacked.
• Everything in judo is practiced with a partner, providing better feedback than solo practice.  I have often wished that judo had some solo forms so that I could practice without a partner, but overall the fact that everything you do in judo is done with/against a real person instead of an inagined attacker is advantageous.
• The randori (sparring) system in judo allows a limited set of “safe” techniques to be used full force and full speed against fully resistant opponents.  This creates a very practical, testable martial art - if it doesn’t put the other guy on the ground, it simply doesn’t work.  If you can reliably put your opponent on the ground then you can have some confidence in the validity of the art.
• Judo has an amazing degree of consistency/standardization throughout the world. What you practice in southwest Mississippi is about the same thing you would practice in Japan.
• Judo guys share part of their niche with amateur wrestling, jiujitsu, and even gymnastics so judoka can benefit from studying how these other guys approach movement and grappling.

• Because of the nature of judo randori, there have to be rules against strikes - the rules prevent even touching the face. Judo guys can become conditioned to this, learning to leave their head and face dangerously open during grappling.
• Judoka may become too conditioned with the strategy of taking one opponent to the ground even at times when it would be better to remain in a standing, free-movement phase of combat (e.g. multiple opponents, vs. weapons, etc…)
• Unless your club does a decent amount of no-gi randori, you can become dependent on the uniform jacket for grip and leverage. There are great stories of teachers evening the playing field between white and brown belts by making everyone grapple without jackets.

• Solo practice methods (kihon, kata) allow you to practice without a partner, thus allowing karateka to potentially get much more practice time than do judoka.
• Strikers’ effective and devastating atemiwaza (striking techniques) can shut down a fight instantly.  For that matter, so can a judo throw, but the judo techniques can tend to overcommit the judoka more than the karateka’s atemiwaza do.
• Karate is vastly more popular in the USA than is judo, so you are more likely to find good quality karate instruction most anywhere you look. You might be hard pressed to find a good judo school except in a city or larger town.
• Karate can be practiced in any environment and requires less special equipment (i.e. mats) than judo. This makes karate clubs cheaper and easier to operate than judo clubs.
• Karate shares its niche with boxing, and karateka can benefit from studying up on boxing’s conservative, practical footwork and striking techniques.

• In sparring, you have to pull your and kicks to avoid injury.  This helps karateka develop great control of their limbs, but this type of sparring can become a game of tappy touches.  If you subscribe to the idea that in a fight we behave the way we train, then this can reduce the karateka’s potential combat effectiveness.
• Realistically, most people can take one punch from most opponents – especially under imperfect conditions (and no, I’m not willing to test that assertion). If the ‘one punch one kill’ karate theory fails, then you are likely to be outside of karate’s domain of practice and into the realm of judo (ie. clinched or grounded).
• Because of the solo nature of karate kata, unless you get a good bit of bunkai (kata application practice with partners) or at least one-step engagements (ippon kumite), the karate kata can allow practitioners to develop fantasies about what they are learning.
• There is a great deal of fragmentation in the art, creating a lot of diversity between dojos.  This can be a good thing if you are able to crosstrain and take the best that multiple karate instructors have to offer, but on the other hand, if you move, it may be hard to find someone doing something similar to what you learned.
• The Gracies demonstrated dramatically that karateka are as helpless as anyone else when they are laying on the ground. There has been a lot of cross-germination of groundwork ideas since then, but still, ground fighting is nowhere near a specialty in karate.