My partner in crime for the trip was one of the lads i train, thought it would be a great experience for him, get him out of his comfort zone and hopefully get some decent sparring in. I went on a trip to the West Coast on my own when i was 19, gumshield+gloves and not much cash, learnt so much in a couple of months at different gyms, so wanted him to have a similar, if shorter, experience - when the GGG fight was announced it sealed the deal.
We stayed in Brownsville, at an apartment i found on airbnb. Obviously the area has a bad rep, but it's only 20 mins from JFK, and the accommodation itself was decent, 2 bed apartment rented by an old Grenadian lady (Gertrude) who greeted us with a big smile and fridge full of snacks.
I wanted to stay in the area to visit a local gym in Starrett City. The gym has been around since the late 1970's, had thousands of kids through the doors in one of the roughest areas of the city, no doubt changing many lives for the better. Shannon Briggs, Louis Collazo, Dmitry Salita, Danny Jacobs, Sadam Ali were all schooled at Starrett City, the building itself is as 'real' a gym as i've ever been in.
Friday night we trained and my lad got some rounds in with a Golden Gloves champ, Moses. Although he started boxing late, aged 24, Moses had fought over 70 times in 3 years! We had a good chat about the differences between amateur+pro style, he's still aiming for the Rio Olympics but thinks he's much more suited to the pro ranks, and i'd agree; he was a clever box puncher, works well to the body and very comfortable on the inside sitting down on his shots.
We went back to the gym on Saturday morning, as we were told it would be busy with pros and there was a chance of more sparring, Danny Jacobs was supposed to be in preparing for his fight with Quillin, but unfortunately didn't show on the day for whatever reason.
The gym was buzzing all morning, 2 rings of constant sparring, my lad got in around 8 rounds, a couple with a slick southpaw, then onto the beast below, a latino looking dude, with a block head, and built like Tyson, the kind of guy who just looks a total f*ckin menace. My lad nearly spat his gumshield out when i told him to jump in with him, but he handled him well; kept him long and smothered on the inside to avoid getting ripped with the short shots.
The vibe in the gym was intense; loads of hollering, threats and abuse from everyone at ringside, a pretty intimidating atmosphere but we lapped it up, everyone there was friendly+made a point of coming up to us for a fist bump and a hello. The coaches were pretty blown away that we were visiting from overseas, and seemed genuinely humbled and chuffed to have us around.
The best quality rounds we got were against Frank Galarza, a 17-0 light middle signed to DiBella.
Worth reading up on Frank's story if you get a chance, he's had a life of real tragedy+hardship but turned things around through boxing. He's an excellent fighter, incredibly slick and accurate.
My lad did really well considering the huge gulf in experience, landed a couple of beautiful uppercuts and counter left hooks before Frank put him in his place!
A real gentleman and respectful guy, who i'd wager would give Liam Smith all he could handle (Galarza KO'd John Thompson in 2 in January last year)
After a tough morning at the gym, we legged it back to the apartment and got ourselves ready for the big fight. A 30 min subway ride and we were in Manhattan, where our first port of call was Jimmy's Corner.
A buzzing bar with awesome memorabilia everywhere, and some real knowledgeable fight fans. We sat and had a beer, listened to some conversations but had to leave when i heard someone say Mayweather would have beaten Duran at lightweight. There's only so much one man can take.
Onto the Garden.
Really struck by how mixed the crowd was - loads of older folk, couples, etc
The atmosphere all night was great, properly buzzing and the anticipation was palpable.
Huge support for Golovkin, including lots who had travelled from Kazakhstan, like this couple of dudes 8)
It was my first time at MSG and i was very impressed, our $100 seats had great views, loads of leg room, well organised etc
Fighters in the ring before the main event
The atmosphere inside the arena was great, people having a few drinks and getting rowdy cheering their man (particularly Chocolatito who had loads of Nicaraguan support), but absolutely no aggression or threatening behaviour, a real contrast to some shows i've been to in this country.
Just listening to people sat around us, it was clear again that there were lots of genuine fight fans, very knowledgeable, some really astute observations during the fights, just like being on this forum eh
I won't go into the fights as everyone's seen them, but i will say i noticed loads of technical stuff from watching GGG and Gonzales from a higher vantage point; different angles, footwork, changes of pace etc i learnt new things which i'll definitely be working on in the gym.
A real honour to see two incredible technicians perform live.
Straight back to Brownsville after the fights, pretty ropey walking the hood at 1.30am but got no trouble, i was giving it full on invisible lat syndrome down the street to make wannabe thugs think twice
Sunday and Monday we got in more training, visited Mendez boxing and Gleasons. Both huge, impressive gyms, but aimed more at the tourists and white collar warriors, i didn't want to pay $80 for a personal training session cause i'm confident i know more than half of the chancers who hang around anyway, judging by some of the tuition i saw going on.
I'd arranged some sparring with an undefeated pro light heavy but my lad had jarred his wrist at Starrett City, so we were content just to get our own workout in and soak up the atmosphere
Mendez Boxing
Gleasons
Yesterday before we left i made sure we tracked down Tyson's childhood home, cool to see the building where he lived, kept his pigeons, terrorised the locals etc
178 Amboy Street
Back in Yorkshire now, trying to digest the pizza, burgers, donuts etc that got hammered in the last few days, destroyed all photo evidence of that of course cause i'm an athlete goddamit
Soz for the long post, cheers
DD
