I closed the year with a trip to New York from October 22 to November 5 My trip was facilitated by Dan Barrett, a great friend I met three years earlier at Gleason’s Gym in New York. Barrett, an accomplished professional cellist who has composed chamber music works choreographed to…
Brian Hirsch specializes in analyzing athletic performance to find the area in most need of improvement, strengthening an athlete’s weakness so as to fully balance talents and maximize performance. He does this for personal clients as well as serious professional and amateur athletes, including regular work with the boxers at…
Ricky Ray Taylor is a colorful character, a man with powerful charm that easily disarms the most combative of hearts. He does this in his short, fast-paced memoir, Punches and Prayers: a fighter’s journey from the Gulf Coast to the Big Apple (Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.). In 206 pages he…
Element Gym hosted an evening of amateur boxing followed by a viewing party of the Ganady Golovkin-Saul Alvarez middleweight championship fight on Saturday, September 15. It was a night of great fun as our Element boxers, Deonte Sampson, Lawrence Sanders, Phil Sherman and Brandon Beck, put on a great show…
Junior middleweight Jeison Rosario of Miami, FL by way of the Dominican Republic, stole the show at the Armory in Minneapolis on August 24, presenting a perfect lesson in dismantling a taller southpaw as he handed Jamontay Clark, Cincinnati, OH, his first loss. Rosario, bringing his record to 16-1-1 (8KOs)…
The WBA number 3 ranked welterweight, Jamal James, delighted the hometown crowd of 3,574 at the Armory in Minneapolis on August 24 with an electrifying 2nd round knockout of veteran Mahonry Montes of Sinola, Mexico. James improved to a record of 24-1-(11KOs) and Montes fell to 35-8-1 (24 KOs).…
Former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Truax and WBA number 3 ranked welterweight Jamal James were joined by Minnesota Twins legend Tony Oliva at a press conference Tuesday morning, July 17 as they announced their scheduled fights headlining a Premiere Boxing Champions night of professional boxing August 24 at…
Occasionally, working with recreational boxers through Fighting Chance/Boxing For Life takes me to other states, affording the chance to see other boxing scenes. On Friday, May 4, after nearly two months of heavy work with a client in Reno, NV, I had the chance to attend a night of professional…
As we reach the middle of summer, I am enjoying the last quarter of my first year keeping an office in Element Gym, 655 N. Fairview Avenue in St. Paul. I’m here Monday through Saturday with weekday hours of 11 to 8, but often here earlier and later. It’s great having…
Mia ‘St. Paul’ Wanna grew up on the West Side of St. Paul and has been a personal trainer in the Twin Cities for the last few years. Her interest in sports and physical fitness began in early childhood and encouragement from her mother launched her down the road that,…
