Gold Room, a legend lost, and brain health; November went by fast

On Saturday, November 4, I drove to Hawley, MN to be a guest coach for a day at The Gold Room Boxing Club. The club was started a few years ago by Minnesota boxing writer Ben Tighe. Frustrated with the need to drive his sons excessive miles three days a…

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It’s been a long time

It’s been over a year since I interviewed Dalton Outlaw, owner and head coach of Element Gym. A lot has happened since we sat down in his office and talked, covering the history of his boxing career, how he ended up owning such a great gym in St. Paul, and…

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Emmett Joseph Yanez, great trainer, great man

On Saturday, December 3, 2016, Emmett Joseph Yanez died. He taught me to box when I was 10 years old and was a presence in my life for 37 years. I knew that when he died it would hit me hard, but it hurt a lot more than I expected.…

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Rope Burns In The Corner

Note: Boxersandwritersmagazine has been less active in the last year. Fortunately, circumstances have changed to allow for more frequent publishing. Below is a book review written last year. Please enjoy and expect more Boxing writing that pulls no punches soon. Yesterday I finished reading Rope Burns: stories from the corner,…

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Pat Russo keeps pushing to expand cops and kids

Pat Russo read a sign one day that slightly altered his direction, leading to a future of helping many young people alter their direction on a daily basis. “I was recruited in the police academy and I saw a sign on the wall to join the NYPD boxing team,” Russo…

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Truax fights tough to draw, Barthelemy wins IBF sulperfeatherweight title

Current USBA middleweight champion, Minnesota’s Caleb “Golden” Truax, fought to a draw in a very close and rugged battle with Ossie “the Ghanaian Gladiator” Duran Friday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis. In a rare occurrence, the judges, all from Minnesota, arrived at a unanimous decision, each scoring the…

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Frustrating circumstances can’t dim credit due to Hill

I have to say that the article I published earlier today chronicling the experience of my first professional fight more than 19 years after ending my amateur boxing career focused a great deal on the things I did wrong and on challenging circumstances I faced leading up to the fight.…

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I lost a frustrating professional boxing match but am happy I fought

I lost a frustrating professional boxing match on Saturday, October 19 at Black Bear Casino on the Fon Du Lac Chippewa American Indian Reservation against a junior middleweight named Damion Hill. After an accidental head butt from Hill opened a cut over my right eye requiring 15 stitches, the fight…

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‘Golden’ Truax’s performance solid enough to crumble Fort

Caleb Truax defeated Cerresso Fort via 4th round TKO to win the vacant USBA middleweight championship on September 21. In so doing he disproved my contention that his fast victory in the fight was not a forgone conclusion. It’s gone, that’s for sure, and it concludes any doubt that Truax will…

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Truax-Fort not cut and dry as some may want it to be

I have not been able to keep up with the large amount of professional boxing activity in the Twin Cities and larger Minnesota community in recent months, but I have to publish some brief observations about the Seconds Out promotion happening Saturday, September 21, 2013 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.…

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