Tuesday, January 31, 2017
XI. BOXING IS NOT ABOUT FIGHTING
Mike Tyson fought 13 times in his first year as a professional. When asked, his trainer Cus D' Amato said he has to to keep him out of trouble. He became one of the most feared fighter in the heavyweight division until D' Amato died and he lost his sense of direction. He fought for 20 until he lost via TKO to Kevin McBride in 2005. Retired and a constant follower of Manny Pacquiao seeing himself in Manny's fighting style. And he gave this advice to Pacman :
" I use to have an entourage of 30 people, now I'm just another face in the crowd. Cannot blame anyone for my miseries but I learned more from them than I did fighting. "
Boxing is not about fighting - its an art, a sweet science as defined by Bert Sugar. You cannot excel in the sports unless you are able to separate the man and the fighter in you. Boxers like two gladiators stand against each other inside the ring trying to psyche each other out for they know that to win in the intimidation game is half a battle won. The sound of the first bell gives you a chance to size each other out, measure the distance and test the power of your opponent. From then on as you mix it up, all your training and conditioning will go to work and usually the one better gifts prevail. The heart and courage helps a lot but against an accomplished fighter, you need more than just hunger and desire to win.
The movie " A Million Dollar Baby " is the best boxing movie I have seen for it shows what boxing is really all about. Rocky series is still my favorite but Clint's direction of the movie and Morgan Freeman providing support to Hilary Swank more than make up for the message of the movie. Some of the best movie about boxing are :
1. Rocky I to VI ( Sylvester Stallone )
2. The Cinderella Man ( Russel Crowe )
3. The Power of One ( Morgan Freeman )
4. The Champ ( Jon Voight )
5. The Fighter ( Mark Walhberg )
6. The Raging Bull ( Robert De Niro )
7. The Greatest ( Muhammad Ali )
8. Somebody Up There Likes Me ( Paul Newman )
9. Requiem for a Heavyweight ( Anthony Quinn )
10. Creed ( Michael B. Jordan )
11. The Hurricane ( Denzel Washington )
12. Tyson ( Michael Jae White )
" I use to have an entourage of 30 people, now I'm just another face in the crowd. Cannot blame anyone for my miseries but I learned more from them than I did fighting. "
Boxing is not about fighting - its an art, a sweet science as defined by Bert Sugar. You cannot excel in the sports unless you are able to separate the man and the fighter in you. Boxers like two gladiators stand against each other inside the ring trying to psyche each other out for they know that to win in the intimidation game is half a battle won. The sound of the first bell gives you a chance to size each other out, measure the distance and test the power of your opponent. From then on as you mix it up, all your training and conditioning will go to work and usually the one better gifts prevail. The heart and courage helps a lot but against an accomplished fighter, you need more than just hunger and desire to win.
The movie " A Million Dollar Baby " is the best boxing movie I have seen for it shows what boxing is really all about. Rocky series is still my favorite but Clint's direction of the movie and Morgan Freeman providing support to Hilary Swank more than make up for the message of the movie. Some of the best movie about boxing are :
1. Rocky I to VI ( Sylvester Stallone )
2. The Cinderella Man ( Russel Crowe )
3. The Power of One ( Morgan Freeman )
4. The Champ ( Jon Voight )
5. The Fighter ( Mark Walhberg )
6. The Raging Bull ( Robert De Niro )
7. The Greatest ( Muhammad Ali )
8. Somebody Up There Likes Me ( Paul Newman )
9. Requiem for a Heavyweight ( Anthony Quinn )
10. Creed ( Michael B. Jordan )
11. The Hurricane ( Denzel Washington )
12. Tyson ( Michael Jae White )
Monday, January 30, 2017
X. MUHAMMAD ALI IS NO BOXER - BERT SUGAR
Only Bert Sugar can say it without getting himself into trouble. He is one of the most recognized boxing analyst and historian aside from owning and editing Boxing Illustrated Magazine and The Ring Magazine. He recognized Ali as one of the greatest fighter of all time but advised upcoming boxers never to do an Ali.
He said Ali is no boxer defying everything a boxing trainer teaches his boxers. He seldom follow the advice of his corner during fights and do things a boxer should not do inside the ring. He leans back too far, never punches in the body, keep his hands low, and talks a lot when he's fighting. But truly gifted as he was, he was able to get away with his antics because of his amazing speed. A lot of fighters tried to imitate the man but only a handful was able to mimic his style successfully. Indeed, Muhammad Ali is one phenomenon in the world of boxing.
He was so good during his prime that he can take full control of every fight he was in predicting the round when his opponent will fall. His career was interrupted by almost 4 years as he dodged the draft and fought for his right up to the Supreme Court. It may have dented his boxing career but it paved way for him to be recognized as a champion of Black people's right to be treated as equals. He became a world symbol against racism and the only universal champion taking on challengers in different parts of the world.
Years after his retirement, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Among the first to know was his good friend, world famous TV announcer and commentator Howard Cossel but the latter refused to interview Ali on TV 'cause he believe he should not exploit the situation. Ali was still in the state of self-denial but months later he said on an interview that people should not pity him for he's had a life other people just dream of. Of all the millions of fighters fighting for recognition he managed to be dubbed as the greatest, and he never asked God why him. Now that he's down, he would never ask God why for he knew that God has other plans for him. From his own words - " I am not the greatest, God is the greatest.
Muhammad Ali's boxing career was indeed only a vehicle for his spiritual development. After his retirement he went around the world wherever he was invited to talk not about his glorious boxing reign but about how great God was and how we hould submit to His will. God gave him a great gift to shock the world, and He took it away but left him with an enlightened soul.
He said Ali is no boxer defying everything a boxing trainer teaches his boxers. He seldom follow the advice of his corner during fights and do things a boxer should not do inside the ring. He leans back too far, never punches in the body, keep his hands low, and talks a lot when he's fighting. But truly gifted as he was, he was able to get away with his antics because of his amazing speed. A lot of fighters tried to imitate the man but only a handful was able to mimic his style successfully. Indeed, Muhammad Ali is one phenomenon in the world of boxing.
He was so good during his prime that he can take full control of every fight he was in predicting the round when his opponent will fall. His career was interrupted by almost 4 years as he dodged the draft and fought for his right up to the Supreme Court. It may have dented his boxing career but it paved way for him to be recognized as a champion of Black people's right to be treated as equals. He became a world symbol against racism and the only universal champion taking on challengers in different parts of the world.
Years after his retirement, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Among the first to know was his good friend, world famous TV announcer and commentator Howard Cossel but the latter refused to interview Ali on TV 'cause he believe he should not exploit the situation. Ali was still in the state of self-denial but months later he said on an interview that people should not pity him for he's had a life other people just dream of. Of all the millions of fighters fighting for recognition he managed to be dubbed as the greatest, and he never asked God why him. Now that he's down, he would never ask God why for he knew that God has other plans for him. From his own words - " I am not the greatest, God is the greatest.
Muhammad Ali's boxing career was indeed only a vehicle for his spiritual development. After his retirement he went around the world wherever he was invited to talk not about his glorious boxing reign but about how great God was and how we hould submit to His will. God gave him a great gift to shock the world, and He took it away but left him with an enlightened soul.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
IX. YES TRUE LOVE'S A MANY SPLENDORED THING
Love is a many splendor thing, its the April rose
that on grows in the early spring ...
Love is nature's way of giving, a reason to be living
the golden crown that makes a man a king ...
Once on a high and windy hill, in the morning mist
two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Then your fingers touched my lonely heart
and taught it how to sing ...
Yes true love's ... a many splendor thing
I wrote poems, love letters and love notes during those days hoping that the woman of my desire would reciprocate with a smile. So many loves, so many dreams until you find the right one and now I need only one word to describe the woman I love - happiness.
Its a feeling born out of understanding and sharing everything that comes our way be it good or bad. Realizing that both of you have flaws and imperfections, never argued about reasons, just the plain feeling that each one just wanted the best for each other. The common notion that at times things doesn't always turn out right and mistakes are just part of figuring out how to do better the next time around.
Maybe 30 is not long enough proof , but we have prepared for another 30 if fate would allow us the time. Except for 5 kids with bright hopes, we have nothing to show that our marriage worked. No house, no car, no money in the bank, not even a TV set at home, but hoping that next year after our 4th kid graduates from college things would be a lot different. We fell, we lost everything we've worked for, we're neck deep in debt, but like the spirit of the mythical phoenix we'll rise again.
Age may have caught up with us for gone is the beauty that once enchanted me. Beauty is but a fading flower, yet things need not fade the same way. The closeness, the nearness that welded our lives together is just as important as the pauses and the spaces we allow ourselves to have. Its not only about being with each other most of the time but about knowing that even in the baddest time your partner will always be there.
As the saying goes " The door to happiness is a very narrow one that only one person can pass through -- so you must become one "
that on grows in the early spring ...
Love is nature's way of giving, a reason to be living
the golden crown that makes a man a king ...
Once on a high and windy hill, in the morning mist
two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Then your fingers touched my lonely heart
and taught it how to sing ...
Yes true love's ... a many splendor thing
I wrote poems, love letters and love notes during those days hoping that the woman of my desire would reciprocate with a smile. So many loves, so many dreams until you find the right one and now I need only one word to describe the woman I love - happiness.
Its a feeling born out of understanding and sharing everything that comes our way be it good or bad. Realizing that both of you have flaws and imperfections, never argued about reasons, just the plain feeling that each one just wanted the best for each other. The common notion that at times things doesn't always turn out right and mistakes are just part of figuring out how to do better the next time around.
Maybe 30 is not long enough proof , but we have prepared for another 30 if fate would allow us the time. Except for 5 kids with bright hopes, we have nothing to show that our marriage worked. No house, no car, no money in the bank, not even a TV set at home, but hoping that next year after our 4th kid graduates from college things would be a lot different. We fell, we lost everything we've worked for, we're neck deep in debt, but like the spirit of the mythical phoenix we'll rise again.
Age may have caught up with us for gone is the beauty that once enchanted me. Beauty is but a fading flower, yet things need not fade the same way. The closeness, the nearness that welded our lives together is just as important as the pauses and the spaces we allow ourselves to have. Its not only about being with each other most of the time but about knowing that even in the baddest time your partner will always be there.
As the saying goes " The door to happiness is a very narrow one that only one person can pass through -- so you must become one "
Thursday, January 26, 2017
VIII. ITS BETTER TO FOLLOW HEART
What are you becoming is more important than what you are accomplishing. A few years from now you will be disappointed not by the things you failed to do but by the things you wanted to do but didn't do. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone or heed other people's advice on how to fix your life - you may fail, you may lose, but failure is never permanent, you can always make a new start. They say that God gives you a direction in life but God too allows U turns.
Some years back a newspaper made a survey - " Who are the happiest people ? ". Four answers were chosen as winners, as follows :
A craftsman or artist whistling over a job well done
A child building sand castles
A mother bathing her baby
A doctor who has finished a difficult operation and saved a life
I got this articles from the book P. S. I Love You : When Mom wrote she always saved the best for you. Its a good book with plenty of inspiring notes - a mother to a son or a daughter.
And of course let me share to you the words of one of the greatest president who guided the United States through the darkest and bloodiest years of its nationhood ;
" If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for another business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can ; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. "
Following your heart may not bring you glory, it may not bring you fame and money, but surely it would bring you happiness. The kind of happiness that Oliver Barret had in "Oliver's Story", and Superman giving up all his powers just to have a normal life with Louis Lane.
I have been a bookseller for 26 years and I have met thousands of people who had a common love love for reading. People read books for different reasons but a great majority of them want books irregardless of its genre, to have a touch of romance or sort of love encounters in them. They are always excited to know who gets the girl in the end.
Book readers read to satisfy their taste for knowledge and adventure but they always have a place in their heart for great lovers.
Some years back a newspaper made a survey - " Who are the happiest people ? ". Four answers were chosen as winners, as follows :
A craftsman or artist whistling over a job well done
A child building sand castles
A mother bathing her baby
A doctor who has finished a difficult operation and saved a life
I got this articles from the book P. S. I Love You : When Mom wrote she always saved the best for you. Its a good book with plenty of inspiring notes - a mother to a son or a daughter.
And of course let me share to you the words of one of the greatest president who guided the United States through the darkest and bloodiest years of its nationhood ;
" If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for another business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can ; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. "
Following your heart may not bring you glory, it may not bring you fame and money, but surely it would bring you happiness. The kind of happiness that Oliver Barret had in "Oliver's Story", and Superman giving up all his powers just to have a normal life with Louis Lane.
I have been a bookseller for 26 years and I have met thousands of people who had a common love love for reading. People read books for different reasons but a great majority of them want books irregardless of its genre, to have a touch of romance or sort of love encounters in them. They are always excited to know who gets the girl in the end.
Book readers read to satisfy their taste for knowledge and adventure but they always have a place in their heart for great lovers.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
VII. SOMETIMES A GOOD SCARE IS WORTH MORE THAN A GOOD ADVICE
One of the proudest moment of my grade school years was when I got into a fight with a school bully. He was the son of the school janitor, a year older, and a head taller than I was. We were playing marbles when he ruined our game and tried to muscle me when I protested. He pushed me back so I retaliated with punch that almost knocked him down. We fought and I was giving him a beating when other schoolmates separated us. I was hardly marked and I can very well see the look of admiration especially from my classmates. Some of them too were bullied by the guy and in that day they looked at me like I was their champion.
That day changed my grade school life and making friends was a lot easier than before. From a company of three our group grew to about a dozen and with our number other groups avoided us. We got into some school skirmishes and we turned from good guys to bad guys. The next year we got into a fight with another group and to avoid a gang war I was paired with the other group's leader and we squared off after school. He was lot bigger than I was so I was hit a lot of times before I was able to wrestle him to the ground and started to pummel him to submission. It was a close call and it was then that I realize that I would get into a lot more trouble if I continue hanging out with the group.
I learned a good lesson out of that fight and it was then that I thought of learning Karate. I started watching Karate movies of Tony Ferrer and Roberto Gonzales hoping to pick up some techniques. Before going home I sometimes drop by Vilcat Karate Club to watch people including some kids practicing Karate. I still got into some fights thereafter but at least for some good reasons. I was small for my age so I got bullied a lot and I had to fight my way out most of the time.
Fighting had been a part of my young life and I could really say that luck was always with me for I never got hurt seriously from those encounters. I did a lot of things in those days that I'm not proud of and those little scares taught me a lesson - fighting is a serious business. I honed my boxing skills and later in life put up a fight club of my own.
I studied Aikido and Muay Tai and after a couple of years of training I realized that the deeper purpose of martial arts is just a vehicle for personal spiritual development. Its not just about acquiring skills to defend one's self but also to learn how to react to violence.
To go up against opponents not to hurt or defeat them but to measure up your skills against another individual is the true essence of martial arts. Hate have no place for fighting for it clouds the mind and dull your reflexes. You match your techniques against another to see what techniques you're lacking and learn from each other's mistakes. Its the kind of personal satisfaction only fighters understand cause they have experienced how it is to fit your skills against another. How you see respect in your opponents' eyes not because you are able to hurt them but morely because you are able to withstand their power.
That day changed my grade school life and making friends was a lot easier than before. From a company of three our group grew to about a dozen and with our number other groups avoided us. We got into some school skirmishes and we turned from good guys to bad guys. The next year we got into a fight with another group and to avoid a gang war I was paired with the other group's leader and we squared off after school. He was lot bigger than I was so I was hit a lot of times before I was able to wrestle him to the ground and started to pummel him to submission. It was a close call and it was then that I realize that I would get into a lot more trouble if I continue hanging out with the group.
I learned a good lesson out of that fight and it was then that I thought of learning Karate. I started watching Karate movies of Tony Ferrer and Roberto Gonzales hoping to pick up some techniques. Before going home I sometimes drop by Vilcat Karate Club to watch people including some kids practicing Karate. I still got into some fights thereafter but at least for some good reasons. I was small for my age so I got bullied a lot and I had to fight my way out most of the time.
Fighting had been a part of my young life and I could really say that luck was always with me for I never got hurt seriously from those encounters. I did a lot of things in those days that I'm not proud of and those little scares taught me a lesson - fighting is a serious business. I honed my boxing skills and later in life put up a fight club of my own.
I studied Aikido and Muay Tai and after a couple of years of training I realized that the deeper purpose of martial arts is just a vehicle for personal spiritual development. Its not just about acquiring skills to defend one's self but also to learn how to react to violence.
To go up against opponents not to hurt or defeat them but to measure up your skills against another individual is the true essence of martial arts. Hate have no place for fighting for it clouds the mind and dull your reflexes. You match your techniques against another to see what techniques you're lacking and learn from each other's mistakes. Its the kind of personal satisfaction only fighters understand cause they have experienced how it is to fit your skills against another. How you see respect in your opponents' eyes not because you are able to hurt them but morely because you are able to withstand their power.
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