Taco’s Team

[DoctorTaco]

Bumpdate:

Collin is fighting in his last novice bout tonight. He’s got a slugger from a tough local gym who’s shorter and known to brawl. We’ve beat that archetype before but I’m nervous all the same. He’s had weird energy most of this camp but has pulled it together the last week or two.

I’ve got two coaches with him and a couple other fighters as well while tia and I are in Seattle for an all women’s invitational. We’ve got yet another national level competitor, a slick southpaw who tia fought and lost to when she was a sub-novice and before she joined our gym.

I had to cash in a favor to make this one happen, her opponent had someone else originally but I convinced the event organizer to slide tia in for a rematch instead. We struggled making weight for this one but she hit 139.0 by the skin of her teeth. The kids got to work on her discipline but until she’s better about it we’re boxing at 146 instead.

We’ve got Washington golden gloves in 8 weeks and then Oregon in 10. I’m expecting a good run to nationals this year with her

 

[DoctorTaco]

2-2 for the night. Tia under performed by a long shot. She’s got baby elephant syndrome with this opponent- she remembers what it was like when they first met years ago and it made her gun shy. The opponent is a slick boxer who doesnt like to fight but will pick you apart when you try to Box with her. Tia was hesitant to pull the trigger and let the other woman dictate the pace.

Had a debut that won, another guy have his first fight under our banner who got the W, and poor Collin got robbed so bad the opponents coach messaged me to apologize. Collin got a knock down in the first and looked good doing it.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Had a rematch scheduled for Collin but the opponent got sick. We’ve got all eyes on Washington golden gloves in January then Oregon in Feb. should be bringing Collin, tia, and possibly a 132lb Hawaiian/mexican girl if she can bother getting her ass into the gym more often.

I’ve got a 12 year old kid, 109lbs who has been getting better in leaps and bounds. Only 6 months training and we took him to go spar at a rough gym and he held his own. I’m going to start having him fight competitively for us and see where it goes

 

[right hand lead]

Man im just now getting to this thread! Looking forward to your updates!

 

[DoctorTaco]

Man im just now getting to this thread! Looking forward to your updates!

Thanks man! We went 9-0 the year before last, this year we went 27-15 with some tougher fights on some bigger stages. We won a few novice tournaments, had a couple boxers make their open class debut, shared the ring with a couple national champions, it was a good and growing year for us.

Going to take some big swings next year, get a couple of my girls to nationals and hopefully Collin as well. Sonny got his job stuff sorted so he should be around more and I swear to god that little Kevin is going to be a murderer in there

 

[right hand lead]

Thanks man! We went 9-0 the year before last, this year we went 27-15 with some tougher fights on some bigger stages. We won a few novice tournaments, had a couple boxers make their open class debut, shared the ring with a couple national champions, it was a good and growing year for us.

Going to take some big swings next year, get a couple of my girls to nationals and hopefully Collin as well. Sonny got his job stuff sorted so he should be around more and I swear to god that little Kevin is going to be a murderer in ther

Thanks man! We went 9-0 the year before last, this year we went 27-15 with some tougher fights on some bigger stages. We won a few novice tournaments, had a couple boxers make their open class debut, shared the ring with a couple national champions, it was a good and growing year for us.

Going to take some big swings next year, get a couple of my girls to nationals and hopefully Collin as well. Sonny got his job stuff sorted so he should be around more and I swear to god that little Kevin is going to be a murderer in there

Sounds like some kind exciting times ahead! Hope yall kill it in 2024!

 

[right hand lead]

Shit this thread might inspire to start one for 2024 as well! Ive always got some joy outta posting my shit on here instead of my iphone notepad.

First big fight of 2024 gonna be Jan 19th for one of my ex UFC guys

 

[StonedLemur]

Hey everyone, I wanted to start a thread about my boxing team so as to not overrun the coach and trainers thread with them.

The gym I work out of has north of 400 members, more BJJ black belts than you can shake a stick at, and 3-5 current or retired UFC fighters coaching or training on any given day. I was at one point the head striking coach, amateur mma coach, Dutch kickboxing coach, and now I’m lucky enough to be more or less left alone as I run my boxing program. I still work with a few mma pros, still occasionally travel and work corners but for the most part I’m happy doing my thing focusing on the sweet science.

I’ve got probably a dozen boxers registered with USA boxing with fights under their belt and another half dozen I expect to pop their cherries this year. I’ve got 3 other coaches on payroll (plus 2 for cardio kickboxing), one who’s a coach in training, and another who trains with us that I’m trying to court away from another gym.

Sufficient to say, it’s a lot.

I started the program from scratch during the tail end of the pandemic. I put some horsepower into growing our members (90% of the boxers are here for fitness and fun, thank Christ.) but the owners are handling that so I just get to teach boxing and win fights.

I wanted to highlight 3 of my athletes specifically. The three I see with the most potential to take the sport somewhere serious at least as amateurs. Long term goals are making team USA which is crazy considering they all got late starts by boxing standards. I’ve got a few others who can really box and move and deserve to be mentioned with a ton of potential too but I’m waiting to see if they can get their personal lives together in a way that will allow them to succeed.

first up:
collin, aka “superbad”

Spoiler

18 years old
165lbs
8-1

This fuckin kid. Started with me 2 years ago after he kept getting in trouble for backyard boxing with his dipshit buddies. Collin trained for a year before I let him fight (I generally over prepare guys for that first one, I’m a worry wart with high standards). He went out and TKO’d the kid. His second fight he would of done the same but I had him hold back bc the officials were nervous since the kid came in almost a weight class lower after we had agreed to a match bout at 165. Collin put an 8 count on the kid in the first and second rounds and then jabbed and moved for the remainder. For the third round I told him to box and not hurt the kid, no 8 counts and he pulled it off. Fight 3 against a boxer with 6 fights from Texas who had just knocked someone out. We boxed his ears off. 4 was another tko, this time in the first.

at this point we got an offer against a dude with 12 fights and I said fuck it, let’s test his mettle. This wound up being Collins first loss in a highly competitive match. I don’t disagree, we lost but it was close. Afterwards we found out that the opponent was fresh off taking second place at the national silver gloves tournament. We had a rematch 2 weeks later and Collin won, wobbling the guy and putting a standing 8 on him in the third. They had a rubber match scheduled a week later but the kid’s coach reached out to me and said they don’t want it. They were dropping down a weight class and didn’t want to box Collin again. Coach said he’d never seen his kid hurt like that. (Nice guy, fantastic trainer. we’re arranging some sparring soon). We’ve had 3 more bouts since then, all wins.

Our next tournament is a big one up here in Oregon. Collins first time in an open division, adult tournament. I’m nervous but expecting him to win. (That’s always my expectation, regardless of the field).

I don’t. Have any full fights to share. I might have a few buried on my phone, but nothing online. It’s all well and good though, we have a hard enough time getting local guys to fight him that I don’t need a bunch of tape floating around of him mollywhopping opponents all over the ring.

Clip from his debut:



Clip from Fight 7, first one in the adult division:


Fight 8 corner advice:


Because he’s just a big goofy kid:

I’ll post the other two tomorrow, I’m tired and ran out of steam.

I like how calm you are while talking to him.
The codes (hot sauce, chilis) are beautiful because you know that other kid has no idea wtf you're talking about lol.

You seem like a great coach sir, well done.

 

[DoctorTaco]

I like how calm you are while talking to him.
The codes (hot sauce, chilis) are beautiful because you know that other kid has no idea wtf you're talking about lol.

You seem like a great coach sir, well done.

Thanks man. Gotta figure the kid just fought for a round, no need to have him fight in the corner by me yelling at him. Occasionally I’ve got to wake them up but generally speaking we do better this way.

He’s a good kid, we’re going for the state golden gloves this year

 

[DoctorTaco]

Shit this thread might inspire to start one for 2024 as well! Ive always got some joy outta posting my shit on here instead of my iphone notepad.

First big fight of 2024 gonna be Jan 19th for one of my ex UFC guys

That’s exciting. Gotta love those January dates and holiday training camps!

 

[StonedLemur]

Thanks man. Gotta figure the kid just fought for a round, no need to have him fight in the corner by me yelling at him. Occasionally I’ve got to wake them up but generally speaking we do better this way.

He’s a good kid, we’re going for the state golden gloves this year

We're all in his corner sir.
You're a good coach and a better man.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Corner advice from Eddie’s last fight:

 

[DoctorTaco]

Oregon golden gloves tournament this weekend. Tia punched her tickets to regionals and I suspect will hit the scale there and walk on to nationals.

Collin has a tough one. I know his opponent well, he trains at the gym I used to work at. The opponent had been ranked top 5 in the nation for the last few years. Had a pro debut scheduled but it got moved back so he decided to do one last ammy fight.

His old coach and current girlfriend are organizing the event, it’s being held at the U of O campus where he was a 2 sport student athlete and got his start in their boxing program as a fighter and later a coach. We’ve sparred him a few times and it’s never gone well. Needless to say, the decks stacked against us.

That being said, we are bigger, stronger, taller, younger, and hit a whole lot harder. The guy is a pressure volume puncher who can’t cut the ring off. He’s better with the machine gun so we’re opting to snipe instead. Box backwards, aim for center mass, and clinch when he’s close. We’ve got to slow the pace down so we don’t get overwhelmed. Stay off the ropes and stay active with the guard. Myself and both my other staff coaches have been doing privates with collin, he’s been sparring with a local pro, and I’ve got the kid doing a half hour of Greco Roman work twice a week.

We’ve got odds. Not great odds, but not as bad as people might think. I get the impression their looking past us and I cannot wait to shit in their cheerios


Edit:
My scrappy ass wrestler turned boxer Jack is now 6-0 with a win over the Washington state champ. He moves onto the finals tomorrow to box against a team he’s beat before. I’m sure they’ve prepared and game planned for him- Jack isn’t exactly nuanced in his approach to the sweet science. But he’s a lefty with tremendous pressure, decent IQ (when he chooses to use it) and great head movement.

No such thing as an easy fight but he definitely fought and beat the toughest seed today.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Not a bad run at the golden gloves tournament. Collin fought and lost to Aaron Thompson who then announced his pro debut in 6 weeks and so Collin still gets to go represent Oregon at regionals. Tia lost a match bout and will also be moving on. My rough and tumble 139 brawler Jack surprised everyone and winning his bracket.

I’ll have 3 of my teams moving on to Vegas in March. Hopefully nationals from there

 

[right hand lead]

Hell yeah conngrats!

 

[DoctorTaco]

Hell yeah conngrats!

Thanks man! Jack will have a rematch with the guy from Washington he fought, and considering the weight class I assume one more if he wins to punch his ticket to nationals. Can’t say with my 165er. Tia will probably walk right on to nationals

 

[nonoob]

Thanks for Sharing Doc, and congrats to the team & to you as a mentor !

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