BOXING PARTY

When I was a lad of a mere forty years old, I got the bright idea that I should do something significant and fun to celebrate my forty years on the planet. So at my birthday party I offered to box any and all of my friends who would like to do a short round with me. That day I boxed 16 people, including my own little kids and a few other folk who didn't spar very much and it was a lot of fun and no big deal.

When I hit the half century mark, it seemed only right that I should make the boxing offer again at my fiftieth birthday bash. Luckily I took some time to train that summer as I found myself facing 22 birthday opponents that year and a few of them took their truncated round fairly seriously. It was a lot of fun though and gave us something to talk about for a few weeks.

As my fifty fifth birthday approached, my girlfriend Tina looked up one day and said, "You know Frank, you really ought to box your friends at this birthday party as who knows if you will be able to do that when you are sixty." So I set about to add a bit more boxing to my training schedule. Late that August found me teaching workshops in Frankfurt Germany for my good friend there, Lao Shi Jamie Dibdin, who operates an Internal Martial Arts school in the town. Jamie also had another of his teachers there at the time, Lao Shi Nigel Sutton, formerly of England (English National Wu Shu Team Captain twice) and at that time residing in Panang, Malaysia. These two fine gentleman seemed like the perfect sparring partners and as Nigel is a decade younger than myself and Jamie is a decade younger than Nigel, they found it hard to refuse --- so we began morning boxing sessions before classes each day. Now these guys are both highly accomplished martial artists, but neither of them actually boxes very much. On the fourth morning of training Nigel approached me with a shuffle and his head down and handed me a slightly crumpled sheet of notebook paper. On the paper was scrawled, "Dear Mr. Allen, My son says your are a very nice man -- but he is feeling poorly and would like to be excused from boxing until Sept. 4th (I was leaving on the 3rd). [signed] Nigel's Mum PS: Nigels friend Jamie is also feeling poorly and would like to be excused from boxing" I laughed my ass off ........ and then we got to sparring. Its a good thing that these fine gentlemen assisted me in my training that year as I returned home to a party where I boxed 18 friends, thirteen of whom were fellow martial arts instructors ----------- out to show their stuff. A good time was had by all.

This month I reached the big Six O and this past Saturday we celebrated this fact of time with a wonderful party that Tina put on for me .............. and of course it was time to again offer to box any of my friends who wanted a minute and a half of me. 20 stalwarts threw their hats into the ring this time and they All seemed to know what they were doing with the gloves on.

First up was my partner in everything, Internal Martial Arts Instructor, Asst. Director of the Wu Tang PCA, Tournament Sparring Gold Medal Winner and 2005 National Wu Style Tai Ji Quan Champion, TINA ZHANG. Tina attacks with lightening combinations and had her stuff on display for the entire minute and a half.

Second on the list was KLINE PAUL O., our most improved boxer of the year in The Fighting for Health System. Paul is still a little rough at the edges, but he attacks like a little pitbull and his punching accuracy improves every time out ......... and Saturday was no exception.

Third up was Wu Tang PCA's only "In House" member and Long Time student DJ Firehorse aka STEVE NARDI. Steve is long and tall with a good jab that he put to good use.

Fourth came "Killer" KEITH PALUMBO, one of the Wu Tang PCA's tournament fighter's. The Killer is a charging lightweight with quick hands and good defense. It's always a fast round when Keith is in front of you.

Fifith boxer out was Dr. IGOR aka "Gnome 1". When his medical duties actually allow Igor to get time to take his exam, Igor will become a Xing Yi Instructor and meanwhile he fights like one anyway. Boxing Igor is like sparring with a cannon ball.

Sixth out was NANCY "BRUISER" BRODY, an Internal martial Arts Instructor, Martial Arts Tournament medal winner and Bantam Weight New York Golden Gloves Finalist. Nancy hadn't showed her stuff in a while, but her slick boxing and speedy footwork were still in top form.

Seventh came MARTHA KESSLER, a former amateur boxer and Fighting for Health Instructor. Martha was in her usual form, which is sort of like sparring with Mike Tyson, except its a lady wailing on you with those hooks and overhand rights.

Eighth in line was TOM MARJAROV, our MC of the day, who is also a Ba Gua Instructor. Tom is big and bear like, but luckily for me doesn't box very often. I was honored that he would put on the gloves for the ocassion.

Ninth up was our newest Ba Gua Instructor from Baltimore, SHANE JOHNSON. Sean grew up fighting and knows how to put snap into his long punches and stay out of his opponent's reach. Having very short arms myself I have to try to bob and weave in on Shane, which is much easier said than done.

Tenth was KATE MARJAROV, Tom's lovely wife, my long time student and close friend and our time keeper for the afternoon. Kate is a long time Internal Martial Arts Instructor and her slender frame hides her internal strength. She learned to box from the legendary Bull Dog Williams and consequently knows the game quite well.

Eleventh on the list came XING YI JESSE POWELL. Jess is always on the Xing Yi style attack and comes at you like a smallish Tank. Its always a challenge to escape Jesse's rushing attacks and try to counter his aggressive defense.

In the even dozen slot was PETE "KEMPO POWER" LANDINI. Pete also teaches Tai Ji Quan and Ba Gua Zhang and is a handful for anyone to spar with. Luckily sometimes he is open to counter shots.

Lucky 13 was DR. EARL MORGAN, a 4th degree Shorin Ryu Blackbelt Instructor as well as a teacher of Ba Gua Zhang, Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan and Qi Gong. Doc is one of the experienced fighters who won't fall for my tricks and knows how to counter my counters. He's always fun to go with.


Fourteenth was Young IAN MARTIN. The lad has practiced Judo since a very young age and his Dad, Cliff Martin is a Master of Hapkido as well as a Tai Ji and Ba Gua Instructor, so Ian has grown up in the arts. The 18 year old is always a handful and loads of fun to fight.

Number fifteen was my Tai Ji and Ba Gua student RICHARD MURPHY. Richard is large and Irish, so fighting is as natural to him as breathing. Got to have a classic Irish Banger at a boxing party.

Sixteen was SCOTT THOMAS, who was a student of the late Internal Master Jane Hollander and has been practicing the arts for decades. I had never boxed Scott before and was surprised by his boxing skills.

Arriving a bit late and therefore coming in at number seventeen was my long time great friend, first live in student, first Wu Tang PCA Xing Yi Instructor and natural Irish/Cuban Fighter, SEAN BOLIVAR. Sean and I haven't gotten to fight much lately, but in the past we have logged so many sparring hours that slinging leather with Sean is like going home again. Its always enjoyable ... and competitive!

Number eighteen was Sean's famous wife, Hula Master, Internal Arts Instructor, Wiccan Priestess, Martial Arts Tournament Champion, MARY "SHOWTIME" OCHOA. Mary is a speedy and active fighter who can pot shot on the outside and flurry on the inside ...... and all her skills were on show --- after all She's SHOWTIME.

Next to last at nineteen was my close friend, Fighting for Health teaching partner, most common sparring partner and long time student MIKE "THE HEBREW HAMMER" GOLDSTEIN. Mike had just returned from coaching our small tournament team at this year's Wong Fei Hung Chinese Martial Arts Tournament. This year both our Ba Gua guys Marcos Rivera & Jon Molenar took home medals (1 for Jon & 3 for Marc) and our lone fighter Matt Koci lost on DQ for breaking his opponent's nose in a few places ......... As Tina said, "Its better than getting his ass kicked and losing." Mike did a great job coaching this year's team while we were partying and still got back in time to give me a hard round.

Last at #20 came ANVAR "THE CONQUERING TARTAR" MURTAZIN. Anvar has been our most active fighter of the past few years wining medals in martial arts tournaments and competing in full contact Chinese Kickboxing known as San Da. He is a little taller than myself and in good shape at about one eighty. I, on the other hand, at five eight and a bit over two hundred pounds rely solely on my internal principles for stamina. Anvar and I have discovered that we are relations ......... "Trade Relations". We seem to almost always be in range of each other's punches and both like to fight inside, so we sometimes put on a pretty good show. To end the boxing festivities Anvar and I sparred the entire ten minutes of the "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" song from the Kill Bill soundtrack, surprising a few of the spectators with the length of the round and hopefully entertaining them with our exchanges.

After the boxing was over a few of our talented friends entertained us. Mary Ochoa showed us why she is THE Hula Master of the East Coast and her husband Sean Bolivar and his long time music partner Doug Principata played back up for Mary as well as did a few tunes of their own for us. Our MC, Tom Marjarov did some folk music for us and Mistress of the Dance, Daria Fain graced us with an exhibition of her extraordinary skills. Also Shane Johnson amazed everyone with his popping and locking dance, the likes of which most of us had never witnessed.

It was a great day and a wonderful entry to my next 60 years. You can see Tina's great photo essay of the event at: http://www.liujingrubaguazhang.com/. Now the question becomes; should I do this again at 64 to celebrate a Yi Jing cycle change, having just celebrated the changing of the Chinese astrological cycle [I'm an Earth Rat and this is the first Earth Rat year since I was born as its a 60 year cycle] --- or should I wait until I'm 65 to celebrate having reached the mark of old age pensioner ???????????

Good Night - Good Fight,
Frank "The Snake"
PS: A DVD of this event is available for a mere $25. + S&H from: tineez@aol.com