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Stories, Technical Analysis, Commentary, Fight Predictions, and Evaluations Emphaszing the Finer Points of Boxing
To arrange for written, audio, or video commentary, to get a quote for a boxing story, or to acquire assistance with a fighter's training, sparring, or corner work, contact Mark Connor at :
This page is named for the last man to train me as a boxer, Dennis Presley. He also trained my contemporary, Will Grigsby, who eventually became International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Junior Flyweight Champion twice, and World Boxing Organization (WBO) World Junior Flyweight Champion once. That's quite an accomplishment, considering that the only other World Champion from Minnesota was another St. Paul resident, Middleweight Mike O'Dowd, who fought from 1913 to 1923. Between 1994 and 1996 I sparred with Grigsby until he won the United States Boxing Association Flyweight title, and also helped Presley in his corner. I will share the wealth of knowledge I was exposed to at that time, entertaining the reader, listener and viewer in an educational way.
A slightly eccentric friend of mine who is a Muhammad Ali fanatic and lover of all things classic (especially American classic) referred to Presley as "King of the Ring" because he admired Presley's intellectual understanding of boxing and ability to teach it effectively enough to develop champions, and because his last name is the same as the King of Rock and Roll. Interestingly enough, Dennis Presley has said he has relatives in Mississippi near to where Elvis is from, but makes no claim of relations. Regardless, Dennis Presley has always had a unique ability to predict the outcome of major fights, and some of my most enjoyable conversations are the discussions we have about boxing.
Throughout this site I will be reviewing and recommending literary works that are somehow related to boxing. One book I bought in the 1990s and had long discussions with Dennis Presley about after he also read it is In the Corner: Great Boxing Trainers Talk About Their Art by Dave Anderson. It includes words of wisdom from Eddie Futch, Angelo Dundee, George Benton, Ray Arcel, Kevin Rooney, Goody Petronelli, Jackie McCoy, Bill Slayton, Lou Duva, Emanuel Steward, Gil Clancy, and Richie Giachetti.
In the Corner: Great Boxing Trainers Talk About Their Art
My advice to young children and teenagers who want to be good at boxing is to always learn from the best. This book will help you do just that.
Winners Never Quit
Jim Glancey, beloved Minnesota Boxing Mentor, Photographer, Coach dies at 83
On Thursday, August 19, I attended the funeral of Jim Glancey, a
St. Paul boxing photographer and mentor to youth for over thirty years. Born James Ronald Glancey on
February 26, 1927, he died on
Saturday, August 7, 2010. Glancey, or “Glance” as we sometimes called him, was an important presence in my life and the life of
Minnesota boxers for as long as I can remember. I first met him in Emmett Yanez’s Mexican American Boxing Club on
St. Paul’s
East Side, when he was hanging around taking pictures of boxers. The next year, when I was only 11, I frustratingly missed a trip he made with a team of boxers from the
St. Paul area to
Miami,
Florida to box against a team from that city. Glancey facilitated that trip to give opportunity to local boxers, and he was able to introduce the young men with him to Angelo Dundee, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Alexis Arguello. Of course Leonard and Arguello were my idols at the time, and although I wasn’t able to go Glancey made sure to bring back their autographs for me. In 1987, during my senior year of high school, I enjoyed Glancey’s presence in
Knoxville,
Tennessee, where he joined those of us who represented the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves team at the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions. I was too busy with college the next year to join him on another trip he facilitated, one with the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves team to
Hawaii. He also accompanied six-time Upper Midwest Champion and successful professional Mike Evgen to
Ireland when Evgen represented the
United States in dual meet competition against an Irish national team. But he is most well known for having run Glancey’s Gym at
740 Beech Street on
St. Paul’s
East Side from 1992 till around 2003 or 2004, where he mentored three nationally ranked amateur boxers who’ve gotten attention as professionals in recent years, Jason and Allen Litzau and their trusty partner, Antonio Johnson.
Jason Litzau has been the most successful so far of Glancey’s protégés, whom he referred to as his “Three Musketeers.” Currently he is the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) Lightweight Champion, and he challenged Robert Guererro a couple of years ago for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Featherweight Championship. His brother Allen is the former Minnesota State Featherweight Champion, and Johnson is currently a 7-1 Junior Middleweight looking to advance his career. When life was precarious for these three, Glancey was there for them, providing support they were unable to find elsewhere. Glancey was there for countless other young men as well, and a few young ladies in more recent years when women began to be accepted in boxing gyms. He graduated from
Mechanic
Arts
High School and attended the
College of
St. Thomas (now
University of
St. Thomas) in
St. Paul, and he also served in the United States Navy during World War II.
Jim Glancey loved his Irish heritage but loved his American citizenship even more, and he was a kind gentleman who strived to live the highest standards. When I was in high school I remember him giving me sound, traditional, manly advice rooted in the common sense of which the
United States and old
St. Paul were made. “Remember to be a Gentle Man,” he said; “firm with men, and gentle with women.” Glancey also always warned against the dangers of alcohol and drugs, used to welcome me and other boxers up to his Chisago, MN cabin to fish, and sometimes put guys up temporarily at his gym. When I was 15, after I’d avenged a close loss to a nemesis with a lopsided victory in which I scored three knockdowns, he gave me a small trophy with an inscription on it saying, “Winners Never Quit.” More than 20 years later I’ve found myself repeating those words over and over again to pull myself through difficult situations. His death is one of those occasions wherein we boxers, who always put up a tough guy, combative front, allow ourselves to cry. But when we’re through with the tears we will move on and treat other young boxers with the same kind of respect he gave us, because that’s what he taught us to do. Sure, we boxers show our emotions and mourn when someone dies, but we’ve no excuse to dwell on it because we have a responsibility to continue living the highest possible standards, and to remember, as Glancey himself always said, “Winners Never Quit.”
Mark Breland Speaks with Boxers and Writers about his Career, Training Fighters, and Show Business
by
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor
On Friday, July 23, Mark Breland spoke with Boxers and Writers Magazine via telephone from his home in Brooklyn, New York. He answered questions about his celebrated professional and amateur boxing careers, as well as his experience training fighters in recent years. He made sharp observations about the current state of United States amateur boxing and the degree of dedication found in today’s professional fighters, and he also shared news about his upcoming appearance in Lights Out, a new TV series on the FX channel. Breland trained the show’s lead man, Holt McCallany.
The Patriarch of Minnesota Boxing, Emmett Yanez,
at 90 years old
by
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor
On March 3, my boxing coach who taught me to fight at age ten and guided me to national tournaments, Emmett J. Yanez, turned 90 years old. He also trained numerous other Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champions as well as national champions over the years, and he continues to coach amateur boxers today. His most recent champion is Robert Brant, who won the National Golden Gloves Light Heavyweight Championship for the second time this year and is attempting to win the USA Boxing Light Heavyweight Championship at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO this week. During the celebration, which took place at Mancini's Char House in St. Paul, I was privileged to read out a declaration from St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman declaring March 3, 2010 Emmett J. Yanez Day in St. Paul, Minnesota. A special thanks to my father, Robert Connor, for advising me to contact the Mayor's office for the declaration.
To read an article on Emmett and his current USA and Golden Gloves National Light Heavyweight Champion, Robert Brandt publithsed On July 9 in The Star Tribune, click here:
St. Paul Boxing figure, Joe Azzone, dies of Heart Attack at 79
Former Secretary of the Minnesota State Boxing Commission, Board Member of International Boxing Federation, and founder of great boxing gym of the past died on July 3
By
Mark Connor
Josep J. Azzone, Sr., a St. Paul native who was an integral part of the boxing community, a devout Catholic and active member of St. Louis King of France Church downtown, and a strong guide to city youth through a career as a social worker and the founder of the Police gym in the 1950s, succumbed to a heat attack on July 3, 2010.
Born March 1, 1931, Azzone grew up in an East Side Italian parish on the edge of downtown when there were still five Catholic churches within downtown St. Paul, not including the Cathedral on Summit Avenue. (Currently three remain, including St. Louis, of which Azzone was a member, Assumption, and St. Mary's). In recent years Azzone could be found on Friday afternoons lunching with longtime St. Paul boxing community members at Yarusso Brother's Italian restaurant on Payne Avenue, and other afternoon's at either Cossetta's or DiGidio's, both on West 7th street.
Azzone always had a smile on his face and a cordial greeting for members of the boxing community. Upon hearing of his death I immediately regretted not having seen him one last time to say goodbye. Our last conversation was roughly two years ago but I remember it as if it were last week, still hearing the sound of his voice and seeing the wonderful welcoming smile on his strong, gentle, and caring face.
Among the many young people who first learned to box from Joe Azzone is Dennis Presley, who trained many nationally and internationally ranked amateur boxers and developed the second of only two professional World Champions to hail from Minnesota. Presley, who himself was a very accomplished amateur boxer, said the priests at the Cathedral brought him to Joe Azzone to box because he'd always fought in school. If there was any chance of him not sticking to the sport when introduced to it, the authoritative encouragement and generous guidance of Joe Azzone was motivation enough for Presley to spend many years in boxing. It is just one example of how Joe Azzone contributed to St. Paul boxing specifically and Minnesota boxing in general, fostering a singular excellence that reached the world class level.
Joseph J. Azzone Sr.
Boxers and Writers Observations from 2009 Visit to Wild Card Boxing Club, Hollywood, California
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor
I was fortunate enough to travel to California from May 20 through June 3, 2009, and I visited the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, where today’s most successful boxing trainer, Freddie Roach, runs his program. Roach himself and the other trainers proved very kind, and it was a privilege to communicate with them. However, after superstar Manny Pacquiao won World Championship titles at Welterweight and Junior Welterweight with respective victories over Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton in December and May, the constant stream of fans and press at the gym has been overwhelming. So gym manager Marie Spivey told me I could not interview anyone unless first approved by their press agency, which turned out to be unfeasible because I’d initially contacted her too close to the time of my actual visit. I was welcome to workout, though, which I did on May 28, 29, and 30. In honor of Spivey’s request to “Please” not “interview any of the boys,” I kept my interactions with the trainers social and I did not take any pictures. However, after my first workout I sat down at a fast food Thai Restaurant just up the block, on Vine Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, and wrote the following assessment of my experience. I also observed some admirable qualities in some of the trainers, including Freddie’s big brother Pepper, which I plan to share in a later article.
Boxers and Writers Reports on former contender Olajide, Jr. and Aerospace Boxing Fitness Gym
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor
In late February I traveled to
New York City on business for the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981 (www.nwu.org). Because there are so many opportunities in both the literary and the pugilistic worlds in New York, the city the great Minnesota native Bob Dylan always refers to as "the capital of the world," I arrived early and left late for union business so I could support Minnesota boxers participating in the Gleason's Masters Clinic and also meet and interview former Middleweight contender Michael Olajide, Jr. We spoke for a little over an hour on February 22at his boxing fitness gym, Aerospace High Performance Center, located
at
336 West 13th Street. Here is the story:
The Making of Silk:
Michael Olajide, Jr. found the smooth road after hard times and injuries ended a world class boxing career
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor
Michael “The Silk” Olajide, Jr. built a successful professional boxing career from December 17, 1981 through April 25, 1991, compiling a record of 27 wins, 5 losses, 0 draws and 18 knockouts. Debuting professionally as a Jr. Welterweight nine days after turning 18, he knocked out Johnny Gains, 0-1, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Olajide knocked out two more fighters who respectively had 0-1 records before fighting an 8 round battle with veteran Lightweight Al Ford, a 31-year-old with a record of 55-18-0 with 19 knockouts, who’d gone the distance in a 10 round loss to eventual Lightweight Champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. Olajide won a unanimous decision, and suddenly, after only six months and less than 13 total rounds of professional boxing, he was on the road to world class competition.
Meet up with Breland prompts plan to discuss career as boxer, trainer, transition between the two
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2009, Mark Connor
While supporting Minnesota Masters Division boxers Ryan Sheahan and Steve McComas, who competed at the Gleason's Gym Masters Clinic in Brooklyn, NY on February 20, I was able to speak briefly with Mark Breland, the 1984 Welterweight Olympic Gold Medalist and former professional World Welterweight Champion who now trains professional fighters. We first met when as a freelance journalist I attended the Gleason's Fantasy Camp in
Monticello, NY in September, 2005. At that time he was preparing to train
Vernon
Forrest for an upcoming fight, and at the Masters Division competition we spoke very briefly of that champion's tragic death last year. We also spoke briefly about the tragic death last year of the legendary Alexis Arguello, whom we both greatly admire. As I was committed to meeting and interviewing Michael Olajide, Jr. the following week and I also conducted business on behalf of the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981 (www.nwu.org), I did not have time to meet with and extensively interview Breland. I plan on catching up with him soon for the purpose of discussing his experience has a champion fighter and a trainer of world champions, as well as the ability of fighters to prolong their careers and the influence one's competitive history has on the ability to successfully train champions. If possible, a story will appear on this page before summer. Please watch for it.
Middle Way for Manny, Corners for Cotto
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2009, Mark Connor
The fight this Saturday, November 14, between World Boxing Organization (WBO) Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico and Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines is one of the most anticipated in recent years. Unlike Pacquiao’s last fight against overrated and mismatched Englishman Ricky Hatton, this challenge to become the only man to win world championships in seven different weight classes could prove for him a bridge too far. Victory’s not a given for either man, though, and both can cause extensive damage to the other in a fight pitting skill and power of equal quality in different forms on either side. In conversation with world class trainer Dennis Presley, I was enlightened by his technical analysis while reaffirmed in my own inclinations about who will emerge victorious, even though they are in disagreement with his expert opinion.
Conversations with Presley Reveal Insights on Pacquiao,
Expectations for Cotto
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright Mark Connor, 2009
Five days before Manny Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton for the IBO Junior Welterweight championship of the world, I interviewed world class trainer Dennis Presley about the fight. The conversation’s contents reveal just how insightfully Presley assessed Pacquiao’s skill and technically described how he’d win. Such accurate observations prompt me to wonder how well he’ll predict Pacquiao’s fight for the Welterweight title against Miguel Cotto. I hadn’t written an article based on the interview before watching the actual fight in May, and until now, with the Cotto fight approaching in less than a month, I just found time to transcribe it. As you’ll see in the quotes, Presley predicted the moves Pacquiao made against Hatton the same as Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, described them after the fight and explained that in the HBO 24/7 series they visibly worked on them over and over again.
Sugar Ray Leonard on Manny Pacquiao:
Why he destroyed Hatton and why he’s so dominant
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2009, Mark Connor
When Sugar Ray Leonard was kind enough to speak with Boxers and Writers Magazine after the Celebrity Roast of Scott LeDoux in Minneapolis in May, he also generously shared his assessment of the Manny Pacquiao knockout over Ricky Hatton.
<“I didn’t think the fight would end that soon,” he said. “I gave the edge to Pacquiao because of the hand speed. Without question, Ricky Hatton has a big heart; almost too big sometimes. But you know what? He gives you a hundred percent. He got caught with a blinding hook. He fought a guy who had mobility, a guy who had hand speed, a guy who’s coming off a great win [in beating] Oscar DeLaHoya. And Pacquiao is just unbelievable. He’s still a little guy. No matter how much he weighs, he’s a little guy; and he’s able to overcome the adversities of it. I thought that Oscar had a chance to beat him, but he proved everybody wrong.”
In response to his long statement, the Boxers and Writers Magazine observation was that Pacquiao has incredible accuracy and speed, and that his balance is amazing.
“You hit it on the head,” Leonard said; “the accuracy of his punches; [they] are so, just, they’re timed perfectly. And he’s always there, then he’s out of the way, and he’s in great shape.”
Leonard’s observation of Pacquiao’s mobility and hand speed are telling in terms of the way Leonard himself fought, indicative of what as a great champion he naturally sees when watching a successful fighter. Pacquiao was able to utilize his movement in order to be out of range of Hatton’s punches, but also to place himself in spots where he could catch him moving into punches. Pacquiao disposed of Hatton so much easier than Floyd Mayweather, Jr. did because he makes fewer mistakes. He kept his balance much more consistently than “Pretty Boy” Floyd did throughout his career, and that balance is the base from which all punches receive their power.
Boxers and Writers Observations from 2009 Visit to Wild Card Boxing Club, Hollywood, California (continued from above)
My initial observation about working out at The Wild Card Boxing Club is that it’s as healthy an environment for a boxer as could possibly be. The people there treat each other with respect, everyone concentrates, and it’s nothing but business every moment. In spite of the cramped quarters, such unbreakable focus creates the environment in which a fighter can develop to the fullest potential because there are no distractions through which to dissipate energy. This truth was reinforced in my mind metaphorically through an epiphany I experienced in the middle of my workout.
Mr. Roach had shown to me the doors through which I’d find the changing room, the shower, and the restroom, and also explained that besides the main room with a ring, four speedbags, a couple of two-ended bags and numerous heavybags and a jumprope platform in front of a mirror, there is a door to walk through to another room with a ring, punching bags, and exercise machines. The second room serves as an overflow space when the first one gets too crowded, and because my hour of arrival (5:00 p.m.) was so busy I began my workout with an arrangement of my own stretches added to the late Gene “Rock” White’s warm up and calisthenics routine over there. Various people were training in that room, coming and going, until I myself vacated it to continue in the main room. After shadowboxing I returned to that room, passively observing that the large black man I’d noticed earlier was still working with a fighter. I was in there to hit a heavybag, but just like in the other room none were open. So I just turned away from the ring and shadowboxed with my eight ounce boxing gloves on.
“Wasted energy,” I heard the man say to his charge, a white heavyweight with dark hair and a beard. He pointed out that the fighter had taken an extra step, bounced too much on his feet, or unnecessarily shifted the position of his hands. I don’t know exactly what the erroneous motion was because I continued concentrating on myself and did not look at them. But I remembered the first time I’d ever heard anyone say that. It was while working out in my high school years on a Friday night at the original Inner City Youth League in St. Paul. I was there because my original coach, Emmett Yanez of the Mexican American Boxing Club, had instructed me to be there every Friday night regardless of whether he made it. We’d lost our East Side gym, and been working out at a different gym that was only open Monday through Thursday. Inner City was also open on Fridays and sometimes on Saturdays; so no wonder it’s the only gym of my youth to produce a world champion. The man who’d said it was the last man to train me, World Champion trainer Dennis Presley. He was instructing professional middleweight David “The Inner City Assassin” McCall, telling him the extra steps he took in repositioning himself after a combination were a waste of energy.
“Wow,” I thought when I heard this big black man working the pads with a fighter say that. “This guy’s really intense and observant, just like Dennis.”
That’s the kind of training I like, that’s the kind of gym I like. Really, wasted energy is wasted talent, and too many gyms breed that kind of failure by running substandard programs diminished by cutting corners, ignoring the details, skipping the little things. I’m tired of seeing it, and those guilty of it know very well who they are. That’s why I was so happy in Hollywood, not chasing starlets, not begging producers to buy my script or trying to meet the right person in order to be discovered and made a star—but training there with the best in the world who are the best because they do it right.
Near the end of my workout, in the third hour when I was hitting the speedbag, I thought of Wild Card Boxing Club’s hours. Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. That’s why they’re the best in the world, I thought, as I heard the singing rhythm of the bag against its platform, because they do it all day long all week long. That’s why Freddie Roach is so successful, why he’s trained so many world champions.
“I’m embarrassed to ask this question,” I said to Freddie after noticing the big black man working the pads with a fighter in the other room.
“What’s that?” he said.
“Is that Michael Moorer training that guy in the other room?
“Yeah,” he said.
My eyes had not deceived me when I’d looked at his face. Of course it was Michael Moorer, the former Heavyweight Champion of the World. Who else makes observations and gives instructions like that? Who else can do it best? No one else, of course, but the best.
Editorial Note:
Shortly after my visit to Wild Card Boxing Club, Michael Moorer discontinued assisting Freddy Roach in training fighters. Some reports appeared that World Champions Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan were not comfortable with him, but Roach was quoted as saying it was a mutual and cordial separation. Best of luck to Moorer, Roach, and everyone at Wild Card.
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Mark Connor FIGHTING CHANCE/BOXING FOR LIFE
(612) 369-3778 |
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—Available for hire as
Paid Sparring Partner
Personal Trainer
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Consultant for Theatrical and Film Productions
Speaking Engagements
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Phone (612) 369-3778 for rates and terms
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"Malicious" Mark Connor Boxing Record
September 1979----April 1994
66 W--36 L--20 KOs
1987 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Lightweight (132) Champion
Contestant 1987 National Golden Gloves, Knoxville, Tennessee
Contestant 1987 Western Trials, Pan American Games Team, Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado
1986 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Lightweight (132) Runner-up
1993, 1994 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Junior Welterweight (139) Runner-up
1984 Quarter finalist (final 8), National Junior Olympics, Flyweight (112), Saginaw Michigan
1984 Minnesota and four state regional Flyweight Champion
1983 Minnesota and four state regional Junior Flyweight (106) Champion, intermediate (12-13 year old) bracket
Most Noteworthy Opponents
Jamal Hinton (1988 119 pound Olympic Alternate and professional Junior Featherweight, 122 pound WBC Intercontinental Champion) L, RSC
Wayne Martel (1992 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves 139 pound Junior
Welterweight , 1994 Lightweight Champion, as a professional defeated former Olympic Gold Medalist and Featherweight Champion Meldrick Taylor and former Lightweight Champion Livingstone Bramble) L, Decision
Anthony Bonsante, four time Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champion, appeared in first season of "The Contender" L, Decision
Most Noteworthy Sparring Partners
Will Grigsby, IBF and WBO Junior Flyweight Champion
Mike Evgen, Challenged Rafael Ruelas in 1994 for IBF World Lightweight Championship
Dan Schommer, Challenged Chris Eubank for IBF Super Middleweight (168 pound) title
Sevarino Garcia, first professional I ever sparred with (Featherweight and Lightweight who trained in the Marvin Hagler Stable run by the Petronelli Brothers)
Raul Gracia, Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champion and National Police Athletic League Champion
Tony Lee, 2007, 2008, 2009 Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Lightweight Champion and 2008 World Golden Gloves Champion
Assisted in Training
Will Grigsby
Raul Gracia
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