Update on UNB Law Students' Boxing Event

A few days ago, I wrote about an event that law students at the University of New Brunswick planned to hold in order to raise funds for the Lawyers Against Landmines organization. Since then, I have traded a couple of e-mails with Gavin Cosgrove, the event's organizer. He seems like a great guy and he was kind enough to send me this news update about the Knocking Out Landmines event, which was a great success.

Gavin and I have talked briefly about working together to host a USA vs. Canada boxing event featuring lawyers and law students. That would be great, since I've been pondering the idea of organizing another lawyers' charitable boxing event here in Chicago. He and I will talk further about this.

Congratulations to Gavin and the rest of the UNB law students who boxed and raised a lot of funds for the Canadian Landmine Foundation. Well done, lads (and lass)!

Law Students Set to Box in Charity Event

First, we have some lawyer-boxers (such as Marc Saggese and yours truly). Then we have a lawyer-boxer-turned-Aikido-practitioner. Then there's Marc, the first law student-boxer I have met online. Also, Brett Trout is a lawyer-cage fighter, also known as Iowa's Toughest Attorney.

Continuing the fine tradition of legal types as fighters, eight law students at the University of New Brunswick's law school will climb into the ring tomorrow to put on a boxing show to raise funds for the charitable group Lawyers Against Landmines. Pretty cool stuff, eh?

Here's the Web site for the event. If you happen to be in the area, check these guys out. They're hosting the event for a good cause and it looks like it will be a blast. New Brunswick's kind of far from me; otherwise, I'd love to attend.

I expect the law students and their audience will have a great time. (I wonder if they would allow lawyers who have already been admitted/called to the bar to participate.) Several years ago, I was privileged to box in a local fundraiser for the DuPage County Legal Assistance Foundation. It was serious fun and I hope to have the chance to participate in similar events again.

That gives me an idea. Wouldn't be neat if we had an organization for lawyers and law students that could periodically hold events like the Knocking Out Landmines event? We could help some worthy organizations, encourage lawyers and law students to maintain higher levels of fitness, and have fun doing it. What do you think? Post any ideas you have here in the comments, or feel free to e-mail me at steve@lawyerboxer.com.

To the New Brunswick law student-boxers: good luck in your event. I hope it will be a great time, a huge success for the fund-raising campaign, and a memorable and fun event for everyone. Let us know how it goes!

Updated on March 25, 2008 at 5:20 p.m.: Here is another news article about the event.

Updated on March 27, 2008 at 12:12 a.m.: I don't have any post-fight coverage of the event, but here's an additional story about it:

http://law.unb.ca/news/2008/03/knocking_out_landmines.html

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am celebrating today. It's interesting: I don't feel 44 years old. I feel a lot younger, but maybe that is due to workouts. I hope so.

Training has been moving along. I'll post an update later today or tomorrow. For now, I'm simply savoring the moment.

May all beings be safe, healthy, happy, prosperous, and at peace.

The Best Laid Plans...

On Saturday, I invited my friend Mark to visit my new gym and join me for a workout. He is interested in joining, and is interested in boxing as well as weight lifting. So far so good.

Mark and I arranged to meet there at 1:00 p.m. Of course, even though I allowed plenty of time to get there, I had to wait for the 18th Street bus for half an hour--the longest wait I've ever had for that bus--and I got their late. Still, no problem, because Mark wasn't very upset about having to wait for me. He got a tour of our gym and some basic information about it, along with a 7-day trial pass so he can use the facilities and see how well he likes it.

The problem is that we did not get to do our workout as planned. Since it was nearly 1:15 when I got there and 1:20 when Mark returned from walking around the neighborhood, there was time just for a tour and a few questions, but no workout, because the USA team, in town for the world championships, is training at my gym! How cool is that? Here's a little more detail.

"The 11-man squad arrived early Thursday before checking into their hotel and taking part in their first training session at GOTIME Chicago. The team will train at the local gym through the opening day of competition. Following their first training session in the Windy City, Team USA enjoyed a team dinner of Italian food at a local Chicago restaurant.

"They will continue their final few days of training on Friday morning, getting in an early morning run prior to training at 2 p.m. at GOTIME. The 2007 event is the first senior world championships for nine of the 11 team members with only flyweight Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) and bantamweight Gary Russell, Jr. (Capitol Heights, Md.) having competed in the 2005 edition. Both boxers took home bronze medals from the 2005 World Championships in Mianyang, China."

Source: http://www.usaboxing.org/92_2081.htm

The USA team was scheduled to begin their training at 2:00 p.m. It was my (perhaps erroneous) understanding that the gym was going to be closed to members for security reasons. I need to check into that because the news source I quoted above says the training sessions will be open to the media, so if media, why not members? I believe there is training scheduled for Monday, so I need to verify that. After all, as a blogger, I am part of the new media! It would be great to watch the team train, although it is probably in the early afternoon when it might be very difficult to get there, but we shall see!

In any event, I am psyched to be training at the same gym where the USA world championships team is training. Just knowing they are there is pretty cool. Hopefully, Mark and the other guys can join me there this week, and to see some of the tournament.

World Amateur Boxing Championships in Chicago

The World Amateur Boxing Championships will be held here in Chicago from October 23 through November 3. The event will be at the UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) Pavillion.

It looks like it will be a pretty hectic week at work (that's why I am blogging at 1:44 a.m. on Monday), but I am hoping to attend some of the event, since it lasts two weeks. I'm also hoping some of the boys from my old club will go. We'll see what happens.

If you happen to be in Chicago this week or next, and you plan to attend the tournament, you just might get to meet your friendly neighborhood lawyer-boxer-blogger. :-)

Gleason's Gym and The Real Fight Club Sponsor Fight Night on December 11

This event will be in London, England. It looks to be a good time and the event will raise money to help build a youth boxing gym.

I was invited to box in this event last year and this year. I was hoping to do it this year, but money is tight now, so traveling to the UK in December is out of the question. Hopefully, if this event is held next year, I'll be able to participate then. For now, it's training, training, and more training.

Extell Wall Street Charity Boxing Charity Championship: November 1, 2007

This looks like it will be a great event. From the press release announcing it:

The Extell Wall Street Boxing Charity Championship challenges Wall Street’s finest from top Wall Street banks and trading firms, to fight at the historic Hammerstein Ballroom on behalf of their favorite New York charity. The announcement was made by Extell Development Company today at the closing bell of The New York Mercantile Exchange.

“Extell and Wall Street are getting together in the same corner to raise money for New York charities,” said Marc Shaw, Executive Vice President of Extell Development Company. “This was a perfect fit for us and we are extremely happy that it has become a reality. ... We look forward to a great evening!” Six New York based charitable partners will be announced over coming weeks.
...

All bouts will be three two-minute rounds and all the fighters will be weight-class, age and skill matched. Those chosen to compete are being given complete training support provided by Trinity Boxing Club.

I don't think I can be in New York on November 1, but this ought to be a good time. Their Web site has all the information about reservations and tickets.

http://www.wallstreetboxing.com

This type of event is great fun. Several years ago, I boxed in a charitable fundraising event sponsored by the DuPage County Bar Association. All the boxers were lawyers. I had a blast. My coach, Bernard, is hoping to hold another charitable event featuring doctors versus lawyers. That will be fun, too. I've already been informally challenged for the event, so I hope we can make it happen.

If you're going to be in New York City on November 1, check out this event. If you do attend, please tell us all about it.