Did your Dad give you boxing lessons?

Murrmurr

Murrmurr

SF VIP
Location
Sacramento, California
After I posted this comment;

I was a Giants fan, so I put Dodgers cards on my spokes. The fist-fights I used to get into with kids who were Dodgers fans were not only expected, they were welcomed. Slamming our bikes down and going at it, man. hahaha! Awesome memories.

in the thread "Bicycle Sound Effects" I got to wondering how many of you guys' fathers (or uncles) took you in the backyard for boxing lessons.

I know Gary O had lessons (from a really early age). I did, too. I got my first set of gloves when I was 5 or 6. At first my dad held back, but when I was 8 it started getting serious. That's when I started using the defensive moves he taught me out of necessity. (Also, that's when I started wearing headgear.) By age 10, Dad's boxing got pretty aggressive and so did mine. Plus I learned to keep my footing and employ avoidance tactics. By age 12, I thought I was an ace at boxing, and then we started practicing bare knuckle fighting. He held back again, of course, but he started to show me that size doesn't matter; that there are defensive and offensive moves that can level the playing field, if you will. Sure, some of them might be considered "dirty" but when a guy twice your size comes at you, a little dirty fighting is absolutely ok. The alternative is getting your arse handed to you.

Anyway, I'm curious how many men on SF were given back yard boxing lessons.
 

No boxing lessons but Dad did give me some judo pointers that came in handy the summer out of HS when I worked on a road gang before starting college. Other than working on a RR gang, the highway dept. road gang was about the best paying summer job a kid out of HS could get but you had to work with an assortment of ruffians and parolees the court put to work.
 
Murrmurr said:
I know Gary O had lessons (from a really early age).
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Yeah, Dad was a fighter and, later on, a fan.
Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts, later The Wednesday Night Fights was his religion

Yeah, really early

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Later on, opponents wore out their arms on my face
 

Irwin said:
My father never taught me anyfrickinthing. I would watch him do stuff and learn a bit by watching, but he never tried to teach me anything. He never had any time for me.
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So sorry to hear that. Even tho my Dad was only around my first decade or so (after split up Mom took me to NJ and i didn't see, talk to or hear from him for 9 years) he taught me so much in that time that has served me well till this day. In Jersey i was around extended family from both sides and so when i sought him out at age 19 i knew enough about his childhood and youth to understand why he hadn't reached out to me.

I do hope you had someone in your life that did make time for you. We all need that to varying degrees but especially children.
 
jerry old said:
My father taught me boxing by boxing my ears. :unsure:
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Yeah, that was part of it. If you didn't keep your gloves/fists up, you got what you should expect.

But you're probably talking about something else. My dad made sure we could handle ourselves, but he was a loving father. Not the hugging type, but he told us when he was proud of us, and it was obvious he loved us more than he loved himself.
 
Irwin said:
My father never taught me anyfrickinthing. I would watch him do stuff and learn a bit by watching, but he never tried to teach me anything. He never had any time for me.
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My dad didn't teach my sister anyfrickingthing, either. Teaching Bonnie stuff was Mom's job - cooking, mainly, and being subservient. She was good at both, and that made life tough for her.

This is why I didn't treat my own daughter very much differently than I treated my sons. Naturally, I had to respect her feminine side, and I did buy her Barbies, a doll house and stuffed unicorns when she wanted them. And then make-up and stuff. And then respecting PMS and mood swings.

Honestly, I pat myself on the back for having survived it. And she's a great person. I admire her very much.
 
Murrmurr said:
My dad didn't teach my sister anyfrickingthing, either. Teaching Bonnie stuff was Mom's job - cooking, mainly, and being subservient. She was good at both, and that made life tough for her.

This is why I didn't treat my own daughter very much differently than I treated my sons. Naturally, I had to respect her feminine side, and I did buy her Barbies, a doll house and stuffed unicorns when she wanted them. And then make-up and stuff. And then respecting PMS and mood swings.

Honestly, I pat myself on the back for having survived it. And she's a great person. I admire her very much.
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The thing that pisses me off is, he knew how to do a lot of stuff, like use a lathe and do woodworking. Sometimes I'd help him, but he'd never explain what he was doing or let me try.

I don't know what his problem was. He wasn't able to hold a regular job. He had a filthy, completely unorganized little repair shop in the basement of a dry cleaners where he made a bit of money and spent most of his time. He had a few friends that would visit him in the shop but never at home. His father died when he was young, so I guess he didn't know what it meant to have a father or how to act with me. I guess. It doesn't seem that complicated. I pay more attention to my dog than he ever did with me, which is why I never saw him again after I moved far, far away. I took off at the age of 20 and never went back. I talked to him a few times on the phone, but that's it. And then he died maybe 20 years ago. I only found out a few years later.

You sound like you did a good job with your kids. That's something to be proud of. (y) If nothing else, sometimes we can learn how not to act from our parents. :ROFLMAO:
 
My dad didn't give me boxing lessons but if I did playfully shape up to him he would say, "Make your first one a good one, because it will be your last". Good advice, I think.
 
Irwin said:
The thing that pisses me off is, he knew how to do a lot of stuff, like use a lathe and do woodworking. Sometimes I'd help him, but he'd never explain what he was doing or let me try.

I don't know what his problem was. He wasn't able to hold a regular job. He had a filthy, completely unorganized little repair shop in the basement of a dry cleaners where he made a bit of money and spent most of his time. He had a few friends that would visit him in the shop but never at home. His father died when he was young, so I guess he didn't know what it meant to have a father or how to act with me. I guess. It doesn't seem that complicated. I pay more attention to my dog than he ever did with me, which is why I never saw him again after I moved far, far away. I took off at the age of 20 and never went back. I talked to him a few times on the phone, but that's it. And then he died maybe 20 years ago. I only found out a few years later.

You sound like you did a good job with your kids. That's something to be proud of. (y) If nothing else, sometimes we can learn how not to act from our parents. :ROFLMAO:
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Bing a good father comes naturally to some men, and to others it doesn't. My oldest son, Grant, is the latter. He was instantly worried when his wife told him she was pregnant, and never really felt comfortable playing the role of Dad. He told me recently that he never wanted kids. For one thing, he thought the world was too messed up to bring kids into it, and for another (and probably less an excuse and more the actual explanation), he was afraid of making serious parenting mistakes because he's selfish. He likes to read and travel and build things in his shop uninterrupted. So he basically avoided parenting. He liked watching movies with his kids (2 sons, 10 years apart) and taking them out for pizza or whatever, but those were "safe" things. Luckily, his wife was good at compensating....as well as she could, anyway. She couldn't, like, replace a father who was standing right there, you know what I mean?

Grant's oldest son had a rough go of it for a while - moved out of state, married young, divorced young, has shared custody of his 2 children so he's pretty well stuck with living out of state. But he's doing pretty well for himself. He's held onto a really good job for several years and enjoys his kids half the year. Grant's youger son starts college this fall with an eye on engineering; same as his father. So, both boys turned out ok. But I gotta give a lot of the credit to their mom. Grant does, too.

One thing Grant was good at with his kids was imparting useful knowledge. He's a brainy guy. He and his sons are not what I'd call close, but his older son is beginning to understand him better, and they keep in touch. The youngest one is kind of aloof, but he often works with his dad in a shop where Grant builds custom bicycles, mostly. It's not so much about spending time with his father, he does it because he enjoys the work.

For whatever reason, Grant wasn't built for fatherhood. Some guys just aren't.
 

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