I have stalled on writing the weekly installments of No B.S. Boxing, which was intended to be a once weekly serial. The reason for this I did not realize until my coach, Mister Frank Gilbert, who has been my coaching couch mostly—called me up to set an appointment for a meeting. After I hung up the phone I came face to face with my reasons for stalling on the writing of this book—right as I was about to describe the learning of the jab, which all coaches agree is paramount.

I am reluctant to go against my coaches. In a nutshell, I now believe that boxing has never been coached properly at a systemic level, and I did not want to publish my disagreement with the men who coached me. To this Mister Frank had this to say, “We are the men who saw us on our way. Every one of us carries a piece of the men who shaped us within them. Doing it differently is no insult, but part of the art.”

Thanks, Mister Frank.

So Alex, Armando, Dave, FatmanJudo, Sean and the rest of you fighters who have been wondering why I stalled the boxing book, and how it is going to get started back up, I am sorry.

My next modern combat entry will be soon, and it will be on the same thing that the rest of the book will be about, guarding and jabbing. That is it. Basic boxing, as I see it, is the development of a skill platform that will sustain you as you train and fight, rather than betray you, which is typically the kind of package us boxing coaches put out, a biomechanical betrayal template.

No Bull Shit Boxing is limited to:

1. Guarding, which encompasses defense and motion

2. Jabbing, which is the limit of the offensive material

Go learn the other shit from some guy who doesn’t care if you get knocked out.

That’s it. "Irish" Johnny Coiley was the best boxer that had a hand in my development, and for his first six months in the gym he was only permitted to jab, that is it. It is no accident that he won his first 20 pro fights, or that he dropped Marvin Hagler in sparring.

Jab, and when your arm gets tired, move and guard and relax your shoulder and stop muscling it and jab some more.

I suggest training every other round as a lefty or righty to maximize your cardio and learning and minimize the development of chronic conditions associated with our lopsided art.

This is frowned upon, I know, but I recommend it, especially if you are looking at using boxing as part of a survival skill set.

We will begin with the Check Jab.