“Given your recent state of physical decline I was thinking over some of the articles you have written regarding the beatings you took and was wondering if you had the chance to go back in time would you change anything regarding the physical nature of your training or the fights you took? Any advice or pointers for us younger fighters before you kick the bucket on how to do this as long as possible?”
-Sean
First, I have no regrets concerning my fighting. I did as much as a could when I was able and managed to finish in the top 1% of the top 1% of fighters in terms of longevity.
With a record of 7-5-9 in boxing, I did better than I should have considering that I began life as a fat, uncoordinated weakling that God seemingly designed to sort inventory.
At 27, when Johnny told me I did not have what it took to fight pro, I backed away from the notion. When Frank told me a decade later that I was too old to keep fighting as an amateur, and too small to compete in the USA Boxing master’s division, I took his advice. The extreme upper limit on boxing is 52, which I was not stout enough to handle. I had to stop sparring full contact at 47. Watch Bernard Hopkins to see how far you can sensibly push boxing.
Having won most of my 650 odd stick fights, all of them past my 35th year, I am saddened that stick-fighters are in such short supply that I could achieve this, but glad that I have discovered the truth about stick-fighting by using my body in a 17-year experiment. In his kind review of Taboo You Jack Donovan noted that I was one of those lost souls who foolishly sought the truth, which, according to a friend he quoted, is only worth what you can cash it in for. So, according to the feminist materialistic ethos that most masculinity advocates still cling tenaciously to, which states that the truth is only worth the number of dollars that someone is willing to give you for it, I have utterly failed, having lost money discovering the truth about stick-fighting.
I have spent about $7,000 in equipment—mostly gifted to aspiring stick-fighters—over the past 17 years, and have only made $260 in seminar fees. In the eyes of The God of Things I am an utter failure as a man. By the standards of civilization I am an absolute failure as a human being, as an economic unit. But, I hate civilization and spit in the eye of its false god, and am content. I am also unable to fully use my right hand for opening folding knives—which could get me killed—and for quality masturbation. But, I am adaptable, and will get sheaths made for my folding knives and send my left hand to self love camp.
Understand that with the stick-fighting, no one knew where the sustainable gear limits were when I started out. The Dog Brothers on the West Coast were really evasive about reporting their findings on injury patterns and the first generation of their guys washed out in their 40s, except for Marc who made it to 51—and I beat him by a year. But that is not what it was about. My search for truth in combat was to workout safe and productive training and competition parameters for your generation of fighters, as well as to discover where the martial arts bullshit extended into contact weaponry, and that was not far. Modern Agonistics, such as it is, was built on my injury patterns over time, to arrive at something challenging but survivable. I am below average physically in every category, and made a perfect trial horse in many ways. If I can fight the best guys in the world, two-thirds to half my age, giving away significant weight, and walk away wearing what I was wearing, then I have proven that top athletes could survive a career in minimal gear stick-fighting as long as fighters in other combat sports.
Unfortunately I did not make it to 1,000 fights, so will need a calculator and someone who knows how to use it to figure out injury risk statistics.
My only regret is that I did not do enough machete dueling.
In terms of your longevity, you are far less beat up than I was at your age, have better raw material to work with, and have the benefit of my mistakes to help you along. I made it to 39 boxing and 52 stick-fighting. I think that I could have stretched stick-fighting out until 60, if I had not switched my primary focus to writing and coaching—but that, so my boxing coach Mister Frank told me, would have been the act of an extremely selfish “asshole.” To ignore young guys that had a chance when mine had passed me by, just so I could play at getting better as I faded, would have been pointless and small. If I had just dedicated myself to training and coaching—and slept more than 3 hours per day—I could see me still stick-fighting a decade from now, so there is no reason why you cannot be among the first senior citizen stick-fighters, and be good at it. I actually improved in some areas up until the very end. Ultimately it was the writing that did me in as a fighter, by eating up my sleep. Since 1994 I have averaged 3 hours of sleep per day, and over the past 5 years that has been all about the writing, as it was from 1996-2001.
It is not a bad deal though. I have lived an extra life while others have slept, and have experienced a lot of cool hallucinations without using any drugs at all!
As far as training advice on how to fight as effectively and as long as possible, that is why I am writing Stick-Fighting Basics and No B.S. Boxing. I will put it out as fast as I can—it’s clogging up this damaged brain! The sooner I can burden you guys with the details the better.
