What is White Collar Boxing?
The clue is (or was) in the title. It’s basically competitive boxing, in a ring with cornermen, referee, judges, timekeeper and the rest, but where the participants aren’t professional fighters, and usually aren’t even experienced amateur or regular boxers. It started in the 1980s in New York, with two white collar deskbound professionals, a lawyer and a stockbroker, wanting to try something new and challenging. It has brought competitive boxing to thousands of men and women who hadn’t followed one of the more traditional ways in, such as boy’s clubs, private schools, the forces, or other places where boxing has historically been found.
What are its Benefits?
To say that boxing is a contact sport is an under-statement, and there’s always a risk of getting hurt in a sport where your opponent’s aim is to hit you. We minimize the risk by using 16 oz gloves, headguards and other protective gear, with a medical examination before and after, and carefully matched bouts of “just” three two minute rounds.
But the upsides are enormous. Boxing training is one of the most, if not the most, effective way of improving your cardio fitness, losing weight and gaining tone. That’s just the physical. Most people who train to box say that it helps them to feel energized, focused and confident, with the added benefit of the collegiality of group training sessions and working together to a common goal. To say nothing of the ultimate challenge and adrenaline rush of the ring walk and the eight minutes of combat, supported by family, friends and colleagues in the audience.
And for the spectators, the format of an evening of white collar boxing makes for an easy and adaptable networking opportunity. Not everyone enjoys watching boxing – there are plenty of people who positively dislike it or even disapprove of it – but those who do tend to really enjoy it. It doesn’t have many Don’t Knows.
What is Real White Collar Boxing?
The continued revival of interest in boxing has led to more and more people wanting to try boxing competitively, and when they do, then carrying on. As a result, many “white collar” shows are in fact “semi-pro”, with fighters with plenty of bouts under their belts, and often coming from more physical backgrounds and workplaces. This means that the true “white collar” participant has the prospect of a bout with a squaddie or a scaffolder, or someone else fit and strong and who doesn’t sit behind a desk most of the day. Our event is different.
This isn’t about elitism, but is about wanting a show which goes back to the original philosophy and will attract the typically sedentary, who want to improve their fitness, wellness and mobility and to try something completely different in doing so.
So this show is Real White Collar Boxing.
What’s Involved?
Ten weeks of twice weekly training at the fantastically equipped Gymbox gym at Elephant & Castle with experienced pro trainers to provide the boxing basics and help you with your own fitness regime, and including “in ring” sparring sessions.
Access to video training clips to recap what you’ve been learning at the training.
Fight Night – participating in a 3 x 2 minute competitive fight (16 oz gloves, guards, mouthpieces and headguards), with ring walk to your own music, cornermen provided, noisy crowd, ring people with the round cards, referee, MC, Judges, timekeeper and all the rest. And plenty of opportunities for photos and filming.
Who can Participate?
Anyone who has a desk based or sedentary job. There are no age, gender, religion, nationality or other restrictions. As long as you’re a novice (which means no history in boxing, and no more than one previous bout) you’re welcome to join in, and as long as we can find a properly matched opponent for you to meet in an evenly paired bout, you can enter the ring on the night.
Is it a Charity Event?
We are not promoting this as a charitable evening, but we know that some of the participants will be using it as a way to raise funds for their own choice of charity, and we will do what we can to help them do this through their own fundraising pages.
Where and When?
Where else? If AJ had his first fight there, it’s good enough for us. The Boston Dome, just round the corner from Tufnell Park tube. We’ve already had two shows there. The first, RWCB 1: Apocalypse Now in July 2019, and the second, RWCB 2: Deep Waters in November 2019. We were going to be back there again in June 2020 for RWCB 3: Unforgiven. But then, along came Covid. We’ve waited a long time to be as sure as we can be that we can confidently start planning the training and the event without too much risk of another lock-down or other disruption. So we are back with UWCB 3: Unforgiven, with a show in late November 2022. And we’re recruiting now.
What does it Cost?
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so beware when you’re offered “free training”. The economics of boxing are simple. Like most other sports, it’s all about selling tickets. For the Show to be viable, participants need to be able to sell at least ten tickets (regular admittance will likely be ticketed at £30), so you’ll be committed to paying £300, but most people have more than ten friends and family who want to come and support them, so they do indeed get the training and show for “free”.
As well as regular seated and standing tickets, there will be a limited number of tables for ten for £450.
You won’t have to pay anything more for the training or access to Gymbox for training sessions. You will need to buy your own gloves, wraps, gum shield, and boots (and we recommend buying your own headguard as well).
For RWCB 3 we are structuring this slightly differently to give people a chance to train without committing to fight, so there will be room for a limited number of people to train and learn without being committed to fighting on the night.
The first two training sessions will be free “tasters” so you can see if you think that you want to box. After that, we will charge £200 in advance to participate in the ten weeks’ training. If you then want to fight, and we can find you a fair opponent, we will credit the £200 against your ticket sales commitment. If you don’t want to fight, there’s nothing more to pay, but you can complete the training and we’ll give you a ticket to come along on the night and support your training colleagues.
And for firms wanting to support a group of their employees and offer an alternative form of wellbeing activity, we plan to offer corporate packages, and also some sponsorship opportunities for anyone who really wants to get behind the event.
How do you Sign up or get More Information about RWCB?
Please text or WhatsApp Andy Millmore on 07872 520271 or James Long on 07427 669606 or email andy@rumbleroad.tv