BACK to Allen on boxing books
Updated July 16, 2019
After 1,678 rounds & counting. Our historyExcerpt from my boxing book-in-progress
Coach Izzy and the IDIF fighting team
The team getting ready for fights in late July Representing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 13
and at HyperFight in Schiller Park June 1, 2019
Coach Izzy & Allen, going back a while now
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at Riis Park Aug. 10-12. On Saturday, Aug. 11, Coach and I sparred 3 rounds.
On the left, it looks like my right upper (black shoes) is lifting Coach (white shoes) off the canvas, but don't you believe it
Above, looks like he missed me, but don't believe that, either
Coach figures he won & who am I to disagree? It is always an honor to get in the ring with this great fighter, but this time we did it with fighters and coaches and a few more bystanders than we have at EKF.
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IzzyDuzIt Boxing was featured in June 2018 on the
4BoxingNews.com website. |
Round Count
At the end of 2018, Coach Izzy & Allen had sparred 1,367 rounds. Pictures below start with January 2018. We started sparring in Fall 2015.
900 rounds January 2018
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We pushed the number to 1005. 
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After #1000 |
1100 rounds June 26. Right: June 30, 2018 |  |
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Coach likes his new shoes |
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|  Pictures from Sept. 11, 2018 |
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|  Oct. 9 |
|  Oct. 30 |
|  Nov. 24 |
|  Dec. 18: 1361 rounds |
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would be good to give him my favorite flavor, Bull's Eye Original, along with a T-shirt to associate a great coach with a great brand.
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Below, left, coach is suggesting the approximate area where the hot sauce will stick.  |
"In the end, our winner was once again the aptly named Bull’s-Eye Original BBQ Sauce. This moderately sweet, tomatoey sauce offered just enough
spice and smoke,
producing a well-balanced medley of flavors with no specific flavor dominating. Our winning product was delicious and versatile,
and it wasn’t too thick or thin. We’ll be using this palate-pleasing sauce all summer long." (Quoted from www.cooksillustrated.com.)
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Noveber 2017
Coach Izzy & Allen (& Gavin) Pictures from Nov. 17, 21, 25, 2017  840 rounds and counting |
Always honored to salute my great boxing coach,
Coach Izzy and I crossed the 700-round mark July 5, 2017. Then we switched from 2-minute rounds (doing 6 rounds per session) to 3-minute rounds (4 rounds per session). We did 5 3-minute rounds for a couple of sessions, and then moved up to 6 3-min. rounds, twice a week.
Pictures above August 2017.
Here's Coach Israel Gonzalez with some members of his boxing team (September 19, 2017).
In July 2016 we hit 300 rounds, having worked together about 8 months. Called for a cake.
I started with Thursday night and Saturday morning boxing classes. The fitness class on Thursday was tough but gave me a chance to get to know Coach Izzy, and soon I switched to working in the ring with him as my coach. We started sparring Oct. 22, 2015, 3 2-minute rounds.
By the end of 2015, Coach Izzy Gonzales and I had gone 93 2-minute rounds. That's a lot of sparring! Thanks to a great coach!
Andrian and Allen @ the EBC December 2014
July 2014: Photos by Andrian
Pictures from my work with Coach Mark Carlson in August 2013. Photos by Mark Carlson.
For a while in 2012 I trained with Pete Spengler at Studio 360 in Lincolnwood Here are pictures from 2011, my early days at the EBC, working with Coach Mark Carlson, below right:
2 June 2019
July 2016
Thanks, coach, for making it real. 
Shots after sparring at Extreme Kung Fu @ 5951 N. Clark, Chicago.
Pictures from 2016
April 3 
May 3 & 10 
June 7 
July 26 
Besides having a lot to learn about boxing, I have a lot to learn about posing for boxing pictures!
Aug 2, 9, & 30 
Sept 13 & 24 
Oct 11, 18, 22, & 29 
10/18/2016 a lucky day for me, actually landed one!
Big fun & bragging rights, small cost. Coach says I hit myself with my own gloves, but . . . .
Other pictures from 2016
May 2016 at EKF
Starting at EKF September 2015
Boxing at Extreme Kung Fu @ 5951 N. Clark, Chicago.
When we started out, coach had a "dry" look at the end of our sessions (upper & lower left), but not any more.
Boxing at the Evanston Boxing Club 2011-2015, four great years
One door closes at the EBC, another opens. The Evanston Boxing Club closed at the end of July 2015.
Here are some of the last pictures I took there after my last workout with Andrian.
And here are some
workout and coach pictures around the EBC that I took in my first years there, 2011-13.
February 22, 2014, was one of many Fight Nights at the EBC. Loyola Boxing Club founder Ryan Motzel sparring, below.
In December 2013 I stopped in Northfield, MN, for a short workout with Gordon Marino at St. Norbert's College.
Marino is a boxing correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.
Summer 2012: work with Mark at the EBC, a clip I put up on YouTube. Go here:
Adventurous in those days, I went to Corpus Christi, Texas, in November 2012
to meet boxing coach Rafael Davilla and boxers at this gym there.
In August 2011 I helped some young visitors from Prague into gloves.
There were some great pro boxers at the EBC.
They included Russell (Rocky) Fiore 
and 
Paul Littleton. That link shows Paul in an amazing video.
You can find them both on Facebook and
at BoxRec--Paul
and Russell (requires login, but it's free).