2.  When does the club meet?  

Regular practices are held at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.  (There will be no Thursday practices between March 31 and May 5 due to Golden Gloves.)   We also meet on some Saturdays and Sundays.   Check the "Club News" page for up-to-date practice schedules. 

3.  What are the amateur weight classes?

4.  What are the amateur experience classes?

At our club shows and in the Indiana Golden Gloves, our boxers participate in six age and experience classes:

After a few practices, one of our boxers or coaches will do mitt work with you.  In these sessions, you will strike hand-held mitts using jabs, rights, left hooks, uppercuts and combinations. This is tiring and develops speed and reaction time.

Eventually, you will have the opportunity to put on headgear, pop in a mouthpiece, and spar with one of our more experienced boxers.  At first, this will be designed to let you get used to hitting another person.  Depending on your level, your partner will hit you back lightly or moderately and instruct you when you make mistakes such as dropping your hands, stepping over with your right foot, leaning-in and so on.  As you gain experience, the sparring sessions will become more realistic.  Some of the hits will get your attention but you will leave in one piece.  You will gain comfort rapidly. 

It takes a lot of courage the first time you spar, and a lot more courage the first time you step into a ring for a real bout ... but it is intensely exciting and rewarding simply because it takes courage.  It is a tremendous personal challenge.    

6.  How do you condition for boxing?

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses 

- behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road,

long before I dance under those lights. 

-- Muhammad Ali 

Boxing is INTENSELY aerobic and requires substantial strengthening of the upper body and arms.  In a boxing match, two minutes can seem like an eternity and fatigue makes cowards of everyone. 

For wind, you need to do endurance running -- road work of 2 to 5 miles at least 3 times a week and preferably more.   You also need to do aerobic running -- sprints of 100 to 400 yards or in-and-out sprints (sprint 100 yards, jog 100 yards, sprint 100 yards etc.).  Jumping rope also helps develop wind and fast-twitch leg muscles.  Other activities such as biking, swimming and climbing add variety and are useful in developing endurance.

To develop punching power and the muscles of your arms and upper back and chest, you need do lots of heavy bag work.  This should include repeated freestyle rounds in which you practice jabs, rights, left hooks and movement around the bag.  Bag work should also include burnout rounds which consist of 2-3 minute rounds of continuous punching or 30-60 second rounds of high-speed continuous punching.  Weight-lifting and push-ups are also helpful.

To tighten your stomach, you should do 200 to 300 crunches a day.  Medicine ball training is also helpful.

Mitt work will help you develop wind, vision, footwork and speed.  Ultimately, however, you must spar to learn how to punch (and take a punch), counterpunch, defend and move ... and learn whether your conditioning program is working. 

Boxers may well be the best-conditioned athletes around.  They have to be.  Remember:

 "If you screw things up in tennis, it's 15-love. 

If you screw things up in boxing, it's your ass." 

-- Randall "Tex" Cobb

7.  How much does it cost to box?

Boxing costs almost nothing.  If you have some running shoes and a pair of basketball shorts, the club provides the rest.  All you need is $35 a year to obtain your USA Boxing registration and passbook.  (A passbook is required for participation in sanctioned bouts and provides you with $25,000 in secondary medical coverage in case of injury during sanctioned practices or bouts.)  If you cannot handle the $35, the club will handle that for you.

The club will provide you with gloves, handwraps, mouthpieces, headgear, coaching, training, corner work and gym usage for free.  Your entry in local shows and all tournaments including the Golden Gloves is free. 

8.  Where can I box as an amateur?

Once you are trained and ready, you will have ample opportunities to box competitively.

Most boxing clubs conduct LOCAL SHOWS several times each year. The Evansville Boxing Club conducts shows two to four times a year. Local shows involve boxers from the host club and boxers from other regional clubs.   Typically, these shows involve 10 to15 bouts.

Each spring, the INDIANA GOLDEN GLOVES TOURNAMENT is held in Indianapolis. This is a tournament for all Indiana and Kentucky amateur boxers in all divisions and is competed over five consecutive Thursday nights. Open division winners are entitled to attend the National Golden Gloves tournament.

Open division boxers, ages 17 to 34, can box in the I.A.B.A. OPEN TOURNAMENT held each year.  Winners move on to regional and national USA Boxing competitions.

Boxers of all ages can participate in the RINGSIDE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in Kansas City during late August. 

Indiana and Kentucky boxers between the ages of 8 and 16 can participate in the INDIANA JUNIOR OLYMPICS.

Indiana boxers between the ages of 8 and 16 can participate in the INDIANA SILVER GLOVES TOURNAMENT.

9.  Are there scholarship opportunities in boxing?

The Indiana Golden Gloves organization gives out over $5,000 in Thomas Lyday scholarships each year ... usually $1,000 to Golden Gloves participants who need the money to attend college.

10.  Is amateur boxing safe? 

This is an extremely important question, not only for amateur boxers but also for their families, their clubs and the sport itself.   You will find an entire page on this website devoted to boxing health and safety issues.   

11.  What is USA Boxing?

USA Boxing, Inc. is the national governing body for amateur boxing in the United States.  Under its oversight are the following organizations and activities:

*  US Navy