I had heard about Terence Crawford since his amateur career…
I first took notice of this guy and started following his professional career after his sensational victory over the Cuban, Yuriorkis Gamboa, in 2014!..

The next opponent of Terence Crawford who matched Gamboa’s level was the experienced Ukrainian boxer Viktor Postol. But already after the fights Crawford had following the Gamboa win, I got the impression that there were no real challengers for him in that division!…
Before the fight with Viktor Postol, I confidently told my friends and fellow coaches that only unpredictable accident could prevent the American from beating the Ukrainian!…

It was a great pleasure for me when, before another title fight, Terence’s coaches introduced me to him at the legendary Gleason’s Gym in New York, where I was training my students!
I had crossed paths multiple times with Crawford’s coaching team from Nebraska at the RINGSIDE International Tournament in Kansas City. The only question I asked Terence at the time was:
“Are you a true southpaw?”
To which Crawford, smiling, replied that many coaches ask him that…
“I’m naturally right-handed,” he continued, “but I love to box in the southpaw stance…”

After the fight with Viktor Postol, I became even more convinced that Terence Crawford is the Sugar Ray Leonard of modern boxing!…
I was pleasantly surprised and flattered when, a few years later, one of my students, who knew about my comparison of Crawford to the Great Leonard, sent me a link stating that the legendary modern-day promoter, Bob Arum, also called Crawford the modern Sugar Ray Leonard…

Before the fight with the Mexican Super Champion, Saul Alvarez, I was confident in Terence Crawford’s victory! And I believed that only an unforeseen accident could stop the challenger from claiming yet another World Crown and becoming Champion!
I even felt that the American could win by knockout!… According to my predictions before the fight, among my friends, coaches, and boxers I spoke with, I was in the absolute minority…
But I still bet money—on the knockout too!

The role of the parent is to be just as tough and fair, but also involved working alongside the coach training their children. Trainers like Coach Mike are committed to strengthening a child’s defenses both mentally and physically. If a child becomes emotional and complains about the work, the parents must support the coach and vice versa to keep the child motivated and committed to growing and developing.

One of Coach Mike’s training strategies is to create real-world situations as a stress test for students. He describes a recent session:

“Just the other day, for the first time in my almost forty-year career as a trainer, I had a difficult situation that was unique. During a self-defense training class, students were divided into pairs working on techniques they have practiced countless times…
Before the next task, I asked the teenage students (13-15 years old), not beginners!!!, what actions should be taken if the attacker strikes with an unknown hand?
With these students, we have already worked on such a situation countless times!
But this time I, SPECIFICALLY, asked this question in a very sharp and, to some extent, aggressive form, so I didn’t give the student time to think and instantly, one might say, on a subconscious level, make a decision! I turned sharply to one of the students and began to imitate an attack. She was confused and dodged, still remaining a target for strikes or a grab, although initially she knew (according to her later admission) that it was necessary to take a step back and break the distance!!! I imitated several strikes with my fingers, light slaps, touching her head, shoulders, body and showed her that she did not protect herself… Then, in an even sharper form, continuing to create a street situation, I turned to another girl standing nearby, older and more experienced, in terms of training processes, with the same question, imitating an attack!
I was sure that this student would take a step back, or just jump away from me, as we had done dozens of times before! But she was also confused and only ducked her head from my imitation blow, also remaining in the danger zone! I began to very quickly, as in a street fight, imitate with my fingers, slaps, possible blows of the attacker in such a situation, she made an awkward movement of her head and I, accidentally, lightly hit her in the ear area with my palm!.. I immediately apologized and asked her if it hurt???, to which the girl said that everything was fine. The training continued and during the training I asked this student several more times how her ear was! After the training session, I asked her again how she was feeling, and she looked me in the eye, smiled and said that she was fine…
And… a few minutes after she left, there was a call from her dad, who said that his wife had called him and complained that I had hit their daughter…
The girl’s father, after my explanation of what had happened, understood what had happened and accepted my apologies…
But before I could finish talking to him on the phone, the girl’s mother was already at the threshold of the gym and began to express her indignation about what had happened…
My apologies and explanations that boxing is a CONTACT sport and that at the most varied training or competitive levels in this type of martial arts such accidents happen and that no one is immune from them, did not convince her at all…

While talking to the girl’s mother, I remembered an episode from many years ago that happened to me when I saved a woman from a serial rapist…
You can see the video of this episode, filmed with a hidden camera, below.
I was conducting our Morning Boxing Class for Adults, which began at 6 am. At 7 am, the class ended and my students began to disperse. Other clients began to come to the gym and I decided to train a little myself beginning with the jump rope.

Suddenly, from the other side of the gym, where the entrance was, I heard a very weak female scream, “HELP!” I looked around and there were only about ten people in the facility, including two of my students (a mother and her daughter). I did not see any reaction to the screams, but I knew something was wrong and ran to my students who were standing near the entrance to the women’s locker room.

I asked if the screams had come from the locker room and the ladies confirmed they had. Knowing that as a male, I cannot just enter the women’s locker room, I asked the two female students to accompany me at which time we all entered together. And there, inside the shower was a serial rapist assaulting another female student. Using the boxing defense skills I’ve developed over the many years; I neutralized the scoundrel. You can see my reactions in the video.”

Parents choose to bring their children to old school trainers like Michael “Coach Mike” Kozlowski. Coach Mike has dedicated his life to protecting others but most importantly, teaching others to protect themselves. He focuses most of his efforts working with women and children who are most vulnerable to threats in the real world.

“ I can teach them self-defense or how to stand up for themselves and for the weak. I remember so many instances of protecting girls and women, including protecting my mother. That all happened in my life and wasn’t caught on camera. Based on these life experiences, I teach my students basic courage so that they will not remain paralyzed in stressful situations. Instead, they will recognized danger, keep distance, run away and call for help as quickly as possible.”

Coach Mike concludes:

“Due to many year studying and contacting with other trainers and coaches from different sports in various countries worldwide, my life experiences have helped me to develop my own specific and INDIVIDUAL coaching approach to the training AND education of students…for both physical health and mental superiority.”

The new gym NEW YORK FIGHT CLUB has three boxing rings and lots of boxing equipment!
 

New York Fight Club is located at:

24 Cobek Ct, Brooklyn, NY 11223

Coach Mike believes that one of the main criteria for victory for the Ukrainian boxer will be the large size of the American boxer.
Boxing trainer Michael ‘Coach Mike’ Kozlowski shares his thoughts on Vasiliy Lomachenko’s opponent, Devin Haney:
– In my opinion, Devin Haney, in technical terms, is a much more convenient and predictable opponent for Vasiliy, than Lopez!
I don’t want to focus on the higher CLASS of the Ukrainian boxer and his much better technical arsenal, I want to focus on the anthropometry of boxers…
In the media space, we see a lot of comments from boxing experts that Haney’s body is much bigger than Lomachenko’s and they see as one of the advantages of the current World Champion!
But I have confidence that with the right strategy of Vasiliy in this fight, the dimensions of the boxers will work in favor of Lomachenko!

All my best years in boxing came when I boxed in the 63.5 kg (140 lb) weight class.
This is only one weight category higher than Haney’s weight now, in which he will have to defend his belts …
I was 19 years old when I became the National Level Boxer of the USSR. I boxed in the 139lb (63.5 kg)weight division and did not think about my weight at all before the competition.
The year before and the year after I was always on weight and I usually had at least one pound less in my reserve prior to competition, and before the finals, this reserve sometimes reached more than two pounds!
But at the age of 20, I began to notice that, WITH THE SAME SIZE of my BODY, it is getting harder and harder to make the same weight!
I wasn’t educated enough to know then, that at this age, the weight grows not so much from the size of the body, but from the fact that the BONES GET HEAVIER!!!
I was looking reasons for the weight gain in my laziness, in insufficient work capacity and in order to stay in the same weight category, I lied to my coach, telling him before the competition that my weight was 147lb (67kg), although in fact my weight was, sometimes, well over 156lb (71kg)!!!
I used to eat and drink nothing for days … I dried myself so much that during the fight I didn’t feel my legs at all (they were cottony) and if I won competitions, it was only due to my experience and my character …
At the age of 23, I moved to my highest weight category 147lb (67kg), but in the same year, after the second competition in this weight category, I started boxing at 156lb (71kg), because I could not make 147lb (67kg), even using furosemide or Epsom salt …

Devin Haney is not much shorter than me, but he is much wider than me!!!
He is also older than me when I was already cutting weight to box at 156lb (71kg)!
I don’t argue, now there is a very advanced weight loss system, I don’t exclude the use of some illegal stuff, but after all, Haney will box not 3, but 12 rounds!!!

Despite the more mature age of Vasiliy Lomachenko and given his anthropometric data, he will not bother much with cutting weight.
In my opinion, this factor can be one of the main keys to Vasiliy’s victory, if he, FROM THE FIRST SECONDS of the fight, starts using his ATHLETIC and TECHNICAL potential to the MAXIMUM !!!

My team wishes Vasiliy Lomachenko a BRIGHT victory! So that the judges do not have a single chance to prevaricate!

WIN or DIE

Boxing Trainer Michael Kozlowski doesn’t change his principles, which the Russian Boxing School’s Great Trainers taught him in cases where students complaining of pain in their arm or leg, as a reason not to come to training, they have ONLY ONE answer:
– But you still have ANOTHER arm (leg) and TWO legs (arms)!!!

Many years ago Coach Mike’s student, Jill Emery, who won all the existing titles in the USA Amateur Women’s Boxing in her sports career, tore her knee ligaments.

Already, on the third day after the operation, Jill came to the gym on crutches and trained …
In 2001, seven months after the operation, Jill Emery became the USA National Champion for the second time and represented the USA Team at the first ever Women’s World Boxing Championship!…

And now Coach Mike was pleasantly surprised when his 11-year-old prospect, Javokhir, who was born in Uzbekistan, came to training with an injured hand in plaster!

Javokhir’s mother said that her son categorically insisted that she bring him to the gym for another training session literally the day after the gypsum was applied …

Javokhir’s idol is a rising star of professional boxing, a former member of the National Boxing Team of Uzbekistan, Champion of the Asian Games, Israil Madrimov.
Supporting the young fighter’s desire to become a Champion and seeing his perseverance in learning the basics of Boxing, knowing that Javokhir has his own idol, Michael Kozlowski told the boy the story of his students, the Castillo twin brothers, who were born in Panama, but grew up and began to train with Coach Mike, in the USA, at his age …
In 2005 Gabriel and Daniel Castillo became the Elite Champions of Panama and during the awards ceremony they were congratulated by their childhood idol, the one of the All Time Greatest Champions of the World, Roberto Duran…

The most interesting thing is, that most of these parents are trying to get their children into schools whose graduates have a bigger chance to go to colleges and universities, i.e. to schools which produce the Champions in their studies)))

According to my score, Usyk won the fight. And, because of huge corruption of modern professional Boxing, some of rounds in which I give score to Usyk, could be safely given in the other corner…

After the second fight between Usyk and Joshua, where the current Champion was to far from his best performance, I can to mention the saying:
“God does everything for a reason…”
There is hope that now Tyson Fury will not run away from Oleksandr Usyk and will agree to a superfight to unify all the belts!