Out Of The Office Into The Ring
By Susanna Ray Fulco

In Los Angeles, it's not every day you'd find your agent in one corner of the ring and your publicist in the other, but it's par for the course in the increasingly popular sport of white collar boxing.

"White collar boxing" refers to a particular subset of non-professional, non-amateur boxing that's reserved for "regular people" who use the sport to get in shape, network and have fun. Serious interest is being driven by shows like ESPN's The Contender and Oxygen's Fight Girls.

Found in athletic clubs and certain boxing gyms around the world, White Collar Boxing bouts consist of three two-minute rounds, with one minute between each round. Sixteen-ounce gloves are used, and while the skills and training regimens are similar to typical boxing matches, no winner or loser is declared and both participants receive equal recognition at the end of a fight.

John E. Oden, author of White Collar Boxing: One Man's Journey from the Office to the Ring (Hatherleigh Press), is a prized white collar fighter who was one of Hilary Swank's sparring partners while she trained for Million Dollar Baby. in Magazine caught up with Mr. Oden to find out the basics of white collar boxing in Los Angeles:

Does Los Angeles have a strong white collar boxing community?
Although there is not as much activity in Los Angeles as there is in New York and London, Los Angeles has a thriving White Collar Boxing community, and it's easy for people to get involved and use it as a way to have fun and get in shape. Two participating gyms in the area are Wild Card Boxing Club or Langton Boxing & Martial Arts, which both have excellent facilities and great trainers.

Is white collar boxing just for younger people who are already in shape or is it appropriate for people of all ages and skill levels?
I think this is the key point. White Collar Boxing is the ultimate equalizer. Anyone can get involved in this sport - from doctors and architects to policemen and schoolteachers - and it doesn't matter how old you are. While I was introduced to boxing as a child, I didn't get involved until my early 40's. It is a great workout, but can be done at both intense and moderate levels. Not everyone has to engage in hard sparring. Regardless, it is a great way to get in shape, and can be done at any age and with any level of athletic ability.

Do you recommend having a trainer?
I do. The trainer can push a boxer to become the best he can be. Boxing is much harder than it looks, and many of the moves a boxer makes are quite unnatural. In addition, there are certain exercises which are particularly good for boxers, and strengthen the muscles which help a boxer perform at their best level. In addition, boxers and their trainers form special relationships and friendships, which become invaluable to a boxer as he or she develops their skills, particularly if they compete. A trainer is critical to motivating, pushing and inspiring each fighter from lacing the boxer's hands on the first day to seeing them through three rounds on fight night.

Can you still get a good work-out without actually hitting people or being hit?
Sure - not everyone who engages in a boxing workout has to get in the ring and spar or box. If you don't want to fight inside the ring, a work-out would consist of shadow boxing (boxing in front of a mirror), bag work (both heavy bag and speed bag), training with the mits (where the trainer holds up catcher's-type mits and the boxer hits them), ring work (moving around the ring, from side to side, back and forth), and various exercises, including pushups and situps. All of this is supplemented with weight-lifting and running. It's a great workout, the best ever!

How has boxing helped your professional life?
My boxing holds great interest for both my colleagues and my clients. The first question many people ask me is "how's your boxing?" When I wrote my book, White Collar Boxing-One Man's Journey from the Office to the Ring. I gave many of my colleagues and clients a copy of it. People really appreciated this, and were fascinated that I can train for boxing and still maintain the high standards which I maintain at work. When all is considered, boxing demands a lot of focus, preparation, determination, discipline and commitment. These are great words in which to describe someone. Who would not want to hire a professional who exhibits these traits in some fashion-even in the boxing ring! After all, the approach which a person takes in his personal life, or athletic life, often spills over to their professional lives. Because of all this, boxing has netted a huge plus for me.

Learn more at: www.johneoden.com

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New Mexico Golf on the Upswing



When John Klauk sunk his final put on the 18th green at the picturesque Inn Of The Mountain Gods course recently, he became the inaugural winner of the first leg of the New Mexico Challenge. The three-event tournament is a collaboration between the New Mexico Tourism Department and the Tight Lies Tour to help promote the state as a premier destination for golfers.

New Mexico is rapidly putting itself on the golfing map, confirms Dan Vukelich, who runs the statewide newspaper Sun Country Golf. "The rest of the nation is finally discovering the golf that we've had here for the last six years." Vukelich attributes much of this new interest to the creation of several top class courses following the opening of the Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club in 2000. Located in the mountains outside Albuquerque and designed by award-winning architect Ken Dye, Paa-Ko Ridge was recently awarded the prestigious 5-star rating by Golf Digest magazine, an accolade afforded to only 17 courses in the country and reserved for such esteemed venues as Pebble Beach. "Over time, it just ended up all these golf courses matured and hit the national golf radar," adds Vukelich, who recently launched the website www.golftoursnewmexico.com, offering full motion video of many of the state's courses, "So you can see the course before you play it."

A visit to New Mexico will quickly show why golf has become a billion dollar industry for the state. "Golf in New Mexico blends history, landscape and legend. Cultural flavor is everywhere," says NMTD secretary Michael Cerletti. "Throw in extraordinary mountain vistas, amazing southwestern terrain, moderate temperatures and clean, invigorating air and you realize why golfers will travel hundreds of miles to play golf in New Mexico." With a wide variety of spectacular and beautiful courses, ranging from mountain, to desert, to parkland, New Mexico has something that will appeal to, and challenge, every golfer.

Following the first stop at Inn Of The Mountain Gods, the New Mexico Challenge moves to the Santa Teresa Country Club (Aug 31 -Sep 1) for the Currey-Adkins El Paso Open before the final leg, the Cities Of Gold Casino Golf Classic at Towa Resort Course (Sep 14 -17). The New Mexico Challenge offers a wonderful opportunity for emerging professionals like Klauk, for who this was his first tour victory, to establish themselves. With total prize money of more than $350,000, and with a fourth stop at Farmington being added in 2007, the New Mexico Challenge is set to become increasingly popular, according to Vukelich. "It's only in its first year so I think it's going to have an impact on New Mexico's reputation with the high caliber players."

New Mexico has already garnered respectability with the nation's golfing media as home to some world-class courses, but for the state to announce itself as having truly arrived on golf's main stage, it needs to host one of the sport's big tournaments. It's something Vukelich feels is only a matter of time, "I think eventually there will have to be an event here. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are growing in leaps and bounds and golf is improving exponentially and it's just a matter of getting on the radar of the makers and shakers back in New York. But we're getting there!" When asked if he could ever envisage a time when the US Open would be staged in New Mexico, Vukelich says, "I think so."

As well as offering impressive courses in magnificent settings, New Mexico also provides golfers with excellent value for money. "For the last six years New Mexico has been a secret destination for the average golf tourist who got tired of Myrtle Beach or Alabama or southern Colorado," explains Vukelich, "so when they look at it now, they see a five-star golf course that costs less than a $100 when all the others are $250 to $450 and they say maybe we should try New Mexico. So we're finding people who come here as a foursome are coming back with eight and 16 and 32 golfers at a time."

For those lured to New Mexico by its golf courses, a whole host of other wonders await. Dubbed the Land Of Enchantment, the state offers a rich history of ancient cultures dating back to the Indian cave dwellers and Spanish Conquistadors. The famous Carlsbad Caverns is just one of New Mexico's many natural wonders while cities like Santa Fe offer the best of contemporary culture with renowned museums, fine dining and opera. Now, with all the recent advancements made, New Mexico can proudly add golf to its long list of reasons to visit. "New Mexico is a golf-lover's paradise," confirms Secretary Cerletti. "From Las Cruces to Santa Fe, Truth or Consequences to Los Alamos, Taos to Apache Mesa and White Sands - somewhere in New Mexico there's a course with your name on it."

Pip Lustgarten
pip@ballantinespr.com
Tel: (505) 501-0827
http://www.ballantinespr.com

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A Little "Merrill Magic" Goes a Long Way

'Debbie, put down the broccoli and head over to the Jimmy Kimmel show immediately,' the insistent voice rang out through her cell phone. Roller skating guru and raw foods aficionado Debbie Merrill dropped the vegetable and headed out of the trendy Whole Foods market as she was told. Miraculously she wove her way through LA's rush hour traffic just in time to make that night's taping. Not only did she make that night's taping, she was a no-brainer for Kimmel's casting department which wound up featuring the skating superstar for five consecutive nights in January just prior to the Super Bowl.

At 16, native East coaster Debbie Merrill began her 20-year long career as an accomplished figure skater performing axels, lutz's and salchows around the world from Saudi Arabia to Trinidad earning a silver medal along the way. Then fifteen years ago, Debbie traded in the zambone for the beach and blades for wheels when she relocated to sunny Santa Monica to spread her message of health.

She opened her Skate Great USA School of Skating on the Santa Monica strand just behind lifeguard tower number 24. From her beachside digs she teaches students of all ages not only the techniques on how to safely keep active through rollerblading, but how to look like a rock star while doing so. Debbie has made believers out of more than 10,000 students over the years including celebrity pupils like Melanie Griffiths, Steve Martin, Juliette Lewis and Geena Davis who swear by her flair for teaching the art of blading. Debbie's latest DVD, 'Learn to Inline Skate to Look and Feel Great at any Age,' just hit the market for those a bit shy about heading to the beach for a little workout.

Not only a skating guru, Debbie is also USA's number one raw food diva. She explains the diet as eating, "nothing with a face, no alcohol, no sugar and no white flour" and offers this advice to naysayers, "America is killing itself with its fork [so] don't deny it 'til you try it and apply it."

Through Debbie's Raw Foods on the Roll television program she is instructing anyone who will listen how to substitute cooked foods for even more scrumptious raw food alternatives to live longer, healthier lives. There's even a substitute for chocolate! "If you don't transition to a healthy lifestyle you'll spend your health chasing wealth and then your wealth chasing health," she proclaims with a smile.

To Learn More: www.skategreat.com

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