remember this? yes, stony's a man of many fads. this pic is from the fall when he was getting into "lap swimming while listening to underwater headphones" phase. i think it lasted 2 weeks. stony's latest venture is boxing. he's started training at the world famous Gleason's gym right down the block from our office. World famous might be an understatement, champs like Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Spinks, Holmes, and even Iron Mike have trained there. From all indicators, this fad seems to be sticking, so much so that Stony took me and the production squad out to the edge of brooklyn to watch Golden Gloves fights.

the fights took place in an old high school gym.

i had never seen live boxing before. there's a crazy energy about it. everytime somebody gets clocked, you can't help but make grunting noises... the whole crowd does it in unison. we were lucky to catch several knockouts, that's crazy energy. this one had us jumping out of our seats.

the locals around us were betting each other on every fight. since these boxers were novices, there's no background info to base your bets on. one dude simply yells out "i like blue," and the betting partner usually takes it. me and stony put a five spot on this one, and stony took the "white dude." i thought it was an easy win for me (i got the black dude with flashy metallic gold trunks), but it turned out this guy was ukranian or polish. don't bet against these type of dudes, they're tough. plus he had this crazy bowl-cut trainer who would do this crazy towel fan technique between rounds.

yes, they even had ring card girls. this particular one had the pro-squad in a stymy.

did i mention they had a dj there too? he'd play the hottest party breaks in between rounds. and the best part? the intermission dance routine. this photo does no justice, these girls were on fire....

see you at the next fight...