Testimonials
Boxing lays the soul bare
I came to Andy with around 30 years of experience in martial arts, including black belts in Jiu Jitsu and Judo, and about four years of boxing. So I wasn't looking for someone simply to give me a hard workout. I wanted an experienced coach who could look at what I already do, see where my weaknesses are and challenge me to become a better boxer.
Andy did exactly that.
What impressed me most was that he didn't start with my hands. He went straight back to the foundations: my feet, stance, balance, positioning and movement. He marked positions and angles on the floor with chalk and would suddenly tell me to freeze during pad work, so we could look at exactly where I was standing and why something did or didn't work.
From there he started exposing the details: my stance sometimes being too wide, moving when I didn't actually need to move, generating too little power from my core, my left hand, my uppercut and, probably most importantly, what happens mentally when somebody really attacks me.
That is where boxing becomes much more than technique. Andy saw that I can move and defend, but that under sustained attack I can become too defensive, cover up and freeze. His lesson wasn't simply "move more". Sometimes it was exactly the opposite: don't give ground when you don't need to. Stay there, remain composed and move at the right moment.
And then came perhaps his most unexpected advice: bring more ego and intent into the ring. I'm apparently too nice! After many years in martial arts, where controlling the ego is usually part of the lesson, I loved being challenged from exactly the opposite direction.
That's what an experienced teacher does. Andy didn't try to replace what I already know. He looked at the boxer standing in front of him, found the gaps and started building from the foundations upwards.
One session gave me enough material to work on for months.
A hugely experienced boxer, but more importantly, a hugely experienced teacher. If you genuinely want to learn and are prepared to be challenged, I couldn't recommend Andy highly enough.
I'll definitely be back in Newcastle — and back in Andy's gym.
