Author: TSMA Page 186 of 202

The Braille Institute in Anaheim teaches blind students how to adjust to life in what they call the sighted world. Most often, that means classes in typing or navigation, but not always.

Thuy Tran tightens her black belt and waits for instructions. Twenty fellow blind students are lined up in formation to practice tae kwon do. With their white canes outstretched, they punch the air to ward off invisible predators.

Tran is the only black-belt student in the room. Her sighted teachers from Shambhala Martial Arts use touch and speech cues to guide students through a series of moves that are mostly reserved for self-defense.

It took five years for Tran to earn the belt. Now she glides around the room giving pointers to her fellow students.

“The reason why I’m actually really proud of my black belt is because he gave me no special treatment,” Tran said. “I was required to do everything the other black belts had to do. He didn’t say, ‘Oh, you can’t see, so let’s give you a thinner board.’ Or he didn’t say, ‘You know you can’t see, so we’re not going to have you spar.’” Tran laughed.

Tran began losing her vision at age five when she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary disease that kills eye cells. Despite her decaying vision, Thuy attended regular high schools around Anaheim and went on to college.

She hoped to live a normal life, but a bout of extreme dizziness struck and her vision got worse.

“It was hard for me to even walk around my own house, let alone out on the streets, so I dropped out,” Tran said. “And for maybe like four years I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, and I was at home a lot and trying to ask myself what I was going to do. Am I going to go back to college? Am I going to find a job? And that’s when, you know, my vision started getting worse and that’s when I decided, OK, it’s time to go to Braille.”

The tae kwon do classes helped Tran gain confidence. She also learned the art of quiet mind, a martial arts technique that increased her awareness of her surroundings inside and outside of class.

“There has never been a point when I had to use my self-defense, but there has been times when people snuck up on me and I’d hit them,” Tran said, laughing. “That was bad because one of the people that did that to me was my mom, and I turned around and hit her straight in the stomach and I was like, ‘Mom, you’re not supposed to sneak up on me!'”

With a black belt around her waist, Thuy Tran hopes to get a full-time job and move out of her mom’s house. Next, she wants to try a different set of moves — and become a full-time dance instructor.

Defending WBC welterweight champ and pound-for-pound mainstay Floyd Mayweather Jr. has agreed to pick up the tab for legendary heavyweight Joe Frazier’s funeral services.

Tuesday night, via Twitter, Mayweather issued this statement to his followers:

“My condolences go out to the family of the late great Joe Frazier,” Mayweather said via Twitter. “#TheMoneyTeam will pay for his Funeral services.”

Earlier in the year, Mayweather covered funeral costs for former opponent and the source of his first world title, Genaro Hernandez.

“Smokin’” Joe Frazier, a bruising boxer who was the first fighter to defeat Muhammad Ali and held the heavyweight crown for five years, has died after a fight with liver cancer. He was 67.

“We The Family of the 1964 Olympic Boxing Heavyweight Gold Medalist, Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame Member Smokin’ Joe Frazier, regrets to inform you of his passing,” his family said in a statement released tonight. “He transitioned from this life as ‘One of God’s Men,’ on the eve of November 7, 2011 at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We thank you for your prayers for our Father and vast outpouring of love and support.”

Ali, in his inimitable style, mocked Frazier mercilessly in the build-up to each of their three fights, but he later paid tribute to the heart and spirit of the man.

“If God ever calls me to a holy war, I want Joe Frazier fighting beside me,” he said.

Frazier won the Olympic gold medal in the 1964 Games and with his punishing left hook was one of the greatest heavyweights in boxing history.

After his grueling third fight with Ali, billed as the “Thrilla in Manilla,” Ali said, “It was the closest I’ve come to death.”

Ali issued a brief statement with kind words for Frazier and expressed sympathy for his family.

“The world has lost a great Champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration. My sympathy goes out to his family and loved ones,”  Ali said Monday.

Frazier, the son of a South Carolina sharecropper born Jan. 12, 1944, in Beaufort, got into boxing by accident, according to the biography on his website. He went to a gym to get into shape, and picked up the rudiments of the sport so quickly he was soon fighting competitively.

As an amateur he was undefeated until he lost to Buster Mathis in the 1964 Olympic trials, but got to go to the games after Mathis hurt his hand and couldn’t fight.

When he turned pro in 1965, he tore through other heavyweights, racking up a 25-0 record before his matchup with Ali at New York’s Madison Square Garden in March 1971.

Among the toughest of those fights was a September 1966 bout with Oscar Bonavena of Argentina. Bonavena knocked him down twice in one round, but Frazier was unstoppable. He took the bout in a 10-round unanimous decision.

He won a share of the world heavyweight title in March 1968, with a TKO over Mathis at Madison Square Garden, and became undisputed champ when he scored a fifth-round TKO of World Boxing Association champ Jimmy Ellis in March 1970.

After Ali’s return to boxing in the summer of 1970, it was only a matter of time before the two men faced one another in the ring.

When the match was made, billed as “The Fight of the Century,” it was for a purse of $2.5 million for each – an astronomical figure for the sport at that time – and Ali’s verbal showmanship helped create excitement about the bout beyond the boxing world.

Ali ridiculed Frazier in the days leading up to the fight, calling him an “Uncle Tom,” and a shill for the white America that had barred Ali from the ring for the years that should have been the prime of his career.

The fight lived up to all the hype, considered by many to be the greatest in boxing history. Frazier’s left hook knocked Ali down in the 15^th round for a four-count, and he won the decision, giving him the undisputed world championship.

“That was the greatest thing that ever happened in my life,” he said of the fight in an interview with The Associated Press several months ago.

Frazier held the crown until January 1973, when George Foreman knocked him down six times in the first two rounds and the fight was stopped.

He lost a 12-round rematch with Ali in January 1974, but after victories over journeymen Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis, he was ready to face Ali again.

For “The Thrilla in Manilla,” both fighters were past their prime, but despite the heat in the Philippines, the fight lived up to the billing. Ali seemed to be in control in the early rounds, slipping Frazier’s punches and connecting repeatedly.

Frazier wouldn’t fall so easily. Through the middle rounds he punished Ali with body blows, but Ali survived and began connecting to Frazier’s face and head late in the fight, eventually doing so much damage that Frazier’s eyes were swollen shut and his ring stopped the fight after 14 rounds.

The fight essentially ended Frazier’s career. He lost a rematch with Foreman nine months later, and retired.

After an unsuccessful comeback attempt in 1981, he opened a gym in Philadelphia.

“Joe Frazier should be remembered as one of the greatest fighters of all time and a real man,” promoter Bob Arum told the AP this evening. “He’s a guy that stood up for himself. He didn’t compromise and always gave 100 percent in the ring. There was never a fight in the ring where Joe didn’t give 100 percent.”

There are numerous benefits for woman who participate in karate, and it is not just for men. I have always known that karate taught self defense, but a friend of mine explained to me that it teaches much more than self defense. Her two children have been taking lessons for years, and she takes a class herself.

#1 Karate teaches self defense

Women should know how to defend themselves if the need arises. Women are viewed as the weaker sex, and therefore are the target of crimes. Karate can replace timidity with technique.

#2 Karate teaches self control

Self control is a fundamental principle taught in karate. Karate is taught for self defense purposes only. Self control must be diligently practiced so one does not use karate for any other purpose. In addition, if students do not put in the effort required to advance, they will fail. Emotions must be controlled if a desire to withdraw sets in or when self doubt tries to dominate. Karate can teach women about themselves and how to better control their emotions. Since women are emotional by nature, this one benefit alone is reason enough to learn karate.

#3 Karate builds self esteem

Learning and mastering any skill builds self esteem. Karate also builds self esteem by enabling women to feel capable of defending themselves and by overcoming challenges. Karate rewards participants with new belt colors. Advancing from on belt to the next brings a feeling of accomplishment.

#4 Karate relieves stress and anger

Women have busy lifestyles. Many of us try to juggle careers, exercise and family life. The list goes on. Karate is a great way to relieve stress and anger. It allows anger and stress to be displayed in an acceptable manner. The physical activity coupled with a feeling of accomplishment makes karate a natural stress reliever.

#5 Karate provides an excellent workout

Karate also provides an excellent workout for the entire body. It increases muscle strength, balance and flexibility. In addition, one can get a great cardiovascular workout. Karate is hard work, but it is hard work that pays off in many ways.

Another added benefit of karate is that women can set good examples to children in their lives. When a child sees a woman learning karate, it may create a desire in him or her to do the same.

“The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants.” – Gichin Funakoshi- Founder of Shotokan Karate