Speaking with the Legends: Binnie Klein's Boxing Journey

In her memoir Blows to the Head: How Boxing Changed My Mind, Binnie Klein imagines conversations with three-fourths of the Jewish boxing Mount Rushmore: Daniel Mendoza, Benny Leonard, and Barney Ross. The accomplished Renaissance Woman has adapted these conversation for her Substack Open Tuning.

A psychotherapist by trade, Klein has also been a songwriter, DJ, Yale lecturer, author, and almost anything else you can think of. She took up boxing in her 50s, first as part of her physical therapy in recovering from an injury, and then because it was a way to discover more about herself.

Boxing allowed Klein to face her self-perceived physical inadequacies, which were partly tied to her Jewish heritage. Her training with coach John Spehar allowed her to discover her physical, mental, and emotional strength and develop a toughness she never realized she had. Spehar's selflessness is remarkable in its ubiquity in boxing; the trope of the coach who sacrifices tremendously for the betterment of his/her boxers. Most fighters have encountered the like.

Though Blows to the Head has a smattering of annoying historical inaccuracies, Klein gets boxing. She understands the discipline required, the notion of competitive violence, and the intimacy of working with a coach or sparring with a partner. She learns of the longline of Jewish toughs who overcame antisemitism, poverty, and family tragedy to reach heights their people never dreamed imaginable. Her conversations with the greats of yesteryear may feel a bit contrived at first, but the dialogue is tremendously insightful. Each fighter teaches Klein something about boxing and about life, all of which reinforces Spehar's philosophies. She captures the fighters' distinct voices so beautifully that their unnatural entrances become faded memories.

Boxing gave Klein a greater appreciation of her Jewish heritage. The sport was a portal into ethnic pride in a Bikelesque sense: not at the expense of other groups, but as an understanding in the stereotype-busting power of pugilism.

Two Fights on the Schedule in September

Joshua Feldman and Yan Zak are scheduled to fight in separate bouts in September. A junior middleweight, Feldman will be fighting in his home town of Caper Town, Western Cape, South Africa on September 5. Zak, a cruiserweight, fights in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on September 9.

Feldman, 7-0 (3 KOs), will be 22 years old when he fights Emile Brits, a 30 year old from Cape Town with a record of 6-2 (3 KOs).

Zak is a 26 year old with a record of 8-0 (6 KOs). The resident of Ashdod, Israel faces Peter Mysoka, a 32 year old Tanzanian with a record of 14-1 (14 KOs).

The Jewish Boxing Blog will have full previews of both fights.

SPOKS: The Ben Ephraims' New Project

Odelia Ben Ephraim and her dad, David, served as consultant on a new app called SPOKS. The Sport Konnections Global Action Network is designed to bring together athletes, clubs, federations, and experts from various fields.

A psychology student and artist in addition to her career as  professional boxer, the former French featherweight titlist, Odelia, is the face of the enterprise. David has been a long time coach, who now runs a gym in Israel.

Free for athletes, SPOKS intends to bring them together with gyms, various medical and performance experts, agents, and other athletes. Beyond boxing, folks involved in a variety of people are encouraged to sign up. Media members can also join to gain access to the people they cover. It's a fantastic idea meant to connect athletes all over the world with services they need to perform at their best. The challenge now is to drive up users.

Visit spoks.io for more.

The Gravity of Sarah Deming's Boxing Career

About a quarter of Brown University students are Jewish, up a few percent from thirty years ago. And while there have been quite a few Jewish winners of the New York Golden Gloves, only one graduated from Brown with a BA in comparative literature.

Sarah Deming worked as a yoga instructor, a chef, and a tutor when she decided to lace up the gloves for the first time. A classy boxer, who threw smart combinations, Deming wasn't afraid to mix it up and get her nose bloody. She won the New York Golden Gloves and the New York Empire Games as a featherweight just three years after taking up the sport. During the 1999 bantamweight finals at the Golden Gloves, Deming was still finding her style. Two years later, she showed dramatic improvement during her championship run.

Deming parlayed her successful amateur career into one as a writer. Her boxing experience informed her terrific 2019 novel Gravity, a story that oozes authenticity. Gravity Delgado has a Jewish mother and a Dominican father. A 16 year old amateur boxer, Gravity takes care of her eight year old brother, goes to school, and boxes at a world class level. She's forced to grow up quickly, because their dad left the family years ago and their mother is an abusive alcoholic.

Gravity trains at NY Cops and Kids in Flatbush, where Deming trained, although it was called Atlas Cops and Kids then. Gravity's coach is the crotchety old Jefferson Thomas, based on the late trainer and heavyweight George Washington. The Bocacrew is a rival stable at the gym and is based on the Sosacrew. One of Gravity's USA Boxing teammates is Sacred Jones, a nearly unbeatable middleweight like Claressa Shields.

Gravity and Sacred are members of the 2016 US Boxing team, who qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. They are followed by my favorite character, Carmen Cruz, the blogger who has gained the respect of the fighters because she tells it like it is. Cruz travels all over the world covering the team, which is cause for extreme jealousy.

Gravity provides tremendous insight on the New York boxing scene and women's amateur boxing just when it was exploding in popularity. Teens will probably appreciate the romance scenes and the importance of social media more than us old fogies. But the boxing content and the complex relationships in the gym, told by someone who was there, can be appreciated by everyone.