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.

Lev Jackson Outclasses Ian Abbott

Southpaw Lev Jackson looked classy in a unanimous decision victory over Ian "Mr. Wonderful" Abbott at the Lions Club in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. It was his first fight at junior lightweight, which might be a new home for the 34 year old from Vancouver.

After entering the ring to the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Can't Stop," Jackson pawed with his jab against the 32 year old from Denton, Saskatchewan, who also fights under the name Ian Masuskapoe. Jackson soon began doubling his jab to land the straight left. It was a strategy he used much of the fight.

By the end of the first, Jackson took control of center ring. He started the second with more of the jab, tripling up on it at one point. He threw lead lefts, sometimes following them up with sweeping rights that were meant to distract Abbott from blocking another incoming straight left. A power jab knocked out Mr. Wonderful's mouthpiece.

Before the start of the third and fourth rounds, the doctor checked Jackson's bruises and cuts. Lev battles Crohn's disease and the medicine he takes to control the disease can lead to increased bruising and causes him to cut easily. Abbott was tough and often fired back, but he was second best when it can to the number and effectiveness of the blows. His best shot was a right uppercut after Lev launched an overhand left and then rolled for the second consecutive sequence.

Despite the doctor's concerns, the third round was more of the same, with Jackson backing Abbott into the corner several times. In the fourth round, Jackson continued to show his right to force Abbott to walk into the left.

At 130 pounds, Lev looked fast and fought smart. He used measured brawling to outwork and outclass his opponent. His breath control was superior, exhaling with each shot. Abbott, an experienced MMA fighter, didn't have the same mastery over his breathing.

Jackson won with two scores of 40-36 and one of 39-37. The Jewish Boxing Blog scored the bout 40-36 for Jackson. He moves to 6-1-1 with 3 KOs. Abbott is now 1-8-1. He has never been stopped.

After the fight, Lev showed respect to Abbott, noting he was tough and quick. He said he was prepared to execute plan A, B, and C if it came to that. He's hoping for something big up next, possibly back in Alberta against a local prospect.