Sunday, April 8 2012
Thursday afternoon we ventured to Newton to see John Sementelli at Nonantum Boxing Club. When we got there he was already in the middle of his sparring session with his trainer Nathan (who apparently is the gorilla in their logo!). John is really working on his stamina in the ring, and it showed, as he was able to go a full 5 rounds. Nathan is in freakishly good shape, and really made John work: by the end of each round John was sweating worse than Patrick Ewing! For most, 5 rounds in the ring are more than enough for a days work, but not for John! Nathan ripped his gloves off, jumped out of the ring to get the focus pads, all within the one minute that John had in between rounds. John then hit the pads for the next four rounds, and surprisingly he didn't stop talking even though he could barely lift his arms! It was then that we found out that his college nickname was "Johnny Pipes," and it was decided that if his nickname is "pipes" then his cousin Ray's nickname should be "the pipe cleaner." All in all, John was very happy with his day of training and thinks that he's getting closer to where he needs to be for his big fight on May 17th at House of Blues for Haymakers for Hope Rock N' Rumble- don't forget to buy tickets here! We saw some great progress in this visit, and are excited to see him again next week!