Zig Zach: June 2009

Hey everyone,

This is actually a very late write up about the White Collar Boxing. My apologies Ian!!

So what is the White Collar Boxing you might wonder? "White collar jobs" was a way of describing workers of relatively high status that always needed to dress up in suits and ties when turning up for work. White Collar Boxing started awhile ago in the 1990s over in America. It allowed people of White collar background to be able to train and compete on a more level playing field. Meaning they would be competing against guys who were working long hours in the office rather than competeing against a guy who would be working part time as a waiter at a restaurant that had a whole load of time to train and get fit and have a huge advantage over the White collar guy. So White Collar Boxing kinda leveled it out a fair bit.

White Collar Boxing arrived in Singapore in 2007,promoted by Ian Mullane who is the founder and owner of Vanda Boxing Club & Vanda Promotions. The first event done was held in a small function room in one of the hotels here and had a crowd of 300 - 400 people attending the fights to support their friends. Fast forward to just two years down the road to April 2009 and the last event was held in Suntec City Convention where they had pyrotechnics for the fighters as they walked out,lights,lasers and 1000 people attending the event!! A huge change in numbers attending,and a huge change in the production of the event and a huge sucess if you ask me?!! However,not only have they managed to turn their local events into a huge sucess....they've also now started to do events in HongKong,Bangkok,Australia and Japan!!!!

An awesome setup for the event.

I've been to 2 White Collar Boxing events so far and it is by far one of the BEST events I have attended in Singapore. Everything was well organized and very professional! I was sitting there thinking to myself,"Damn these guys fighting are SOOOO lucky!!" I started out fighting in some dingy function room with no airconditioning or proper lighting?! The microphone BARELY worked!! And the organizers forgot ice and water for inbetween the rounds!!! So yeah you would kinda be jealous when you saw all this =)

Yup she got that right!!! It was my 2nd time round at the event!!

White Collar Boxing events go that extra mile...wait...let me correct that...Extra 100MILES!! to make the event special. The event isn't in a stadium or in an arena where people just walk up and buy tickets,sit around eating hot dogs and munching on popcorn!?!...No No....There's Glitz and Glamour at these White Collar Boxing events. In other words its a "White Collar Boxing - Black Tie event!". Confused yet!!? =) Anyways,the women are all beautifully dressed in nice dresses with their hair and make up all done with lotsa bling bling jewellery. The men come in their expensive suits and dress shoes looking sharp! It's almost feels like you're at a red-carpet event that you watch on TV!! On top of that everyone is seated at a table where a very yummy 5 course meal is served as the fights go on. Good food,beautiful people and fights.....Have I died and gone to heaven?!?!?

The venue before people arrived & after everyone's had a couple of drinks!

P.J,Jaime Yeo,Me & Jaymee Ong!

Vanda Promotions selects the applicants. All these guys have a kind of a story or reason to fight or just even the fact that they are unlikely people to ever get in the ring to fight. The selected candidates are put thru 12 weeks of intensive training. The group of selected fighters train 3 times a week,building great friendship and teamwork to push each other past their own limits. It gives Ian and his team of trainers and event organizers a great sense of satisfaction to see these guys start from ZERO or not much experience in Boxing to then finally take center stage of a huge fight night!!

The action at White Collar Boxing events and fighters got better each time too!!

However the event isn't just about getting a bunch of over worked,over stressed middle aged guys into a ring to vent their frustrations!! Vanda Promotions also ties the event in with different charity groups to help raise money. The previous event they managed to raise $114,000 for Children's Surgical Centre in Cambodia . To raise money there is an auction midway thru the event. With items like Muhammad Ali signed gloves,Lewis Hamilton signed helmet,Nadal's signed tennis racket,Pele & Maradonna's signed football jersey all items framed nicely!!

The amount that was raised and handed over to Dr Jim Gollogy

At the end of the evening,White Collar Boxing isn't just another fight night that just happened. It's an AMAZING fight night and all for a good cause. The fighters get to have fun and feel like real professional boxers with all the lights,pyrotechnics,crowd cheering for them. The crowd get to dress up have a nice meal and cheer on for their friends who are there to fight or to catch up with other friends in the community! The people who buy these signed and framed sports memorabilia get to spend money on an amazing item and not feel so bad about it,knowing that the money goes to charity!!!!! =)

Days like this,I wish there were proper promoters to do a good Muaythai event here in Singapore. Who knows maybe at some point maybe do even a White Collar Muaythai event??

Ian if you ask me,Hell Yeah I'd be up for Round 3 at another White Collar Boxing event!!

Thanks for everything,buddy!

LaterZ

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late update once again. The days seem to just vanish when you're busy!! Especially now that I've got a new part-time job!! No no..I haven't traded in my muaythai gloves and shorts for oven mits/rubber gloves at McDonalds!! haha

Im actually now working part-time at Baan Nak Muay (BNM). Baan Nak Muay means ("Home of Muaythai fighters"). BNM is a really nice gym,seriously check out the gallery! BNM currently has 1 permanent Thai trainer and another 2 that are always on rotation coming from the famous Fairtex gym.

How the job came about was because I've helped Francis,the owner of BNM to run some of the Company events that he has done at the gym and he really liked the way I held the classes,so he had asked me to help him organize and structure the classes on Tues and Thurs,6pm - 730pm & 730pm - 9pm as those were his busiest days at the gym.

I've been running the classes for about 3 weeks and so far it's been pretty good (I THINK!). I've had some of the students come up to me and Francis to say that they really liked the way I run the classes and how classes have suddenly gotten alot more tiring for everyone since I've started running the class!! I take that as a compliment =)

I do enjoy running the big classes actually. It's good practice for me as I've done seminars too and the first few times it was rather awkward trying to organize 30 - 40 people!! But now Im slowly getting the hang of things walking around during the class and trying to help and explain as much as I can but at the same time trying to make it a fun and great workout for everyone.

So if you're keen on joining lessons conducted by me,you know where to find me at,Tues & Thurs 6pm - 9pm at BNM Gym!!

Lastly check out the ZoCard,that was designed by one of BNM students Grace (She also designed the BNM Website!)!!! The photo was taken by Carolyn Strover,who took this without using a speed shutter meaning she caught the kick in mid air EVERY TIME..was pretty impressive!!! The ZoCard was designed to promote the gym and ME coming on board as one of the trainers now at BNM. Serioulsy,how AWESOME is the Zig Zach ZoCard!! So I've been on buses,magazines,posters,tv,radio and now Im a POSTCARD! =P Playgirl magazine here I come!