When I was in my late 20s I trained in my basement on a speed bag, a heavy a bag and a maize ball. One day, the tall blonde man that came to read the gas meter in the basement came upstairs, looked at me, and said, “Welterweight?”

I said, “Yeah, one-forty-three.”

“Fast?” he asked.

‘No,” I said.

“Well,” he said, “at that weight there is no room for mistakes. Everyone is too fast. I’ll check your form next time I come over.”

He left a card on my desk and I soon found out that I had been speaking with the former New England Middleweight Champion. John came over and coached me a few times, told me what my flaws and limits were, let me know that I had passed the window for fighting professionally a half decade earlier, and cautioned me on injuries and the attention to the jab over all else. In a few hours I learned more than I had with the other five boxing coaches I had dealt with and I will be forever grateful.

Below are some links concerning John Coiley.

John and I fell out of touch around 1994 when my life descended into urban chaos. At the time we were both learning to write. He had a few articles published in major magazines but was having a hard time breaking into fiction. I’m glad to find out he did with this link below.

You can find his record at the link below.