The Boxing Lawyer
 
By James Enelow (Published in Laginappe Magazine)

June 22, 1999
 
 
     John Green jr. is not a violent man.
     He carries himself with a calm demeanor, and he stresses at  all  times  a  non-confrontational manner and an air of friendliness.
     In his line of work he can't afford to be violent. As a lawyer  he  spends  much of his time preparing and dealing with domestic cases. As a father he  tries  to  spend time with his family. Standing 6 foot 2 inches, John's presence  fills  any  room.  His clothing is pristine and he walks with an air  of  confidence.  On  first  sight  you'd never guess that John's hobby is boxing.
     The story of this boxing lawyer starts in June of '98 when his wife Sara  bought him boxing lessons for a birthday present. Green said, " I'm a big  fan  of  Boxing.  I watch all the pay-per-view events, but I was very surprised  when  Sara  gave  me  this gift."
     Sara Green, an aerobics instructor and business manager said, "I'd noticed  that John  was  often  very  anxious  when  he  got  home  from  work.  He  had  a  lot   of unfocused stress, so I tried to find an  outlet  where  he  could  channel  his  stress productively."
     The outlet came in the form of executive boxing lessons  which  are  offered  by Phil Daley of Daley's Boxing Studio.  For  four  hundred  dollars  John  would  receive eight one hour lessons beginning in July of 1998.
 
     "I had  a  lot  of  trepidation  about  going  in  and  getting  hit  or  getting embarrassed. I was severely out of shape.  I  must  have  weighed  220  pounds  at  that time."  John's  worries  were  premature  because  he  soon  discovered  he   would   be getting nowhere near the ring. In the beginning John was  trained  by  Phil  to  do  the basics. John's first lessons consisted of preparatory exercises. "I had to learn  things like how to throw a  punch  and  other  things,  but  the  real  hard  part  were  those warm-up exercises. I took part in at least  ten  minutes  of  shadow  boxing  daily  and
other exercise which gets you  ready  for  the  workout.  The  amazing  thing  about  it was that Phil Daley was right there and he  does  all  the  exercises  with  you.  After four weeks of lessons John  signed  up  for  six  more  lessons.  As  time  passed  then number of lessons turned from six to eight, then eight to ten and  before  long  a  trip to Daley's studio was part of Green's routine. During this time Daley  trained  Phil  in body work, the  act  of  throwing  punches  to  the  body  .  Green  excelled  in  these
lessons. It wasn't until October of '98 that John made the decision to try sparring.
     "For four  months  I  worked  the  bag  without  anybody  ever  hitting  me.  The decision to get in the ring was mine and the only reason I got in there  was  because  I trusted Phil not to let me get hurt. I was very concerned with certain things. I  didn't want to get hurt or bruised or get a black eye because as  a  lawyer  my  appearance  is very important."
     According to Phil Daley, John's decision to enter the ring was a deciding  factor in his evolution. It would be his ability to take  a  punch  that  would  be  the  final actor. For most of John's sparring sessions he wore  a  protective  face  helmet.  Even ith the helmet John would eventually have to take a  punch.  "90'70  of  the  guys  who gt hit the first time quit." said Daley.
     During his first session John hit his opponent once. According  to  John  it  was quite shocking the first time he got hit in the face. In  addition  to  the  barrage  of punches and occasional knock downs, John was hit so hard  at  one  point,  he  spit  his mouth piece 20 feet out of the ring. Daley, said, "We were really trying to test  Little John's ability. to take a punch. John passed and we had  to  give  him  an  A."  At  the end of John's first sparring session he was so tired he almost decided not  to  go  back
into the ring again. Green said, "The first time I sparred I  remember  saying  that  it was awful and that I did not want to do it again." A week later John  was  back  in  the ring.
     John continued to spar and  because  of  his  tenacity  he  earned  the  nickname "Little John" at Daley's gym. Green said, "When I came  back  I  started  the  habit  of steady sparring. I took a break over the holidays but before that  I  was  sparring  two or three rounds." During  this  time  John  had  various  injuries.  "I  was  struggling with  a  calcium  deposit  and  a  sprained  wrist.  In  early  January  I  took  on   a welterweight  who  was  200  pounds,  his  name  was  Richard   Gobert,   and   he's   a
professional fighter. By January of '99 Gobert was no longer  taking  it  easy  on  me."  By this time Green and Daley had  discussed  options  and  they  made  the  decision  to enter John in the Texas Louisiana  Toughman  Contest.  Entering  the  contest  was  easy compared to the  preparation  John  had  to  go  through  to  compete  in  the  contest.
John's weight at the time was 200 pounds and in order  to  compete  as  a  light  weight he had to get his weight down to 184 or below.
     Before the contest Green was training  five  days  a  week  and  running  on  the weekends. Daley said, "I don't baby my fighters.  They  have  to  do  the  roadwork  and I can't be there to help them do it. They have to want it bad enough  to  do  it  and  I know when they haven't done it and  when  they  are  lying."  Because  of  John's  knees he couldn't do the normal running, but he spent most of  his  weekends  riding  a  bike.
      During sparring sessions, Green trained fighting  many  types  of  fighters.  John  also had to be trained to fight one  minute  rounds  where  he  had  been  trained  in  three minute rounds. By  the  date  of  the  Toughman  Contest  John  had  over  300  sparring rounds and was  forced  to  endure  another  strict  code  of  boxing.  For  two  months
 
before the fight he was forced to obey the strict code of sexual abstinence. Green said, "I was always asking Phil if he was joking  about  it.  Whether  or  not  it  makes  you stronger it  certainly  makes  you  more  cantankerous.  And  it  gives  you  a  totally different outlook."
     When the date of the Toughman Contest came, John weighed in at 182
pounds. John recalls being excessively nervous. "If your  not  nervous  before  a  fight you're stupid. You always have the pressure of performing in front of people." Careful of John's confidence Daley and John made a joint decision not to invite a bunch of people. They insisted on the fact they  would  only  invite  their  wives.  The rules of the Toughman Contest stated John was not allowed to warm-up or speak with his trainer before his match.. Moments before the match Daley and company had been sizing up the competition around John when John's opponent came onto the scene. "I remember looking around the room saying, John can beat him and him." When John's  opponent  appeared  he  jumped  straight  over  the  ring  ropes  and let out a scream. "Here was my opponent, a marine in his early 20's. I remember thinking I had drawn the toughest opponent there for my  first  match."  Sara  said,  "I remember saying," I don't think that John can beat him."'
     When the first round started  James  Hare,  John's  opponent,  seriously  battered John. "He was one of those bear-type fighters who tries to do  all  the  damage  in  the first round." Most of the round the fighter kept John on  his  toes.  Sara  Green  said, "I couldn't watch the fight. I was chewing my fingernails off. People  kept  telling  me what was going on because I was looking away." John said  of  his  opponent,  "  he  was completely willing to destroy himself to get at me and during  the  first  round  I  was
so fed up I literally threw him to get him off  of  me."  By  the  second  round  John's opponent was tired and Green was  better  able  to  note  his  weaknesses.  Daley  said,
      "Our strategy in the first round was basically to survive , stick and move,  get  points and get out.." To John it seemed like he might be losing. " I was  discouraged,  but  by the second round I started to get my  feet  underneath  me."  John  didn't  know  that Daley had sized the kid up by watching the first round  carefully.  During  the  break Phil was able to instruct John on what to do and  by  the  end  of  the  second  round
John was able to knock his opponent out before  the  bell  signaled  the  end  of  the second round. As John went to his  neutral  corner  he  was  unaware  he  had  knocked his opponent out, but the crowd and everyone else was.
     The people watching the fight cheered  and  John  was  congratulated  by  every person he met and hailed as the boxing lawyer. He  was  beaten  in  his  second  match by a an opponent Green speaks highly of. Today John sits comfortable in his  office  a good 30 pounds lighter and full of  hopes  for  the  future.  According  to  John,  it doesn't matter that he didn't win the entire competition or that he was beaten in  his second match, but rather that he accomplished  something  he  set  out  to  do.  Green said, ""I've never been more alive than I was during  that  round,  I  accomplished  a great deal of what I wanted to:"
     The friendship and relationship formed  between  Daily  and  Green  has  become one of the most important aspects of  Green's  life.  "We  have  dinner  and  cookouts together with  our  families  and  we're  good  friends.  We  workout  and  we  go  to boxing events together. I'm his boxer, and he's my trainer. I'd do  anything  for  him that I could... He's my client and I'm his lawyer," said Green.  That  friendship  and the confidence  he  attained  through  his  experience  made  the  journey  worthwhile and has worked its way into his business life and his  family  life.Phil  Daley  said,
"He's come a long way and my doors open to him always because he's got balls."
     The one message that John wants readers to get from this article is  about  the nature of boxing and anger. "Phil teaches you not to bully and there is no cussing  in the gym. I want a story like this to show all boxers are not like Mike Tyson  and  all trainers or promoters are not like Don King. Boxing teaches you self respect,  and  it teaches you responsibility and to respect everybody.. The first  guy  I  fought  James Hare I hugged him after the fight and the other guy i didn't get a chance to hug,  but  I wished him luck."
     For the moment Green is  through  with  boxing  though  he  continues  to  go  the the  gym  two  to  three  days  a  week  The  confidence  he  earned  through  his  hard knocks in the ring has put a little more confidence in  his  step  and  strengthened  his life with his family. "I do a  lot  of  domestic  cases  and  some  men  are  abusive.  I always had in the back of my mind, what  if  someone  tried  to  attack  me  or  what  if they tried to embarrass me in front of my family.,  but  I  hope  I  never  fight  anyone outside of the ring.  I  handle  a  lot  of  divorce  cases  and  there  have  been  some
situations where people  have  threatened  me.  It  makes  you  realize  you  don't  have to fight someone, but  in  case  it  ever  came  to  that  I  know  what  to  do.  That's confidence. This is the real deal. It's real self defense and  it's  not  theoretical.  I recommend Amateur Boxing Executive Lessons for anyone."
     According to Sara Green the quality time at home with John  is  by  far  the  best its ever been and he relishes the time he spends  with  his  son  Jack  who  has  learned to say affectionately and appropriately, "Boom Boom, Daddy."
     "He's so involved in his family. The  boxing  has  given  him  a  new  outlook.  I know for a fact the one hour out of his day that  he  spends  training,  the  next  three hours he spends with us are  quality,  You've  got  to  let  your  frustrations  go.  You might be ruining the quantity out of your day, but  it  doesn't  matter  if  the  quality goes on, and this is why John is boxing so I can have a quality life," says  Sara  Green.
     According to his  wife  there  isn't  a  bigger  female  boxing  fan  around  Lake Charles.