Email   Print   Share By Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

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Specialist Dianeya Nodarse, 3rd Bde., 1st Cav. Div., works on punches to the body during a practice Friday at Abrams Physical Fitness Center. The practice was part of three-week train-up for the boxing smoker during Phantom Warrior Week. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Specialist Marcel Duncan, 36th Eng. Bde., jumps rope during a boxing practice Friday at Abrams Physical Fitness Center. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Private 1st Class Lorie Alvarez, 41st Fires Bde., goes through conditioning drills Monday morning on Sadowski Field. As part of the train-up, Soldiers received extensive conditioning to accompany the basic boxing instruction. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Soldiers in the training camp for the upcoming boxing smoker as part of Phantom Warrior Week perform chain sit-ups Friday in Abrams Physical Fitness center. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Head trainer Winston Parhan assits 2nd Lt. Danilo Garcia, 3rd Cav. Regt., with his boxing gloves Friday during practice at Abrams Physical Fitness Center. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Soldiers invovled in the train-up for Phantom Warrior Week’s boxing smoker run sprints on Sadowski Field Monday morning. Close to 100 Soldiers are participating in the training camp. Daniel Cernero, Sentinel Sports Editor

Nearly 100 fighters in the midst of a three-week train-up for the upcoming boxing smoker, one of several events incorporated into Phantom Warrior Week, which begins Monday, train throughout the day in Abrams Physical Fitness Center.

Filling out the two courts in the rear of the gym, the boxers, all of various experience levels, representing each of the brigades across post, receive instruction under the direction of head trainer Winston Parhan and the 15 other coaches on his staff.

Parhan, once an All-Army coach, and also someone who both fought for and coached Fort Hood’s boxing team years ago, said the goal is ensure the fighters are ready for the smoker.

“The main thing I’m trying to teach them is a lot of discipline and a lot of safety, teaching them how to protect themselves (in the ring),” he said.

Parhan added, “This isn’t a sport that you want to play with. It’s a dangerous sport – You have to be very physically fit.

“We teach them how to run the correct way,” he continued. “We teach them how to breathe the correct way. We teach them how to take a punch the right way. I could teach (someone) to take Mike Tyson’s punch – it’s just how you breathe.”

During the training camp, Parhan has the boxers working on conditioning in the morning – running and calisthenics – followed by basic boxing instruction and other cardiovascular workouts in the afternoon.

“Physically, it’s demanding,” 2nd Lt. Danilo Garcia, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, said.

Garcia recently graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he won three individual boxing titles, as the overall team captured four titles on top of that.

Unable to compete in the All-Army Boxing Trials earlier this year because of Army training following graduation, Garcia said this training will help set him back on track to achieve his higher goals.

“It’s getting me back in shape, and wiping the cobwebs off my body,” Garcia said. “It’s tough training. (The coaches) know what they’re doing,”

Speaking of his time as the coach for the Army’s boxing team, Parhan said, “When you get them from All-Army, you get them at all different levels. I might get a guy who has 100 fights, and I might get a guy who has two fights.”

For some fighters, Garcia included, their boxing aspirations continue far beyond the impending bouts and onto the All-Army level or even one of the 12 spots in the Army’s World Class Athlete Program.

Specialist Ondre Taylor, 4th Sustainment Brigade, another fighter with boxing experience, said he’s using the boxing smoker as a chance to show his unit he’s worthy of competing at the sport’s higher levels.

“I’ve been anticipating (this boxing smoker) for about a year,” he said. “I’ve been asking and asking and asking, and we’re finally having one.”

Taylor explained that the post’s last boxing smoker was just before he deployed, and he’s been waiting for another ever since.

“I took full advantage of (this training camp),” he said. “I was on leave for the first week of it, because I just had a baby. But even though it was two days after I had my baby, I was in here training

because I knew I couldn’t miss any training.”

Joining Garcia and Taylor are fighters like Pvt. Vincent Hedrick, 3rd Cav. Regt., and Pfc. Lorie Alvarez, 41st Fires Brigade, both Soldiers who entered the

camp with little or no boxing experience.

Hedrick said while looking for any chance to fight, whether it be through combatives or boxing, he first heard of the boxing smoker in one of his platoon’s daily briefings.

“I was the only one who threw my hand up, and I wound up here,” he said.

With no formal training, Hedrick said he’s learned a lot from the camp so far, and he’s trying to soak in as much information as he can.

“The coaches know a lot,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot of the steps and a couple of new moves.”

Alvarez said she first thought of picking up the sport before joining the Army, but couldn’t commit to training while also managing two other jobs.

Now in the Army, she heard of this training and has tried to make the most of it.

“I have the mindset that I won’t quit, so I’m going to continue going,” she said.

Up to this point, Alvarez said she’s focused on the proper technique, such as protecting herself from a blow to the face.

Parhan pointed out that the more experienced fighter does not automatically take the role as the favorite in any give bout.

“They can lose, they can have a bad day, and a lucky punch can come from anybody,” he said.

Parhan said there’s an inherent difficulty when an experienced fighter is fighting someone inexperienced, because the fighting styles become unpredictable.

“The only punch that can knock you out is the punch you don’t see,” he said.

The finals for the boxing smoker will be the culminating sporting final of Phantom Warrior Week, taking place inside Abrams from noon-4 p.m. Wednesday.

“I’m used to boxing being all about me, and I don’t have to be a team player because it’s all about me,” Taylor said. “But now it’s more than just me – I represent my unit. I feel like if I loose, I’d be letting my entire unit down.”