Ride Home Rants
Ride Home Rants
The Fighter's Mind: Lessons Beyond the Ring
What happens when the comfort zone becomes a cage? In this captivating conversation, boxing coach Luke Freshour reveals how stepping into the ring transforms not just fighters, but people. Having started boxing at 22—considered late by most standards—Luke's journey from losing his first three fights to becoming a two-time Golden Gloves champion offers powerful lessons in resilience that transcend the sport itself.
"Fear is excitement, it's stepping out of your comfort zone," Luke explains, sharing the psychology he now imparts to his fighters at Upgraded Industries in Cleveland. His approach to coaching goes far beyond technique, focusing on mental preparation and visualization that builds character capable of withstanding life's inevitable challenges. When he tells his fighters that "the experience of fighting is life in a 5-10 year period condensed," he's speaking from hard-earned wisdom.
Host Mike Bono brings his own perspective as both a comedian and former martial artist, creating a fascinating parallel between different forms of performance anxiety. Their discussion reveals surprising commonalities between facing an opponent in the ring and an audience on stage – both requiring the courage to fail publicly and the resilience to keep showing up. Mike's story about getting knocked out in his 29th Taekwondo match by a female opponent creates one of the episode's most authentic moments of vulnerability.
The conversation delves into practical aspects of boxing training for MMA fighters, the psychology of competition, and how combat sports build transferable confidence. From visualization techniques to reframing nervousness as energy, listeners will discover actionable insights for any challenging situation in life.
Whether you're a figh
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Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. This is, as always, your host, mike Bono. I have a great guest for us today. I believe he's coming to us all the way from Cleveland. He is a boxing coach and it is Luke Freshour. Joins the show, luke, thanks for joining, man.
Speaker 2:Thanks, my man. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Hey, not a problem. So for those of my listeners that don't know, uh, about you, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2:You know, like, where you grow up, you know high schools and and whatnot uh, I grew up in madison, madison ohio, which is almost like ashtabula far lake county yeah um was living in payneville city in my early 20s and uh driving all the way the west side to box um got tired like three days a week of that so ended up just moving out here um right in a place and then ended up buying a place a few years ago.
Speaker 1:So I boxed out of a old angle on the west side for uh, for all my career, you know all right on and uh, I must say, do you have the best flow with the hair in in the boxing game right now, man? I can see it coming out of the back of the. It's an Indian's hat. They will always be the Indians to me Always, always. But you know, besides being, you know, involved in the fight game, you're also a realtor. How did you get involved in that?
Speaker 2:Man, I wish I knew. You know it's a funny story. Like we grew up having dinner like a family dinner every night and we'd answer the home phone because we had a home in the early 2000s and we'd be like, hey, you know, we're having dinner, we'll call you back. But whenever the realtor would call because my parents flipped houses at the time they would take the call and I remember being like I don't know what this realtor is or what powers they have, but it must be somebody pretty important. And uh, my dad's buddy ended up getting into real estate. He's my broker now and uh, didn't know what I wanted to do, so was became a real estate agent when I was like 22, started boxing shortly thereafter. So it was very conducive with, like, the training and uh and everything else. You know it. It helped tremendously to have a flexible schedule.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sure, with the fight game, like I wish I had that flexible schedule. Being a comedian, you know you, you have to find that balance to where it's like. This is what I want to do, but I need to make ends meet at the same time. Um, and realtors, for sure. We've had a couple of realtors on the show from Up that Way. You may know her, wendy Kunesh, was on the show. Yeah, she's. I can't remember the real estate company that she works for Up that Way, but she's in that area and she's been on the show a few times. I love talking to you because I love knowing the behind the scenes, currently in a fixer upper as it is, and, um, me personally, never again. Um, because it's just one nightmare after the next with the fixer uppers, for sure it can be like that for sure so you know, you know with, with boxing, and you know, uh, being a realtor, you know how do you?
Speaker 1:how do you balance that right now? Cause I know realtors don't really have a set like nine to five, but neither does boxing, so how do you mesh the two together?
Speaker 2:Well, when I was training and it's almost the same schedule, cause you're at the gym in the evening and it can be difficult because that's only the same time, you know people could see houses normally is at the evening time, um, but when I was training I kind of wake up and get my road work in um, or do yoga, like in the morning middays, answer some emails and then if I didn't have showings, you know, I was at the gym boxing, probably like at least three days a week, um, but if I couldn't, if I had a showing, you know I would just make sure to get some sort of work in around it.
Speaker 2:And same thing. Now, you know I'm kind of dialed into upgraded industries, you know, helping out boxing, being a boxing coach there and doing privates and stuff. And I'm at the point now in my career, almost 10 years, in that I can kind of pick and choose, luckily, like I could, almost 10 years, in that I can kind of pick and choose luckily, like um, I could kind of tell people like, hey, I have a commitment tuesdays and thursdays. I just tell them I have an appointment, more or less, like they don't need the specifics, um, but you know, unless push comes to shove. Like you know, every once in a while I have to cancel a private or class. But you know there are other coaches there billy freeman, justin Salisgar great striking coaches. So between the three of us, if somebody misses it's really no sweat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just had Billy on the show not too long ago. The show just aired. I know by the time this show airs it'll be a couple of weeks by now, but great guy to talk to, loved getting the ins and outs of the know of the boxing world with him. And you know the fight game. I'm a huge fight game fan. I'm a huge combat sports fan. Grew up taking Taekwondo, kind of started my love of, you know, combat sports because it really wasn't well known. I mean, I was a teenager. It was, you know, the mid to late 90s Aging myself. I was a teenager. It was the you know the mid to late 90s um, aging myself, I know um. But you know, fell in love with sparring tournaments that I was in and, uh, probably should have stuck with it. Wish I would have, uh, didn't. But I still follow everything that that happens in compact sports. You know you being, you know, a boxing coach, you know how did you get involved in the sport I just kind of always was like, uh, into it a little bit.
Speaker 2:My dad never had like really formal training but he was just kind of like a strappy, like scrappy street guy, more or less. So we had a lot of like gear and outbuilding, um, double bags, heavy bags and stuff and I was always kind of the kid who kept like two pairs of 16 ounce gloves in my trunk and you know we'd like go on the wrestling room and like Duke it out, like always playfully you know what I mean Never really like maliciously or anything. And then later on in like my late teens, early twenties, you know the boys having the beer, same thing put them on the backyard, just like classic shit. But a good family friend of mine, rick Lozada. He was a coach at Old Angle, which is now, which is now Joey Maxson Powell Police Athletic League Gym. We were on West 25th, now we're on East 49th and we rent from the Ohio Technical College but um, but you know he was just like a family friend and I had like a cousin going up to old angle at the time and I was like man, I'd love to get in there and see what's up. And I was 22, definitely later, um for sure later.
Speaker 2:But um, trained from 22, had my first fight in the golden gloves cleveland area golden gloves in 2018 at 23 years old, um, and competed until the going gloves in 2022 and covid was in the middle of that and I had a nurse nursing injury back in that, but ended up like 20 fights when it was all said and done and uh then yeah, so met dj because he would come out there when he was still competing mma, because another coach at old angle, leo keglevik, was dj striking coach at Strong Style back in the day.
Speaker 2:So that's just kind of how I met DJ and he hit me up probably like three years ago when I was still competing. Even I was like, hey, dude, do you know anybody looking for like a boxing position? I was nursing a shoulder dislocation at the time location at the time and it was definitely like what I needed to like give my body a rest, but still like teach and be involved, and like let it heal but still like be involved mentally and explain things because, like I said, I was still competing at the time yeah, I feel like covid showed people who they really are.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know it, being a comedian, like it's. There's, like I said, it's no set day job, no set nine to five. You're not like, okay, well, I gotta go to the office. On these days it's find work when you can. You know kind of like fighters, find fights when you can. Who's willing to take the fight? And you know we had open mics and that, and then you know everything shut down. You know no, bars, which is a lot of our, that, that's our gym. You know, going to bars doing the open mics, testing out jokes, that's fine, um, but then it's like, okay, well, we got to do something. I mean, we can sit here and I could write jokes till my hands turn purple, but until you get out, there is it funny.
Speaker 1:I mean it's funny to me. I think it's funny. I think it's fucking hysterical, but it might not be. And then Zoom shows became a thing I didn't even know that that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I did like two Because it's not they weren't my company and I know I'm recording this interview via Zoom. But it's completely different when I'm trying to tell a joke and they have to have the crowd muted because, like, it just created a feedback and I feed off of the crowd. I do a lot of crowd work in in my sets and you know that had to have happened with you guys, with fight fans and fighters. You know not having fans at the, at the arenas to start out with when everything was starting to get back. You know I liked watching the UFC on TV then because you could hear the coaches. You know you could hear more the instructions they were getting. It was cool, it was a cool aspect of that, but that wasn't the same level of fights in my opinion, because I feel like, as a fighter, you're feeding off of what the crowd is giving you, do you?
Speaker 1:have that and how do you train for that?
Speaker 2:well, I mean, even for my first fight, like I have a large sphere, a lot of friends, I mean I probably like 50 people at my first fight lost. So that's always classic, you know. But like um, yeah, and it really stinks because from the golden gloves in 2018, the golden gloves in 2019, um, I had eight fights. So I fought eight times in a year. We were getting ready to go open division. So in amateur boxing, once you have six to ten fights, you could elect to go open division and then after that you're you could fight in tournaments, fight dudes. With 50 fights, 100 fights, you go nationals and stuff, and that was the plan. Like, let's get 10 fights, my cut and rick was out of. My coach was like let's boogie, like let's, let's go, let's, let's travel, and uh, literally got to my 10th and 11th fight um, in february 2020, 2020, february 2020, and then I had a year layoff.
Speaker 2:I fought once during COVID in a gym setting. Again, no crowd, it was just a live stream. So my people were having a watch party. I'd say my teammates cheer me on. You don't really hear the crowd, but you still absorb the energy. At least I didn't. You know what I mean Walking up and people cheering your name. I kind of liked it. I'll be honest, not like fighting during COVID, because, like it was just it was a hard spar is what it felt like without a crowd, because a crowd brings a lot of nerves too. You know, it brings a lot of energy and a lot of glory when you take the dub, but a lot of nerves too. So it was kind of cool.
Speaker 1:I get the nerves it's. It's a little different for me. I prefer this is going to sound so good. I prefer the bigger crowds than the smaller crowds. Smaller crowds are so tough for comedians because laughter is contagious. Laughter is contagious. You get one person that thinks it's funny and it just it's a ripple effect. More people start laughing because this part well, person must be missing something. It must be funny. You get those small crowds and the bombs happen. It's tough for a comedian because, like I said, I feed off the crowd and those nerves set in. When you two or three jokes in and nobody's laughing, it's like, ah, this is going to be a rough 10 more minutes that I got to be fucking up here and just nothing.
Speaker 1:And um, I had it happen early in my career. And you know one of my buddies who got me into into comedy. He was been doing it for a couple of years and he finally said like hey, man, um, I'm gonna tell you, you have like two or three shows under your belt and you've killed at every show. Nice, it's not if you're going to bomb, it's when you're going to bomb, it's gonna happen. Just prepare yourself now. And I was like I, I don't know, dude, we've had some small shows, we've had some big shows and I mean I bring the house down every time. And you know you had that mentality, kind of like a fighter after two or three big wins. You know you kind of get that like I'll take on the world right now, I can fight anybody. Yes and yes, I went to um it.
Speaker 1:It brought a love-hate relationship to Youngstown, ohio. First, as I call it, away game in Youngstown had a 20-minute set. Nobody laughed the entirety of the 20 minutes, the longest 20 minutes of my life. And finally I was just so mad at the end of it I just turned. I said I'm Mike Bono, go fuck yourself Youngstown.
Speaker 1:And I put the mic back in the young in the mike's dance or in the crowd erupted in laughter over that that's hilarious and it was just like that's what you guys like, okay, and from from that show, my buddy actually dubbed me the angry white comic, from that little just outburst at the end, and 13 years later I am still known as the angry white comic and it's just, it sticks with that. You have that like with fighters and their nicknames, because you, we got connected, uh, via the, the latin assassin, tony tortolisi, yeah, you know. And fighters I love hearing fighters nicknames and how they come up with that. Um, first and foremost, did you have a fight nickname, uh, when you were boxing um, and how did they come up with that? Um, first and foremost, did you have a fight nickname when you were boxing Um, and how did you come up with? If you did?
Speaker 2:so, like amateur boxing, they really don't like announce your nickname. Um, you're lucky to get a walkout song. Like I'm pissed. I never got a walkout like a good, like a good venue, like a good, um, promotional, do walkout songs and stuff, songs and stuff. But uh, it's just an extra layer of planning and I've seen how fight cards are, how stressful they are to plan, so it's a whole other thing. But, um, as far as fight name, I was kind of deemed like cool hand, like cool hand luke, okay, so a lot of coaches. I had a couple, had a couple coaches called me cool hand. Um, but it's not like not like a huge, it wasn't like a huge thing, but like, yeah, I had a couple people call me cool hand luke, which is like pretty young, like all right, cool, take that yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:How did? How did you meet tony?
Speaker 2:let's get to that now um, man, how did I meet tony he was just coming in with? He was coming in with dj to old angle, like years and years ago. You know, I probably owned tony like eight years, um, and you know, when dj like ended in his career and stuff and didn't fight anymore, like tony kind of like took that torch and started like going on, you know, and, um, I was just kind of brought on to upgraded to do privates originally, you know, and I was like, hey, you know, I'm not interested in having a stopwatch and like 20 women on a heavy you know heavy bags. Like I want to teach like real boxing, and he's just like, no, that's what I want.
Speaker 2:Um, and then eventually the fight team just kind of started to grow and I was like I mean, it's cool getting paid to teach people how to box, but like I ultimately like want to work with fighters. Um, so, yeah, started working with tony, start cornering tony and stuff and a lot of his. Then they may fight Spartan countless rounds held mids for him, countless rounds. And yeah, for being a wrestler, his hands are sharp.
Speaker 1:Dude, his hands are nasty. I saw him Heavy-handed A couple of months ago now at the Mountaineer Casino in Northwest Virginia. I was at that fight. I called that combo from his corner. Were you there with him.
Speaker 2:Were you in his corner. He was switching. His opponent was switching southpaw. We always won 3-2 on a southpaw. So you jab, hook, get the outside position, it sets up your right hand. And he was switching. He was switching. He was in southpaw when Tony kind of threw the combination, but he like heard it and it was already in his head. He kind of like flicked it and it kind of became like a long hook and like an overhand right Um clip this week.
Speaker 1:That was. That was beautiful. And I remember talking to Tony. He was like, oh, my hands aren't that good. I was like I, I I watched your fight, dude. Like like give yourself some credit. My guy Like that's. And yeah, like I don't. I don't know, like I, I know wrestlers in MMA like want to get to the ground. You, as a boxing coach, when you're you're teaching boxing to a wrestler, are you teaching the striking to set up their takedowns or are you trying to be like all right, let's you. You're gonna fight some people that want to stand and they want to stand and bang in the middle of the octagon or the ring or whatever. How?
Speaker 2:are you? How are?
Speaker 2:you coaching tony definitely a little bit of both, you know. So, like we're a wrestling heavy gym for sure, like even jujitsu, like we kind of deem ourselves an american jujitsu academy, like're going to bully W and then try and choke you out. So I work with Chris Stragge there also, who is a 185-pound local champion as well. He's a two-time All-American and collegiate, so he's the man too. Wrestling. A big thing is level changes. I was big on level changes too. And a big thing is like level changes. I was, I was big on level changes too. Um, feints and level changes. You know, bringing the, bringing the guard up and then jabbing the body. Bringing the guard up, jabbing the body and then eventually shooting a takedown. You know I mean overhand, you know what I mean. Like I'll have like chris and tony, like kind of flick the jab, come to body and then like set up overhand and try and like scoop positioning too. You know what I mean angles and positioning. So it's like I'm like I ultimately want your jabs to be good, your hooks, uppercuts, right hands, all that. But I'm like I your bread and butter. It's to win. And do I love it when our dudes like, when, like or set up wins from, like knockouts and shit that I call like, yeah, like tony doing that. That was like probably like one of my proudest moments not my proudest moment, like as a coach, and like my short career. You know, I'm 30. So I've really only been coaching and cornering boxers and MMA fighters for two, three years. We also had ronald costaneda um the cuba missile crisis. I called his last knockout, too, from the corner and he heard me and he just came right over to me after the win. He was like you called that, that was you like I just implemented and like for being a, I mean, I'm a young coach. I'm a young coach. You know like I kind of started fought since I was 27. Um, I won the golden gloves open division. I'm a two-time golden 27. I won the Golden Gloves Open Division. I'm a two-time Golden Gloves champion. I won the Golden Gloves Open Division in 2022.
Speaker 2:Coming off a year layoff shoulder dislocation. I fought two nights in a row Friday night, a fresh guy. Saturday night, another fresh guy. Got to buy the finals. Beat them both and I was supposed to go to Tulsa, oklahoma, for national gold glove tournament to represent Cleveland in 165 pound division and just had had a bad feeling. Just had a bad feeling. I was like man, I dislocated my shoulder like four times in a year. I felt like I got lucky, winning again, just like as far as like it not coming out. And then um opted to not go to nationals and like two weeks after I was supposed to go sparring a girl light in the gym and she just punched my shoulder and came out and I was like yeah, it's probably yeah it's probably a rat, you know.
Speaker 2:So coaching is obviously the next best thing and it's pretty much healed now. You know I'm always toying with the comeback. You know it's always being like, oh, it'd be cool to have a little pro debut or something. You know I had 20 fights. So, um, I started I, you know, I took my first three, three losses Back to back to back, lost my first three fights in a row, which was hard, you know I was 23 years old Lost my first three fights. It took a gnarly hit on my confidence, like inside and outside the gym, and I was like man, like I don't know if this is for me, but I told myself when I started I'd do it five times. My fourth fight was a knockout Knocked a dude out. Fifth fight got stopped.
Speaker 2:Um, but by the time I won the golden gloves in 2019, one year later, I had eight fights. My record was four and four. I was a gold glove champion. I was like, all right, I'm back to zero and then after that, I kind of went on like an eight win streak, ended my career. You know, 15 and five was my final record, which, starting oh and 3 I'll take, starting late, take. You know, I came back from loss, so I came back from injuries.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, one of those years was covid, another one was like a injury, so no sooner, you know. So it kind of went by, it went by in the blink of an eye. And that's something I'm really big on with my fighters now is everyone fights for a reason, nobody's perfectly happy in their life and chooses to get in a cage or a ring and get rain damage and try and hurt somebody, like, and that's something that I didn't realize, that I thought boxing was an outlet but it was a distraction and I found that when I stopped fighting, you know, and so I try and sprinkle in a little bit of that to my fighters. I'm like, well, why are you doing this? You know, I try and explain like, like, even we were saying like nerves, I try and reshape that um, big on custom auto and tyson, like their relationship.
Speaker 2:I've read like countless books on those dudes and cuss would always be like, listen, like fear. Fear is excitement, fears you stepping out of your comfort zone. You know, a gazelle gets struck with fear before a lion attacks it and it gives it boosts of adrenaline that could save its life. So I always try and tell my fighters that to like reframe it you know what I mean like you could either succumb to that fear, you could use it to your advantage. I just help them like they just need you to do like you getting on the stage and calm it's always gonna be nerve-wracking, it's.
Speaker 2:It's like that just means you're doing something that's worth doing and out of your comfort sucks. You know what I mean. Of course we get used to it, but it's like if you're not pushing yourself and trying to do like different things, you know, and coaching has just helped tremendously with the transition. Um, and all my coaches were older, you know, they were all in their 50s, 60s, 70s, even 80s some of them. So it's like they could never spar me, so like it was all it's. It's awesome. Like I have I have a shiner right now you know what I mean like I'll still get in there and you know, and just be like listen, I could show you time and time and time again, but like if you can't get it down, I'm gonna dust off the gear and show you how effective it is, because I know I would learn when, ultimately, things would happen to me Like damn, how do you do that? Like that cracked me, like how did he do that?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's really the best way to like go about that. I feel like A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:You brought it up with with comedy with me. The first time I got on stage I had crippling stage right. Crippling stage right, like I would pass out if I was up on stage and a bunch of people were looking at me. And then I decided to give it a shot with being up there by myself with a spotlight on me and a microphone. Now I showed up to this bar like an hour before the comics were even supposed to show up and I just started pounding beers and I had to be completely tanked to get on stage. That was the only way I could get over the nerves and just get up there and tell my jokes. And now I look forward to it, you know, but like you said, getting out of your comfort zone. Last year I did a show that I was super nervous to do, worked with a company, slapstick Comedy, out of Columbus, ohio, and they were putting on prison shows. No way Went to.
Speaker 2:North.
Speaker 1:Central Correctional Facility and got to perform for 400 inmates and it's nerve-wracking because I do a lot of crowd work and you know it brought me out of my comfort zone, One of the most rewarding shows I had ever done in my 13 year career. All 400 inmates came up to us afterwards, shook our hand and said hey, you know what you making us laugh, for these two hours just gave me six more months of peace in here, Sick. That was more to me than the pay I got for that show and that's a feather in your cap.
Speaker 2:Like you don't know how far like comedy is going to take you. Like, and that's things I tell fighters. I'm like listen, win or lose. Like you find the gold gloves. Like that's a feather in your cap, like people know what the gold gloves are, you know. I mean like that's no matter how things go, it's like that's a cool opportunity yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:I was. I was excited that they they asked me to do it. Um, got to work with, uh, a big name comic, um, the room ripper is is his, is what he goes by. Um, and he's done shows with like earthquake, def jam comedy, like hbo specials, like this guy has been around the block and you know I got to work with him for a couple hours and you know, bounce ideas off of him and like he even came up to me after the show and he was just like you see what works now I was like, yeah, dude, I mean I know I need those thriller jokes.
Speaker 1:I normally do crowd work. I was super nervous to do crowd work and you know you're talking to comic, you're talking to convicts and you know and, but they were all super appreciative. 13 years I had never been asked for an autograph. I signed 400 autographs that that day and you know it was just like I don't even know, I don't even know how to fucking sign my name now, like I've never been asked for a goddamn autograph in my life. And you know it was a cool experience but it definitely brought me out of my comfort zone and, like you said, now I'm like all right, what's the next big step? You know, in comedy you ever come up to Hilarity's.
Speaker 1:I have not. I've messaged them every month with my availability and it's just the comedy game. It's a tough business to get into. I'll tell that for anybody thinking about it, as you can probably hear my wife laughing in the background. But it's rewarding, but at the start of it just no, Not a lot of money in it. There's rewarding, but at the start of it just no, like not a lot of money in it. You know there's that it's a tough thing to get into and it's show business.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You need to be good at both. You need to be good. You could be good at the show but not good at the business aspect. Or you could be good at the business aspect and get a ton of shows, but you bomb every time you're on stage.
Speaker 2:So a lot of fighters, you know, yeah, and I'm sure you see that and you know.
Speaker 1:That kind of brings me to my next point. Like you know, how do you think that boxers translate into the mma arena?
Speaker 2:well, like I. So, for instance, like chris, who you know, chris, who's a fighter at our gym, I'm just like dude, like take boxing matches, take as many. Like this isn't your forte, but it gets you under the lights. You know, like you could, you could grapple a lot and it's sick to grapple, it's sick to like take you know, jujitsu tournaments and stuff like that, but those are when you grapple, that's a match. You know what I mean. An tournaments and stuff like that, but those are when you grapple, that's a match. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:An mma fight is a fight. A boxing I mean it's a fight. You know like the nerves are a little more real. I'm like if you got under the lights, you won, I don't, I don't care. You know what I mean. Like you're, it's gonna only get you better for your mma. And it's like, dude, low risk, high reward, 12 ounce gloves and headgear. Like you're fighting no headgear, and like four ounce gloves in mma. So it's like low risk, high reward, even if you have a great fight, you implement some of the things I tell you in the corner, you're able to calm down on the corner more, you're more receptive.
Speaker 2:All of that is going to translate. All that's going to translate, especially being a wrestler. I'm like you know, allow, like a wrestler heavy gym that we are, I'm like I want you guys to be forced just to stand, you know. So I think it translates well. Translates well because it's like you, you have to set up your takedowns. You can't just like tap gloves and dive in. You got to set it up and ideally, it's like. You know, we are a wrestling heavy gym like. I can't stress that enough. So it's like when people look up their, their opponents, they're like, oh, he's going to wrestle me, he's going to wrestle me. When they come out, they start sticking nice jabs. Sticking nice jabs, boom, there's the right hand. They're like, oh shit, and that's going to force the dude to do something he doesn't want to do, likely.
Speaker 1:So it's like they're gonna be gone fucked and you're gonna beat them, like you're gonna beat them psychologically too. Yeah, absolutely. And I, I get that. I know I'm not the cleanest comic in the world and you know, forcing myself to do, uh, a couple years back now, a pg-13 show, uh, which no cussing, I mean a little bit sprinkled in here and there they were okay with, but like, definitely no f-bombs. And you know I don't even realize. I say it half the time, like it's just, it's ingrained into like my vocabulary and it'd be hard, it'd be really. It was tough and again brought me out of my comfort zone. Love the show, you know. Loved having kids at the show. That was an awesome experience, you know, um, but I get what you're saying.
Speaker 1:With wrestlers and being outside, you know like they want to shoot for their steak does, but now I'm forced to stand and throw hands. It's only going to make it better. They, they did that, um, at my taekwondo gym and for a month straight they brought in a uh jujitsu specialist and now, instead of throwing kicks and elbows and jabs, now we're on the ground. Yeah, now what do we do? And most fun I had was when they brought him in, you know, getting to learn a different skill set and had I gone anywhere, it taught me how to set kicks up for takedowns. I never thought I would. That would translate because now I'm lifting one foot off the ground, now I'm off balance, yeah, and you know.
Speaker 1:But somehow me, being the lanky guy that I am, I mean I'm six five. Back then I'm 6'5", back then I was 155 pounds. At 6'5" I'm skin and bones. That's insane Skin and fucking bones. And it translated into jiu-jitsu because I have these really long, fucking dry legs that I could pull guard real easily and then set up triangles and arm bars because my legs were so long and I could keep them away with my legs and I learned how to use those.
Speaker 1:And wrestlers they want to grapple. But being in MMA and having a boxing background, it's got to help. Guys just want to want to want to stand and and throw hands and I get like with mma. You know you hear the crowds booing when guys are on the ground. I was watching fight night last weekend or a couple weekends ago now, but when this airs and it was grapplers, they were, they were on the ground and the crowd instantly started booing and it's just like you don't know, you don't see the art form that's happening here. It looks like they're just laying on each other, but there's so much happening that you can't see, and it's just, it's become more entertaining to me Because it's chestnut checkers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I get it. Fight fans they want to see guys stand in the middle of the ring, like max holloway and them, and just throw caution to win no blocks. We're just throwing hands, of course, and I get that. But I've seen a lot of boxers not do well in mma because I feel like once they've gotten taken down, like like that's.
Speaker 2:Or leg kicked.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're heavy on that front and like that's something like I try and like let people I'm like listen. Like if you jab and you sit, come up and like raise your knee, you know what I mean. Like let somebody know. Like let somebody know like I will check your kick, like a lot of things I'll be like you don't have to show somebody a technique while it's happening, like you could just show them that you'll do it, you'll be capable of it. Like you come out and you're moving your head, like all those dudes head movement's good, you know what I mean. Like even though you're just doing it. So I'm like like that's one thing. Like, yes, you know. Like you have to have great, you know like leg kick, defense, takedown defense to be a successful boxer. Like I would never even fathom.
Speaker 2:Like I grew up wrestling like a little bit, did it for like a year or two in elementary school. I understand it. Like even jujitsu, like fighting is fighting. Like I don't know how or transitions or what, but like when I'm watching it I'm like man, if I was that dude, I would try and do this and I don't know how or how to go about it. But then they start to try and do that. I'm just like okay, I have a mild understanding of this Right.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, definitely, definitely helps, for sure. And you know, like, like I said, you know, I, I, just I, I love everything about the fight game. I've always been ingrained, uh, with the fight game and that now, with that being said, who are some of your favorite boxers of all time?
Speaker 2:marvelous marvin haggler. Yeah, just the middleweight era in the 80s was just fucking sugar a leonard, tommy hearns, robertouran no one was afraid of their fucking taking a loss. They all beat the fuck out of each other. They all fought a bunch of times Like it was incredible, you know what I mean. Like I think Floyd Mayweather kind of like he didn't ruin boxing, but like some of the greatest ever had losses, you know, and it's like people are like oh, it's easy for you to say you fucking took three in a row for your first three fights, but it was just like so I never was undefeated. So I don't know what it's like, but what I do know it's like I got better.
Speaker 2:I was more hungry with off of a loss than I ever was a win. You know you're more confident, but it's like you're way more hungry and you learn more from losses. You learn way more from losses and you learn more from losses. You learn way more from losses like, um, I always tell like my fighters now I'm just like the experience of fighting is life. In a 5, 10, 15 year period, if you're lucky, like condensed, there's gonna be high, highs, low, lows, there's gonna be setbacks, there's gonna be glory. There's gonna be things that just don't go fair or go your way and you're gonna have to fucking live with it. And these are all things that you can summon strength from. When your mom dies or your kid gets into a terrible car accident, god forbid.
Speaker 2:Like life is just weird yeah so when you choose to once do something hard, that is fighting, it's a choice and then you could summon strength from that when life is inevitably weird or hard, like down the line. So those are the things I try and like really implement in coaching. You know what I mean Like visualization. You know like right after I get someone warmed up mitts, you know their adrenaline's going and I bring them into a back room somewhere quiet and I'm like, hey, take like three deep breaths And're like what I'm like yeah, you like take the tongue off the roof of your mouth, relax your jaw, and they're like okay, and I'm like close your eyes and let's breathe and like, yeah, I'm like you know your opponent looks like, you know what the venue looks like and say they're in the blue corner and visualize your success out of the blue corner. I talked to him real calm. I talked to him real calm and they got a bead of sweat coming down their head because we just warmed up and they're about to go fight.
Speaker 2:You know like you could visualize your success in a fucking cage or a ring. You could visualize your success in anything. So it's like these little tips and like tricks that I try and like, show people, I'm like, no, this, no, this isn't, this isn't fight. This is bigger than fighting. Like, yeah, I care about your jab, I care about your uppercut, but I care about the man that you are when you're done. And have you, have you grown? Have you grown through the process that is fighting, and are you going to become a better person after? And and that's really what my job as a coach is like flat?
Speaker 1:out. Holy shit, I wish I didn't have any more to to to go with this show, cause that is a phenomenal analogy. And that was, yeah, I, I honestly, now that you say that I, you know, I think back and I fought 29 times in Taekwondo Sick, it's a lotekwondo Sick, it's a lot, 28 and one Sick and I lost on fight 29. And, oddly enough, it told the story to Billy and it got a big laugh out of him, which it gets a big laugh every time I tell it. Yeah, but driving to the venue with my coach and my other teammate that was fighting in the tournament with me and she and I were ranked as the top two in Taekwondo at at the time. So I was like, look, we're going to end up on opposite sides of the bracket if it comes down to both of us in the championship round. I'm not going to hit you hard, don't hit me hard, we're going to be tired and let's the trophy's coming back to our gym. Anyways, who gives a shit? Who gets it? She's like deal, fate has it.
Speaker 1:We're in the championship round together and at first we're we're kind of just like tagging each other with jabs. We're kind of just like tagging each other with jabs, a little leg kick here and there, and then, out of nowhere, I must have tagged her a little harder than I thought I did and I saw the blinders come on, yeah. And next thing I know I had my hands low, because I always did, because everyone was shorter than me. And next thing I know I felt a pressure on the side of my face and my eyes are opening. There's five people standing above me. She had kicked me in the face so hard and her one foot didn't leave the ground, just a perfect roundhouse right to the button Drop me. That was my one loss and in my fucking head I was like I don't like this feeling. I don't ever want to have this feeling ever again, and I think that's what stopped me from pursuing the fight game. You know, after 29 fights, how old were you when you were competing? I'm 36 now. How old were?
Speaker 2:you when you were competing.
Speaker 1:I was at that time, I was 15.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a hard pill to swallow, as a kid too.
Speaker 1:Especially a 15-year-old dude. You get knocked out by a girl. It sucks. Now this is one of those chicks I'd run from in a dark alley. She's tough as fucking nails. I'd spar her all the time at the gym. They're like why are you always picking cassie? It's like because she hits harder than most of the other guys in here good she's good.
Speaker 1:She's gonna make me better. I'm gonna make her better. We're the top two rank people in taekwondo right now, like in in the studentville ohio area. Like why? Why are you like who cares who? I'm sparring yeah and yeah, she was, yeah, she was the one knockout and never fought again after that happens, dude, I've heard of, I've heard of that happening.
Speaker 2:Like people are just like 18 and oh, then that 19th fight, dude on the button. And they're just like, yeah, fuck that, yeah. And you're still like in, like you're just inflamed, that like your ego's inflamed. You're just like, oh, you think and you're invincible, and, especially as a 15 year old, like your fucking hormones are going crazy and shit like that would. That would suck, that's a. That's a hard age, that's a hard loss and a chick like that's a pretty naughty trifecta for sure it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it definitely yeah, it definitely was, and it still sticks with me. I'm 36 now and you know it still sticks with me two decades later. Yeah, and you know as I, that's. All I remember about that fight, yeah, is lowering my hands seeing the blunders come on, waking up, that's the one you don't see coming. That's it. I threw a jab. I must have caught her wrong, or I threw it harder than I thought I did. It's still a funny story, because now all my friends get a big laugh oh, you're getting knocked out by a chick Like, yeah, stay in the ring with her, let's see. Let's see who who's awake at the end of that fight, cause it's not going to be you.
Speaker 2:You transitioned into a comedy easier because you could like again someone, someone's strength. Like I've been in front of a crowd. You're like I've been knocked out. I've been knocked out by a girl in front of a fucking crowd. What's the worst thing that's going to happen on a stage. I'm going to bomb, like do you think the trials of like martial arts have given you confidence, at least early on in your comedy career?
Speaker 1:like starting out 100 percent um my. My wife always says she does not know where my confidence comes from in myself.
Speaker 2:Well, you're 6'5" too.
Speaker 1:That helps a little bit. Because of her I'm a little bit more of a normal weight at 210 pounds, but that definitely helps. Thinking of that, I got knocked out by a girl. What's this fucking bum who's sitting here in a bar not laughing? Oh, who gives a shit? Yeah, and it definitely helps. But you know, I always tell people you know, like, like, how do you meet your confidence? Well, I love me, I think I'm fantastic, and that's all I need. You know, I don't care if you like me, I like me, I think I'm awesome. Yeah, and you know it's brought me to. You know, still, I mean 13 years and I'm still considered an up and coming comedian. Yeah, but you know, it's something I'm always going to be pursuing regardless, Because you still feel alive.
Speaker 2:Like that's probably my hardest thing right now about like not competing is like I I'm trying to find something that like I want to feel like alive doing again you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:and it's like yeah, the adrenaline rush that I get after, after a set is good or bad, honestly. Yeah, if it's a good set, I know, obviously it's a little bit more. And you know, I know sleep's not happening that night, uh, because I'm I'm too amped up. Um, if it's a bad show, more and I know sleep's not happening that night because I'm too amped up. If it's a bad show, I'm still amped up. For another reason. I'm like, why didn't this fucking joke work? Now I'm going over things and I'm going back to the drawing boards with jokes and that. But yeah, it definitely definitely helps out.
Speaker 1:Having that martial arts background Taught me a lot of discipline, and that was what my parents were, the ones who actually, you know, I don't want to say forced me into it, but they were like, look, you're growing way too fast, you've hit two growth spurts already and you're already taller than what the doctor said you were going to be. Uh, yeah, the doctor told me I wasn't going to exceed five nine by the time I was 21, I was 13 and I was over six foot. Um, yeah, so, so wrong and so wrong. And you know, I I had to learn coordination. So like, well, let's put them in some martial arts or something. My mom suggested ballet at first and my dad was like absolutely not. So my dad suggested martial arts as the next best thing and it's helped out tremendously.
Speaker 2:I got a black belt in taekwondo and it's something that Black belt in anything is an insane achievement. It's so cool. I'm going to be the 50 year old dude like in a room full of like kids at a dojo taking like karate. You know, like like flat out, you know like I think that shit's cool, it's, it's, it's just yeah yeah, I started, uh, at 12 and I had my black belt at 14.
Speaker 1:wow, um, yeah it. It was supposed to be like it'll take about three years to probably get to be a black belt. I mean, that's just a typical transition and I don't know what it was in me, but even as a 12-year-old I said what's the fastest anybody's ever gotten a black belt? And they're like well, about three years.
Speaker 1:I was like so that's the mark to beat like if you think you can get it faster than that, by all means shoot for it. Don't be disappointed if it's three years. I was like I won't, but I, I like lofty, go that as a 12 year old, you know what I mean. Like that that's not what I should be thinking about, yeah, and that's just kind of been my mindset, and like that's why people ask all the time like why are you still pursuing comedy? Like you haven't. You're still considered an up-and-comer. You've been doing it 13 years. It's like, yeah, look, look, look at some of the guys that have their netflix specials. They're 37 to 40 to 50 to 60 years old. I can, as long as I can still talk and stand like I'm still trying to make a room full of people laugh and it's the best rush I've ever had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're not getting brain damage.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I get to stand there with a microphone, like no, the worst thing I have to have is somebody throwing something at me nowadays or trying to Will Smith me, you know, I don't know, like that's.
Speaker 2:I mean I think, yeah, like a like that's. I mean I think, yeah, like a lot of, I grew up, like it said in madison, so kind of like hunting and fishing, and after my career like transitioned back and I'm novice, I'm not like a big hunter, fisher like, but like it's a similar. It's a similar primal rush. You know what I mean that's like and you and you hear, hear dudes will be on Rogue and talking about, I mean I know Gerald Spahn. He fought out of Strong Style maybe five years ago. He dipped his toe in stand-up and stuff, you know, and I had a little run at it and stuff. And I'm like man, I always thought that that was cool. I'm like, yeah, that's gotta be the same.
Speaker 1:I would encourage anybody to just go to an open mic night, sign up and just get on stage. Yeah, it's, it's an experience, it's something you can cross off a bucket list. If you don't want to do it, oh well, you can say you tried it. You can say you know, you can say you did it and it's fun. Everyone was shocked at me because they were like okay, this is your first time going on stage. I can tell you're nervous as hell, you're sweating. Before you even get on stage You're probably going to bomb. We'll put you up first and then we'll kind of come in and save the show. I was like it's your show, man, I'm just here to fill a spot. I'm cool, put me up whenever you want to put me up. Went up and absolutely murdered the room To the point where everybody after me didn't do as well. They had funny jokes, but after somebody who kills like that, end the show Because you're not going to get any big laughs.
Speaker 1:Some of them were even like man, who put this fucking running order together in this. Like Jesus, like this first timer comes up here and absolutely has people in tears. And now, how old?
Speaker 2:were you when that happened.
Speaker 1:Uh, so I would have been 23.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah 23 years old Just 23 years old buddy of mine needed to fill a spot in the show but hounded me for months. I was like fuck, I'll do it for you. As a fraternity brother of mine, I wanted to help him out. 13 years later, here I am still doing it, still kicking, still running at it. But look, we are running down here near the end. I feel like I could talk to you like all fucking night. Just looked at the time, like, oh shit, we're running down near the end. I feel like I could talk to you like all fucking night. Just looked at the time, I was like, oh shit, we're running down near the end of the show here.
Speaker 1:I do got to get this last segment in here and it's a segment everybody loves. We've been running this show for four years now and coming up on five and everyone loves it. And that is the Fast Fitty Five. And that is five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast, johnny Fitty Falcone. And for the new listeners out there, these are kind of rapid fire, but, luke, you can elaborate if you need to, but if you are ready, these questions have nothing to do with what we've been talking about for the better part of an hour now. So if you're ready, man, all righty. So question number one ones what are your thoughts about geese?
Speaker 2:geese, I fucking hate them. I almost ran one over on the way to the gym today. It's a shame that they're endangered. I would fucking if it was the middle of the night and I had three drinks in me and I was driving. I would fucking run one over if no one was around. That's what I think, geese the shit's around.
Speaker 1:That's what I think he's the shit's everywhere.
Speaker 2:It's slick like.
Speaker 1:I love that answer to start this off. It's to do a whole other fucking yeah, it's a whole nother show in and of itself with the rant. I could go on about geese. Uh, question number two is fishing a sport.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah yeah, I'm an avid fisherman. I'm fucking novice. I was fishing yesterday. I caught my first steelhead, like first four steelhead this last week. Nice, um, it's a sport.
Speaker 1:It's not like a fucking, you're sweating, but like it's it's, it's a sport yeah, 100 not like total bias opinion, but you're good question number three if, oh god, how does he? If you had a perfect time to go to bed and also get up every morning, what time would that be?
Speaker 2:you had to get eight hours, especially with fucking training. So like 11 to 7. I'm a realer. So like I'm like midnight to 8, but 11 to 7 would be better. It'd be better to have another hour in the morning. You're gonna be more productive with fucking 7 am to 8 am. Then you are 11 pm to 12 pm. So yeah, 7, 11, I like that.
Speaker 1:Question number four could prime hulk hogan beat up two average guys in a fight? Yeah, that's like that was a. I don't know why that should have been the first one. That's a toss-up, like that's.
Speaker 2:I think so Average dudes yeah.
Speaker 1:Average dudes 100%. He's dieseling them. Last question here, jim Carrey overrated or underrated? He's incredible.
Speaker 2:I grew up on Jim Carrey.
Speaker 1:He's fucking awesome. He's hilarious. I like grew up mocking his mannerisms. He's incredible. He's a fucking he's. He's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, love jim carrey, uh, all of his work, um, everything like that. The truman show, like when I have the movie to show people that I'm like have you ever seen the truman show? They're like. No, I'm like then we're watching the fucking truman show. It's a mind fuck. It's j Carrey, it's a classic Jim Carrey. It's fucking great 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's an underrated movie from him. I don't think that gets enough credit, mind, fuck, yeah, 100%. Well, that was the Fast 55. I mean, he brought in some of his normal questions. This is just a little taste of the mind in what I deal with on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:Johnny Fitty Falcone. I went to college with this man. I love this man to death, but he comes up with the most random shit possible and he texts them to me when they pop into his head. He'll text me like a random and it's always something dumb. Who wins in a fight? One gorilla or a hundred men, which is apparently a trend now on TikTok, I've seen it all fucking day. But like, yeah, so like he comes up with this and we were like what if we made a segment in the show to end the show? Just a fun way to end the show? But, luke, I give every guest this opportunity at the end of every show. Um, if you have anything you want to get out there, any fights, for any of your fighters coming up for your gym, anything like that, or if it's even just a good message, I'm going to give you about a minute and the floor is yours.
Speaker 2:Cool. Uh, chris Dragge. Um, he's my guy. He's like my main pupil. Um, he is fighting Juneune 21st for, uh, he's defending his 185 title. Um, he's the man. He's gonna take the dub. We just got done with the cleveland golden gloves. I'm affiliated with two gyms, so we just got done with the cleveland golden gloves, but those are always like end of march to the beginning of april, three weeks in a row. It's fucking amazing. Right downtown, that's great, but that's a year from now. Those are the two things I got right now.
Speaker 1:All right, man, no worries, everybody go check those out. If there's anywhere where we could stream the fight in June, let us know. We'll put that link in the description of the show here, or get it to us. I I'll add it in later. I don't give a shit. Sure, um, anything, um like that. I'm always looking to support and help out any way that I can.
Speaker 2:So everyone go check the great one to him on the show he's. He's a great kid, yeah 100.
Speaker 1:I'm always we're always looking for, for guests uh, always always looking for him. But that is going to do it for this week's episode of the ride home rants podcast. I want to thank my guest, luke fresh hour, for joining the show. A lot of fun to get to talk to you a little bit more about the fight game and everything like that. We've had a lot of fighters and fight coaches on now. Um, love talking to y'all but, as always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend, tell a friend. If you didn't tell them friend, tell a friend If you didn't tell them. Anyways, they might like it just because you didn't. That's going to do it for me and I will see y'all next week.
