The Guns ‘N Hoses Fight Night is Saturday at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena at 7 p.m. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or at the door for $34 for reserved seating, $29 for general admission. For more information, call 398-7010.
Trainers Peacock, Voutoure keep JSO fighters sharp
Josh Lloyd of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and one of the participants in the Guns ‘N Hoses event hits a punching bag at the modern JSO Criminal Justice Training Center gym at Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s North Campus.
by David Chapman
Staff Writer
“The more you sweat here the less you’ll bleed in the street.”
So reads the banner above the lockers in the training facility at The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Criminal Justice Center on the Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s North Campus.
It applies to all the JSO recruits and members who sweat and train in the facility, but for more than the dozen JSO participants in Saturday’s Guns ‘N Hoses boxing match, it means long hours of additional training and preparation.
Hours in the extensively equipped weight room. Hours in the modern gym, with several punching bags dangling around the fringes of the mat. Hours in the adjacent ring, learning the different techniques needed to succeed in the squared circle.
“It’s been one of the better years we’ve had,” said head trainer Lee Peacock, referring to the crop of fighters and how the training sessions have gone.
Peacock has been with JSO for 21 years and when not chiding participants to keep their hands up or when to guard and when to jab, he serves as the academy instructor. He, along with retired JSO officer Tom Voutoure, are the men educating the 19 fighters and who will be in their corners during Saturday night’s bouts.
“We teach them technique and how to train to be successful in there,” said Peacock. “One of the hardest things to teach is how to keep a training routine.”
Since November, Peacock, Voutoure and the fighters trained every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the facility. Scheduled work shifts and outside appointments meant that not all of the days could be met, but on average Peacock said 12-15 people were able to attend each session.
Occasionally, the two get a participant that thinks they know a thing or two about fighting but have to be trained otherwise.
“We get an occasional guy who thinks they move like Jet Li,” said Voutoure. “But they actually are more like Sarah Lee.”
Regardless of how hard they push, both trainers have the respect of all the JSO participants.
“They (Peacock and Voutoure) are great,” said JSO officer and Guns ‘N Hoses fighter Josh Lloyd.“They know how to work with each person and can help show our strengths and weaknesses.”
Tom Voutoure, retired JSO officer and assistant Guns ‘N Hoses trainer, with head trainer Lee Peacock. When he’s not training the fighters, Peacock is the academy instructor and an officer for JSO.
Lloyd will be participating in his second event and is eager to get back in the ring and avenge his loss by decision outcome last year. It was the decision that drove him to keep training and give it another shot this year.
The improvement of each fighter from the first day of training until the time they step through the ropes isn’t lost on the trainers. It’s one of their small rewards.
“Seeing improvement in them all and watching everything come together is one of the things I enjoy most,” said Peacock.
Fighting in front of thousands of people can’t be simulated in the gym, and nerves are very much a big deal and can be tough, said Peacock.
“I’m more excited than nervous,” said fighter and JSO officer Roy Fabila.
Even so, it’s those last few moments before the fights start when Peacock and Voutoure give the participants advice they hope can calm the butterflies.
“The last thing we say is ‘Do what we taught you,’” said Peacock.
JFRD fighters learn to bury the fear in ‘The Dungeon’
Fred McCree of Station 16 in Flagler County takes a swipe at the punching bag during the firefighters’ last practice before the Guns ‘N Hoses bouts on Saturday.
by David Chapman
Staff Writer
“No fear, come to fight.”
Those are the words that Ike Davis tells his fighters in the group huddle during the firefighters’ last practice before Saturday’s Guns ‘N Hoses event.
Davis, a Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) firefighter for 16 years, has been training new groups of fighters on an annual basis since 2003 and it’s that simple message that helps keep things in perspective.
“You can’t be scared out there,” he said. “You’re not eating popcorn at the movies or entering a pie-eating contest.”
The half-dozen participants in attendance don’t treat it like either, and their gym on the second floor of a warehouse at 648 East Union St. near Downtown isn’t anywhere near as cheery as a movie theater.
A single ring, a few punching bags, old couches and chairs in one corner make up the space along with the occasional office electronic device that may or may not work. But what the facility lacks in plushness it makes up for in character.
“I love it,” said Michael Soto, one of the veteran fighters from Station 31. “It’s got that old-school feel to it. Kind of like The Dungeon.”
“The Dungeon” has been the training grounds of the participating firefighters every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and Thursday mornings since mid-December.
And a lot of hard work has gone in during that time, said Davis.
There are non-stop intervals of shadowboxing, laps around the ring (15 at a time), bag work, head-to-head sparring and cardiovascular exercises — each a necessary part to learn the intricacies of the sport known as “the sweet science.”
“That’s the move right there,” said Davis to a shadowboxing Fred McCree of Station 16 in Flagler County. “You gotta use that jab.”
Davis and assistant trainer and JFRD firefighter Ron Lane are constantly working with the fighters during practice to improve their strengths and weaknesses and prepare them for Saturday’s fights.
They both teach the firefighters how to become boxers from the ground up, starting with maintaining balance and then working on technique. Unlike police officers, said Davis, firefighters aren’t required to learn any hand-to-hand self defense techniques as a part of the job.
Assistant trainer and former Guns ‘N Hoses participant Ron Lane and head trainer Ike Davis have taught firefighters‚ the ropes for the charity event for several years. This year, the two have been training the 19 participants at their facility near Downtown.
Over the past few years, there have been a few “jarheads” that come in with a wrong attitude and an overinflated ego and end up not making it, the trainers said. But it’s not because Davis has told them so. Instead, they leave on their own.
The majority of the participants commit themselves, have the right mind set and make it into the ring. Watching that maturation process is one of the better aspects for the trainers.
“Seeing the improvements they all make and watching the changes unfold is special,” said Davis. “It’s like watching your kids grow up.”
He’s always ready for new participants each year, but said veteran fighters can be invaluable because they can relay some of the fundamentals and experiences about the event.
One of the realities is nerves. They will happen, said Davis, but they try to teach each individual how to deal with it.
“We tell them to stay aggressive,” said Davis.