If you sit down to make a list of great boxers obvious people come to mind: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Apana Nakayama, Jake Wortham...
Maybe the list is one you might make in the future. Maybe this list will never be made at all, but one thing is for sure: they are at present all boxers in their own right.
This season the enitre BYU baseball team is involved in some cross-training not so common to their sport. Instead of being found Friday afternoon in the spacious confines of BYU's indoor practice facility, this fall the team could be spotted in Orem-home of LA Boxing.
Last season, under the guidance of third-year pitching coach Bobby Applegate, BYU's pitchers cross-trained through boxing, leaving the rest of the team's players to only envy the chance. BYU slugger Apana Nakayama said he mentioned to Applegate how he thought the position players should have a chance to give boxing a try like the pitchers. The coaches consented, and the new workout for the whole team began this fall.
"Personally, I think it's helping us with our footwork, our hand-eye coordination, speed and agility," Nakayama said. "For me it's really helping me out with my swing-just being more explosive."
He added that the experience has given the players a sense of determination and an aggressiveness that will serve them well on the baseball field. Not only will the training make the team more aggressive and hungrier for success, it also will train them physically in ways they haven't experienced.
Kris Whitmore, General Manager of LA Boxing, said that boxing is perfect for teaching some of the fundamental elements of baseball. In both sports, hand-eye coordination is critical while both require a steady head and quick hands. Reacting quickly is important in baseball, and Whitmore said boxing helps to develop quick-twitching muscles that improve reaction while strengthening the core of the athlete.
Whitmore said that boxing pushes athletes to the limits and helps them do things they haven't done before. Through boxing, "You know what it takes to go those extra rounds," he said.
While at LA Boxing, the Cougar's boys of summer were treated to top-notch instruction from a selection of celebrated pro boxers. The team saw action under the guidance of Kwame Stephens, current Muay Thai (a form of boxing) middleweight champion, along with Melanie Kohler-Edwards, three-time Muay Thai world champion. The Cougars even got some one-on-one time in the ring with the pros.
"Coach says all the time to make good decisions under pressure," BYU pitcher Jake Wortham said. "When you're boxing and you've got someone in your face that wants to hurt you, there's no more pressure than that."
Wortham said there isn't much that gives the body a workout quite like boxing, but he said the experience does something else for baseball players.
"I think coach wanted everybody to have the opportunity to do something like this," he said. "Because it'll help hitters in the same way it will help pitchers, just making quality decisions."
Applegate is no stranger to boxing. Before coming to BYU, Applegate was an assistant coach for the five-time NCAA champion Air Force Falcon boxing team. And while he doesn't consider himself a boxer, he knows a little about teaching the sport and even more about what boxing can teach his players.
"The players are all talented physically," Applegate said about upper levels of baseball. "There's not a big difference in all the talent. Where guys become more successful than others is the mental toughness. I believe that the boxing is developing more mental toughness-to get out there and try and impose their will on some people.
"When you got one guy that's throwing 92 [miles per hour] and another guy that's throwing 92 on Friday night-which guy is going to win? It's the guy who's mentally tough and that's what we're trying to instill in these guys."