Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: April, 2013

Mike Lacche Boxing readers, by country, April, 2013

Welcome new readers: Mike Lacche Boxing welcomes all our new readers. At time of publication, this site has 1,730 unique readers in 10 countries.

We also appreciate all our readers who have/ who currently serve in the United States Armed Forces -- we thank you for your sacrifice, service and commitment.

West Point Boxing prepares for playoffs:

The 2013 NCBA National Championship will be held at Fox Woods Casino and Resort on April 4-6. Come see the Army Team fight to Victory! Tickets can be purchased at http://www.ncbaboxing.org/Tickets.aspx

Click here to see the West Point Boxing Facebook page.

Memories of Mike: Long before Mayweather, Ray Leonard, Mosely and De La Hoya was the World Welterweight Champion, Freddie ' Red' Cochrane. The pride of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Cochrane and was the reigning Welterweight champion in 1942 but would not get to defend his title until the war ended.

The WWII and Korean War eras marked a unique time in American sports history where many

Mike Lacche was an amateur but trained with the knowledge the Fort Kamehameha Boxing Championships could be his last. At the end of his journey, Mike would be an Army Champion - and then join his soliders overseas in the real fight of his life.
professional athletes joined the Armed Forces and would compete there in the sports they championed. This was perhaps the greatest unified venue of American athletics in our country's history.

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: March, 2013

Social media and family connections: Our story is same as many, and exciting because social media has enabled Mike Lacche's family to unite after some 50 years. Mike Lacche's older brother Nick Lacche spent most of his life in Pennsylvania and had an amazing daughter and subsequently many children that are now reunited under the Lacche family. Mike would have been thrilled.

Count down to 100: T-minus 11 months until the centennial celebration of Mike Lacche's birth. It will also be a celebration of his achievement as a past U.S. Army base boxing champion. Stay tune for more details.




Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

When reflecting on his boxing career, Mike Lacche stressed the importance of boxing being a thinking sport; Mike compared boxing with chess except "when the king fell someone would get really hurt."

All of the Army athletes competing for the title were in good shape -- eight hours a day PT training in courses that most civilian athletes today would gladly sit out or only attempt one portion.

Part of Mike's training involved innovative uses of sand -- Fort Kamehameha was a short run from the Pacific Ocean and sandy beaches offered a good venue to train legs and core. Mike also practiced punching into sand to harden and develop muscles that his opponents may otherwise ignore.

Mike was a confident boxer but always approached each bout with the assumption his opponents were bigger, stronger and better. That 'me versus the world' attitude kept Mike alive during his 1942 title run, as well as, throughout World War II