Visit to boxing club inspires passion
Multi-sport athlete appreciates the cerebral aspects of the sweet science
Julia Dimarcantonio has an impressive resume as an athlete.
An elite-level rower from almost 20 years, rowing at University of Pennsylvania and for Team Canada, a semi-pro rugby player for several years, as well as a mixed martial arts student.
Of those, Dimarcantonio said the most difficult sport for her so far is boxing, something she became involved with a decade ago at Napper’s Boxing Club in Welland.
“I came here looking for striking help for a mixed martial arts fight that I thought I was going to take. I fell in love with this place and with the sport,” she said in a recent interview inside the club on Park Street.
Dimarcantonio said there’s a very cerebral aspect to the sport.
“It’s not an easy thing to get. You are constantly evolving and learning,” she said. “All you can hope for is not to win every fight, but to just be better than you were yesterday.”
She said boxing has such a history and it’s a sport in which you have to be good at just one skill.
Mixed martial arts requires a person to have many skills, even though they may have one really good skill, such as a ground game, grappling, kicking or striking.
“You have to be the best at one thing in boxing,” she said, adding all boxers are training to be the best all the time.
Dimarcantonio said a fighter can learn a lot through losing in the ring, adding the strength of a boxer’s character will show in a loss.
Having great coaches and trainers helps, win or lose, as they pick their boxers up and push them forward.
“I have the best training.”
In her corner, figuratively and literally, is coach Ray Napper, trainer Mark Delle Monache and sparring partner Todd Napper.
The three have pushed Dimarcantonio every day over the past decade to turn her into the boxer she is today.
“Ray is the best corner a person can ask for … he puts all the pieces together.”
During a fight in early June at the fifth annual Masters Tournament at Gleason’s Gym in New York, Napper’s corner advice paid off for Dimarcantonio.
“The woman I was fighting in New York came out aggressive and, of course, I wanted to rumble. But Ray said, ‘Stay out, stay out, stay out,’ and that’s what I did,” she recalled, adding she could hear Napper yelling at her from the corner.
She said she could have easily been too aggressive in the fight.
“He made me stick to the game plan.”
Napper said Dimarcantonio’s fight went very well.
“Her opponent tried to make it a brawl in the first round. I noticed Julia used her feet to get away and her opponent couldn’t keep up to her,” he said.
“In between rounds I told her to start using her feet more.”
‘‘ You are constantly evolving and learning.
JULIA DIMARCANTONIO Boxer
Napper said Dimarcantonio can be an aggressive fighter, though he prefers her not to be too aggressive in her any of her fights.
Dimarcantonio used her height and reach advantage to minimize damage to herself as the fight went on.
“She started putting longer punches together. She has a good skill set and fundamentals,” the coach said.
Napper said it’s been hard to get fights for Dimarcantonio — she’s only had 11 in the past 10 years — but boxing is growing in popularity among women.
“She the hardest worker in the gym. … She trains her rear-end off,” he said, adding she’s become a coach and a good family friend.
Dimarcantonio said both Napper and Delle Monache have great boxing IQs and have helped develop hers over the year.
“Mark is the best at getting me ready for my fights.”
Despite being a natural grinder in the gym, able to outwork anyone, Dimarcantonio said it was an adjustment moving from rowing and rugby into boxing.
“There was a huge conversion period. You use different muscle groups in rowing and I had to get rid of the muscle not needed in boxing. Physically, with this sport, this is healthiest I have been.
“I’ve had one concussion on 10 years and that was from training, my fault basically.”
In comparison, Dimarcantonio had three minor concussions in rugby over four years.
She said boxing is a great sport for anyone to get into, whether they fight or not, especially with the family atmosphere at the gym.
On Wednesdays at 7 p.m., she runs a BoxFit class for women and said it’s a good way to relieve any frustration and stress they may have in their lives.
“Everyone can benefit from this sport.”