The generation gap

Because he considered boxing to be such an all-consuming and dangerous sport, Joe didn’t want his children to get involved. He says that he was just being a protective parent, like anyone would be.

“I tried to get them to avoid boxing like the plague,” Joe says.

When Nicolai and his brother, Matt, were about 5 years old, Joe bought them boxing gloves to teach them self-defense.

“I just wanted them to know how to handle themselves and protect themselves from bullies at school,” Joe says. “After a few years, the gloves were put away and never brought out again.”

The attempt at an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach didn’t work, however. Despite all of the exposure to the sport in his youth, Nicolai claims to have found boxing on his own. His “God-given talent” didn’t reveal itself until three years ago when, at the age of 19, Nicolai “popped the question” to his father about becoming his boxing coach.
Nicolai says he had reached a time in his life where he needed discipline. He was out of high school, and not sure about college. He says that he needed something to keep himself grounded.

“I was like, well, I either go into the service, which I wasn’t too eager to do, or I start boxing,” Nicolai says. “Now that I’m getting into it, it’s like it’s in my blood. You get sucked in. If you box, you box. It’s hard to do anything else.”

Joe says the decision wasn’t as simple as Nicolai makes it sound. When Nicolai approached him to be his coach, Joe knew that it was something he had thought about for a long time.

“Reluctantly supportive” is the phrase Joe uses to describe how he feels about his son attempting the boxing circuit.

“Boxing is a dangerous sport. If you have a bad day, you get banged up, you get hurt,” Joe says. “The reason I got involved with Nic was out of protection. I was extremely well trained by a defensive trainer, and I thought that I would have the best opportunity to keep him safe if I helped him.”