A First Tuffman Competition for 2 BKH Residents
October 2005

Robert Schnoes (21, Illinois), less than 2 months into the BKH program wins his first every Tuffman fight. Above he receives coaching from his Boxing Commission-appointed corner man. Below (sorry for the bad photo) he decks his opponent with a left hook to the jaw.

Robert Schnoes is currently preparing to fight in this November's All-Japan Open Karate Tournament and he is reminded that this tuffman fight is only part of his training, not what he's training for. These amateur tuffman boxing-style fights are an excellent opportunity for BKH residents to experience the pressure of the full-contact fight in a relatively safe, local venue. These fights, however, are nothing compared to what they're training for overseas.

Below Jarrett McIntyre (19, Florida), as well, wins his first ever tuffman fight in a one-sided victory. After having fought last month in the World Tournament in Moscow, McIntyre barely broke a sweat here.

After doing 100 or more knuckle push-ups on concrete every morning for the past 5 months of his life, McIntyre is figuring out that his fists are harder than the other guys' even with all this extra padding. His opponent (above) wasn't too happy to take that right hook to the cheekbone.

Notice McIntyre's eyes turned down in humility as the ref lifts his hand to signify his victory.

This tuffman competition was a long drive for us and it just happened to be near our favorite mountain, so we spent a couple hours that afternoon before the competition hiking for exercise and relaxation. Pictured here with McIntyre and Schnoes is BKH Director, "Sensei" Nathan Ligo, and Ligo Dojo student, Katsuhiko Sawamura. McIntyre at one point commented on how beautiful the mountain was, and his teacher encouraged him to try manifest that same kind of power and majesty within himself through hard training. Japanese karateka (in particular Kyokushin founder, Mas Oyama) have a history of going into the mountains for martial arts training for this reason.

Prior to this day of competition and adventure, McIntyre and Schnoes worked and trained to the point of exhaustion, for days on end, both training and working their part-time job to make it all possible. Those of you who consider applying shouldn't fail to realize how unbelievably hard these guys work, day in and day out, in order to have experiences like these. Looks cool? Well it is, but that "coolness" isn't free. They bleed, sweat and cry for experiences like these for days on end. Both of these guys have had more than just a few days here at BKH where they doubted whether they were going to be tough enough to make it.