The Art of Pugalism

Tuesday, 01.07.2008

Welcome to the Peacock Gym White Collar Boxing page. My name is Dominic ‘Jack’ Shepherd and I started White Collar Boxing in 1999. My Dad first took me to an amateur club when I was an aggressive 11 year old but the cockiness was soon knocked out of me when I realised just how tough the other kids were and how dedicated you had to be to go anywhere within the sport. I basically couldn't cut it and drifted away, eventually started work and found that my future, or so I thought lay in drinking and smoking in bars and clubs in the City where I was working as a moneybroker. At my peak I was over 15 stone, smoking as many as 30 cigarettes a day and my best mate was Jack Daniels.

By the time I was 27 I was heading one way and made a decision to start trying to get fit again and joined the Peacock Gym which was 10 minutes from the Isle of Dogs where I lived. Martin Bowers who owns the Peacock Gym fixed me up with a pro fighter called Scott Dixon and he trained me and taught me the basics again and things started to look up.

I was training in the Peacock one day and recognised a fella called Alan Lacey who I had seen on the television who had pioneered WC boxing in the UK through his company The Real Fight Club. We had a chat and a spar and agreed that we would train together again which we did the following week. In those days Alan was in the process of building interest in WC boxing and was planning a show at The Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury and he asked me if I wanted to get ready for it, which I did.

I trained like never before for 5-6 months and boxed a fella called Lee Hazel over three rounds beating him on points. The feeling I had that night will stay with me forever as here I was 30 years old, down to 13 stone and boxing in front of 600 people. I have now had 13 White Collar bouts and at the age of 39 it just shows to anyone reading this that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Anybody wishing to take part in a Peacock Gym White Collar Boxing training session can rest assured that they are in good hands as on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening at 6.30pm sharp the classes are run by Bill Dodds who himself has had a glittering amateur career. Bill started boxing at the age of 7 and boxed for England when he was 12. He won 4 national schoolboys titles, the Nabc's twice, junior ABA's once, boxed for England 8 times and was captain against Russia. He was also senior London ABA champion having a total of 60 fights boxing for clubs such as Hornchurch, Dagenham and the world famous Repton. Not only is Bill a terrific person he is also an excellent technician and his fitness work is second to none.

These classes are for one hour and the cost is £5 per person.
On a Saturday morning at 9am until 10.30am I am helped by Eric Secom who used to train Michael Watson. Eric's boxing brain is tremendous and the whole class learn new bits from him every week. He takes people on the pads while I take the light technical sparring sessions. Again this session is £5 per person.

I think the hardest part for most people is that they find joining a gym, (especially boxing) quite a daunting task. Please don't let that be a concern, these classes are aimed at people who have no boxing experience.

Whether you are thinking about competing or just getting fit these training sessions will be invaluable to you. Please do not think that you aren't welcome if you don't want to eventually fight as primarily these sessions are for fitness and self confidence.

For more information please feel free to call me on 07736 613 518 after 5.30pm.