Roosevelt Spanish teacher Amos Wiedmaier’s loves el boxeo in the ring and for self-defense.
Profe Amos Wiedmaier teaches Spanish language and culture in room 127 at Roosevelt High School. But beyond teaching students a new language — his passion lies in boxing.
Wiedmaier shared what prompted him to take up boxing. “I began [boxing] when I was 19, and I started boxing before I went to university,” he explained. “After living in a small town in Michigan, I traveled to Paris, France, and while I was there, I was robbed. I was mugged. People saw me as a potential easy target for a robbery because I was not particularly athletic in my younger years, and I wanted not to have to be that target anymore.”
Wiedmaier said that “after [he] started boxing, [he] was never robbed again, since [he] was no longer an easy target.”
“I go to the gym closest to school here: Emerald City Boxing. In a good week, three times, but there’s a lot of different cycles to life,” Wiedmaier said. “Right now, I’m recovering from an injury. Typically, I train twice a week, once for working on skills, and once for athletic training.” He added, “As a teacher and a parent, it’s hard to find time.”
Wiedmaier explained what he likes most about boxing, describing the art of fighting as “not just physical development, but also mental development, and being mentally developed helps you size up the situation and manage fear.”
Wiedmaier also talks about the experience in the ring, saying, “Fighting in the ring is one of the most emotionally intense experiences one can have in their life. Of all the … emotion, this is the most alive you will feel.” He continued, “You have fear, courage, pride, triumph, loss, and being able to feel all those intense feelings is something that you don’t get many times in your life. The idea of possibly winning gives you confidence, and it gives you a really great feeling.”
Wiedmaier’s advice for people who are interested in boxing or just want to know what to do in a situation that could potentially get violent is: “If you don’t know anything about fighting, it is more likely you will be a victim of violence or find yourself in a fight. If you know how to size up to someone in a fight, even if you find yourself without a choice, you can defend yourself, but ultimately, the goal is to not have to fight.”
Wiedmaier described his favorite moment from his boxing career, “After my first fight, I represented my gym well. It was a very intense, close fight, when I left the ring, the crowd of people parted, and it was I think the first time that I had that feeling of public respect.”
He concluded, “I was getting random high fives, free food, and just random respect from strangers who enjoyed the match and appreciated my fighting skills, and I wasn’t expecting it, it was a new feeling, y’know.”
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