Boxing

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And my name is Erica.

Marco: Today we’re bringing you another one of our sports lessons and this time we’re gonna go to a boxing match.

Erica: That’s right, so, we’re gonna be learning, uh, language that you can use if you’re talking about boxing, but not only boxing, right?

Marco: Right, we can also use this language for describing a fight or somebody that’s fighting.

Erica: Okay, so, not that we’re asking our listeners to get into fights, but if ever you see a fight, at least now you have the language to talk about it.

Marco: Exactly, so, let’s listen to our dialogue for the first time. It might sound familiar, we have the legendary Rocky Balboa at EnglishPod fighting for the heavyweight championship, so let’s see what happens.

Erica: Wow, it sounds like a great fight.

Marco: Amazing fight and I don’t know who’s gonna win. Rocky apparently got a knockdown. What do you think will happen?

Erica: Well, if I know anything about Rocky Balboa, he will not stay nock downed for long.

Marco: Hehe. Alright, so, let’s take a look at some of the language we saw in this dialogue in “language takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

Erica: Well, Rick Fields said that we have a very gruesome match tonight.

Marco: A gruesome match.

Erica: Gruesome.

Marco: Alright, so, if something is gruesome…

Erica: It’s really… it’s bad, it’s terrible, it’s bloody.

Marco: Okay, bloody, terrible, very hard or… like a gruesome fight would be a very bloody fight.

Erica: Yeah, or a gruesome film.

Marco: Okay, very good, so, gruesome.

Erica: Now, they… they mentioned that both fighters are in the ring.

Marco: Both fighters are in the ring.

Erica: The ring.

Marco: Okay, so, the ring is the physical space where they fight.

Erica: But isn’t it square?

Marco: Yeah, it is square, it is not really circular, but it’s called a boxing ring. I’m not really sure why.

Erica: Well, maybe one of our listeners knows and can tell us about that, cause, uh, I am not an expert on boxing.

Marco: Hehe.

Erica: But what I do know is our next word. They were describing Rocky Balboa’s career and they said he had thirty seven knockouts.

Marco: Okay, a knockout.

Erica: A knockout.

Marco: In this sense, knockout is a noun. A knockout is when a fighter hits the other fighter and he falls to the ground and he can’t get up in ten seconds, because he’s tires, he’s dizzy, he’s hurt.

Erica: Okay, so…

Marco: So, that’s a knockout.

Erica: Okay, so, this is a technical boxing word, um, it’s the action of falling to the ground and not getting up.

Marco: Right, but there’s also a verb - to knock out.

Erica: Or to knock someone out, so…

Marco: Exactly.

Erica: So, when you say “Oh, I knocked this guy out”…

Marco: It means I hit him so hard that he fell to the floor and maybe he was unconscious for a while.

Erica: So, he fell asleep, basically.

Marco: Almost.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, it’s very similar – the noun form to the verb form – like, basically, if you knock someone out, you get a knockout.

Erica: Okay, so, to knock someone out; a knockout.

Marco: Alright, now for our next word, we saw as Apollo quickly began to jab Rocky Balboa.

Erica: So, the noun – a jab.

Marco: So, a jab; quick jabs.

Erica: So, a jab is a kind of punch, right?

Marco: It’s a fast, short, but not very strong punch.

Erica: Okay, so, a technical boxing word – a jab.

Marco: A jab.

Erica: This can also be a verb, right?

Marco: Right, so, to jab.

Erica: Uhu.

Marco: To jab. Now, Apollo was throwing jabs and Rocky began to dodge.

Erica: Alright, and that’s our next word – to dodge.

Marco: Dodge.

Erica: D-O-D-G-E, to dodge.

Marco: Alright, so, if you dodge, you are trying to avoid getting hit.

Erica: Right, so, you move your body, so that you’re not hit.

Marco: Exactly, now, we can also use it in different ways, not only to… you dodge when somebody’s trying punch you. You can also, for example, dodge a bullet.

Erica: Right, so, when you dodge a bullet, you avoid some… some bad situation or some bad event.

Marco: Right, so, we have many examples of dodge used in other contexts, so why don’t we listen to some examples?

Voice: Example one.

A: See that guy dodging through the traffic. He’s gonna get hit by a car if he’s not careful.

Voice: Example two.

B: Well, the storm turned south, so it looks like we managed to dodge a bullet.

Voice: Example three.

C: Look, you are the one who is in charge of sales and the numbers are down. It’s your problem, so stop trying to dodge your responsibilities.

Erica: You know, that word reminds me o… another sport - dodgeball.

Marco: Oh, dodgeball, exactly…

Erica: But that…

Marco: Same principle.

Erica: Yeah, that’s a… an… entirely different lesson, um, I think we need to focus here on the boxing vocabulary, so… so, the announcers said that Apollo is getting pounded.

Marco: To get pounded.

Erica: To get pounded.

Marco: Now, if someone is getting pounded…

Erica: They’re getting hit really hard.

Marco: And a lot.

Erica: Uhu, so, to get pounded.

Marco: Get pounded. And now we have one more word and it’s also another boxing term called a haymaker.

Erica: A powerful haymaker.

Marco: Okay, so, Apollo received a powerful haymaker.

Erica: Now, this word is actually new to me, so, Marco, what does it mean?

Marco: Basically, it’s a very strong, very wild punch.

Erica: Okay, so, you don’t have really good form, your… your body is kind of moving all over the place.

Marco: Right, so, you don’t have much balance, so you just throw your entire body and your fist at someone to hit them as hard as you can. That’s a haymaker.

Erica: Alright, a technical boxing word here for you guys. But now we’ve got some interesting phrases for you on “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

Marco: Alright, so, on fluency builder today we’re gonna take a look at some of these phrases and we have four of them for you today, so let’s get started with the first one.

Erica: Well, the announcers said that the boxing match was about to get underway.

Marco: Okay, to get underway.

Erica: To get underway.

Marco: So, again, this is another way of saying “About to begin”.

Erica: Right.

Marco: Alright, so, we’re about to get underway with this new project.

Erica: Or the meeting’s just about to get underway, so make sure everyone’s here.

Marco: Very good, so, the match was about to get underway and the sports announcers said that Rocky Balboa is going to square off against his lifetime rival.

Erica: So, we’re gonna look at this phrase – to square off against someone.

Marco: Alright, I’m going to square off against Jim.

Erica: Alright, when you square off against Jim, you get ready to fight with him or to compete with him, right?

Marco: Right, so, we’re about to have a one-to-one competition.

Erica: So, this is like a sports word, but it’s also really commonly used in a lot of different, um, contexts, so why don’t we hear a few more examples of how we can use this phrase - to square off?

Voice: Example one.

A: The two countries are moving their armies close to the borders as they prepare to square off in a border dispute.

Voice: Example two.

B: Italy and Brazil is squaring off in the final game this afternoon.

Voice: Example three.

C: Lisa and Daniel squared off against each other in the marketing meeting today. They were both pretty angry.

Marco: Alright, so, great examples and I think we can use it now not only in boxing, but in other situations.

Erica: Now, Bob said that, uh, Rocky landed a strong blow.

Marco: To land a strong blow.

Erica: Alright, so, land a strong blow. Now, let’s break this down. So, a blow.

Marco: A blow is a punch or a hit.

Erica: Okay, and when you land a strong blow, what happens?

Marco: You basically successfully hit your opponent with a punch or hit.

Erica: So, you hit them… so… so, your… your fist meets their body.

Marco: Yeah, so, your fist landed on their body.

Erica: Uhu, so, I could also change this a little bit, I could say “I landed a punch”.

Marco: Right, or in boxing terms he landed a strong left jab.

Erica: Okay, so, to land a blow.

Marco: The announcer described as Rocky threw a left.

Erica: To throw a left.

Marco: So, he said he threw a left and right.

Erica: Now, again, we’ll take this one apart. So, a left, what are we talking about?

Marco: Basically, a left punch, but we can omit “punch”.

Erica: Okay, so, it’s a punch with your left hand.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: But the verb – throw; you throw a left punch.

Marco: So, basically, you punch somebody with your left.

Erica: Okay, so, it’s just… it’s just another way of saying to punch someone.

Marco: To punch someone, right.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, Bob started to throw some punches at the other guy.

Erica: Alright, or look over there like I’m throwing punchers.

Marco: Alright, so, to throw a left, to throw a punch.

Erica: Now, again, you can use this in… in a lot of different ways, with a lot of different types of punches, so you could say to throw a jab.

Marco: Okay, or throw an uppercut.

Erica: Or throw a hook.

Marco: Okay, so, now that we’ve seen all these phrases, why don’t we listen to the dialogue for the very last time? And we’ll come back in a little bit.

Voice: DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME

Erica: So, as I mentioned, Marco, I’m not really, um, that much of a fan or that knowledgeable about boxing and actually this is becoming a theme in… in these sports lessons, isn’t it?

Marco: Hehe. Well, boxing is a very popular sport in North America, um, I’m not really that big of a fan, but I have seen a couple of matches and it’s very interesting, because as we saw in our dialogue, most big fights take pla… take place in Las Vegas at some big hotel.

Erica: Right, but you said it’s… it’s, uh, super popular and everyone wants to watch these, um… these matches and obviously everyone can’t go to Las Vegas, so what’s the common way for most people to watch these boxing matches?

Marco: Right, so, in the United States, there’s something very popular called pay per view and I’m sure in your countries you have something similar. Basically, pay per view - you can buy the fight, so you can have access to it and watch on your TV.

Erica: But you only pay one time to watch like maybe two hours, right?

Marco: Right, so, let’s say you’re at your house, it’s six o’clock and the fight at… the fight begins at eight, so you can call your, um, TV cable company or maybe use, um, the Internet with a credit card. And they activate it on your TV, so you can watch the fight and when it’s over, well, you finish watching it.

Erica: Now, it’s pretty expensive, isn’t it?

Marco: Yeah, pay per view can be very expensive depending on what event it is, because sometimes it’s boxing matches, concerts or special events, so it can maybe cost, I don’t know, sixty, eighty, maybe a hundred dollars, so it’s very popular for one house to buy the pay per view and then many friends come over and everyone chips in with five or ten dollars and everyone watches it on one TV.

Erica: Alright, so, uh, the pay per view boxing party – a common way to… to watch this sport in America.

Marco: Exactly.

Erica: Now, why don’t you guys visit our website and tell us about, uh, boxing? Do you guys like it? Do you know anything about it? Uh, are you guys maybe even boxers yourselves?

Marco: Or former boxers.

Erica: Hm.

Marco: Alright, so, we’ll see you guys at our website and also if you have any questions or comments, be sure to leave them there as well.

Erica: You can find us at englishpod.com and until next time thanks for listening and good bye!

Marco: Bye!