The former fighter has been a trainer for many years. His hands bear the marks of repetition and power and the years spent in the ring and the gymnasium, demonstrating the right way to hit a bag, the proper way to apply leverage to a punch.

His knuckles are enlarged and gnarled as knots on an old tree. Years of punching with intensity have taken their toll. (Some of it outside the ring in his youth, he says). Yet his advice is

still producing results, and is more refined by years of study, not unlike a long-time English professor still enthusiastically delivering clues on how to dig out the themes of a celebrated novel.

Ron Lyke teaches with that kind of ardor; his passion for the sweet science is still evident after many years of showing this kid how to jab and the next one how to throw a proper hook.

Many of those students do not know that he once was a dominant amateur boxer, or that he had a brief professional career afterward.

“He should have been a national (Golden Gloves) champion,’’said former international referee and judge Denny Nelson. “All he needed was a break here or there and he could have won a national title. He had power and ability.’’

Lyke’s professional career was brief. He retired after compiling a 6-1 record, but it wasn’t long and he was back in the gym, teaching the craft to others.

Joey Abel, for example. Twenty years ago he arrived on Lyke’s doorstep, so to speak, as a 16-year-old kid. “And he’s still with me,’’ Lyke said.

There are many others as well: Tony Grygelko, John Hoffman, John Schmidt, Brad Laffin and, for a short spell, Matt Vanda.

More recently that list includes Caleb Truax, who won the world IBF Super Middleweight title on December 9, 2017 from James DeGale, in the champion’s home country, England.

Lyke had produced what for many trainers is merely a dream, a world champion. Although Truax lost the title in a rematch, he had achieved the ultimate goal for a professional fighter and his trainer, too.

If Lyke never has another one, training a single world champion is more than a vast number of coaches ever get, and he is apt never to forget the details of that championship.

The date was December 9, 2017 and the site was the Copper Box Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in England. Truax of St. Michael, Minnnesota was fighting DeGale for his IBF world super middleweight title.

The first round had Lyke a bit nervous, but his mood shifted quickly. “From there on I knew he had it,’’ Lyke recalled. I didn’t know if we would get it, but he totally beat the crap out of that guy.’’

Lyke sent Truax out for the final round of the fight with these words: “Three more minutes and you are a world champion,’’ he whispered into his ear.

Taking a title from the champion in his back- yard is a tricky proposition. Lyke was nervous once more when the first score was read...
a draw. The next two cards gave it to Truax, by three points and four points each.

Trying to get a title fight is sometimes a rattling if not impossible task in itself. Truax had lost opportunities before because of problems keeping his weight down, so the decision was madetofightat168pounds.“Andeverything fell into place,’’Lyke recalled.

So, what is it like to learn under Lyke ?

“Oh, he’s a stickler for the basics, really old school in the way he approaches the sport,’’ said Truax. “If I drop my hand a little bit, or don’t throw a punch right,’’ he’ll call me out.

Some of those who have trained under Lyke have learned what “old” school sometimes truly means. Try taking 450 whacks with a 16-pound hammer at a car tire sometime. Lyke and Vanda took turns, 100 whacks at a time, during their training sessions.

Lyke and referee Carl Benson started training fighters at the Northeast Neighborhood House and there were times when the garage at Lyke’s home served as a gym. “I’d be training a couple of guys out there, and sometimes there would be seven or eight kids,’’ he said. In true boxing fashion, the gymnasium sites changed from one period of time to another, depending on finances or city largesse.

Today, he operates ACR (Anoka-Coon Rapids) Boxing in Coon Rapids on Foley Blvd., under almost primitive but productive circumstances. The roof leaks and there is no running water.

Yet, it is a place where a fighter can go from nothing to world champion. And, for that reason, it is fitting that Lyke should join his many colleagues in the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame.