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He circled his opponent, pawing with a jab to measure distance before closing in a flash, winging a left hook to the body and then another, doubling, tripling on the hook, sending a right to the heart and then stringing punches together in a blur.
This is a scene witnessed daily in boxing gyms across the country, but at the Long Island Boxing Gym in Lindenhurst there was a difference. The aggressor was 11-year-old Tyler Martin, all five feet and 100 lbs. of him, wailing away on his father, Donald, a barrel-chested six footer absorbing punches with a protective vest.
As Tyler bicycled back and then moved in again, a loud voice teased his father from the ring apron: "Hey, is that boy giving you a boxing lesson?"
The 15 people training in the gym knew the voice of Eddie Haeffer, the owner of the gym and a constant presence making his rounds among members training one recent evening.
One of just a handful of boxing gyms on the Island, Haeffer has set up shop in a high-ceilinged space on a dead end street of warehouses. But inside the spotlessly clean gym is alive with the traditional sounds of...