Former professional world boxing champions Mike Tyson and Fernando Vargas started off as youth offenders and are still running afoul of the law even to this day. On the flip side of that coin, Kalaheo’s former state champion and national-ranking
Former professional world boxing champions Mike Tyson and Fernando Vargas started off as youth offenders and are still running afoul of the law even to this day. On the flip side of that coin, Kalaheo’s former state champion and national-ranking amateur boxer, Mark Ozaki, represents the law here on Kaua’i as on officer in the Kaua’i Police Department (KPD).
Ozaki copped top honors at the graduation of the 69th recruit class of the KPD almost a year ago. Apparently, he doesn’t fit the mold of a typical boxer. And so didn’t his coach of thirteen years, Ken Oki, who won a state heavyweight championship in 1974 while doing postgraduate work at U.H. Manoa. As Oki recalls, there were probably only two graduate students in the whole building where the fights were held which was the Farrington High School gym, himself in the ring and his classmate out in the audience. The classmate would shout, “E=MC squared!” and Oki would try to deposit his opponent into a parallel universe. Parallel to the ring floor, that is.
Ozaki hasn’t fought in the ring since 1995 when he achieved national ranking as a top ten middleweight at Colorado Springs. However he hasn’t quit training and works out often at the Oki Boxing Club in Hanapepe. KPD training officer Lt. Miles Tanabe said, “Mark was in better condition than most recruits.” and he added, “We are surprised that we had a nationally ranked boxer on Kaua’i and also that he was so humble and respectful.”
According to Tanabe, in previous training classes recruits were always getting hurt in the self defense part of the program and it seemed that something had to be done. So, for Ozaki’s class they decided to experiment by appointing two training instructors to enforce a structured training program which included Ozaki as the boxing instructor.
The idea was to get the recruits in better shape for the self defense part of training where the costly injuries occurred. This, of course, meant that the recruits would have to work much harder to get ready for self defense training than previously.
The “experiment” turned out to be a success.
Better conditioning, plus boxing instruction in the first nine weeks of training, prepared the recruits well and for the first time nobody was injured. In addition, the recruits were better prepared for the punches that would come their way once they head into duty on the streets of Kaua’i. Better prepared in the sense that they would not be as shocked by getting hit by a punch because of their experience in sparring sessions with Ozaki.
Ozaki would urge them to punch him harder as he demonstrated all of the boxing tricks of defense such as bobbing and weaving or blocking and parrying. He showed them that the most important thing in defense is to never take your eyes off the attacker when the natural, unavoidable tendency is for one to shut the eyes tightly and to turn the head away.
In boxing or street fighting, Ozaki told them, “The punch you don’t see is the one that can hurt you the most.”
The KPD training department incorporated Ozaki’s boxing expertise to train the following class of recruits that recently graduated. Officer Tanabe’s instructors said that this class had the best-ever scores in physical training. Jay Scribner, at a strapping 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, who was in the previous class with Ozaki said, “Good thing Mark was taking it easy on us or he would have been the only one graduating.”
Ozaki hopes to prepare a boxing team from Hawai’i to compete in the Law Enforcement Games.
Jon Bonachita, a veteran police officer of three years, after training for three months with Ozaki, demonstrated enough talent and heart to be an excellent prospect for the boxing team. Bonachita also helps Ozaki train the new recruits.
In Bonachita, coaches Oki and Ozaki recognized a kindred spirit, a guy who loves the sport of boxing “small kind” as they say in Kaua’i.
Bonachita and Ozaki may also be ready to compete in the Golden Gloves tournament later this year, which could mean national exposure if they’re successful on the state level. Bonachita recently sparred with a 6-foot-7, 396-pound behemoth named Vince Naumu, who is also applying for a police officer’s job on Kaua’i. The addition of Naumu on top of everything else portends a bleak future for the assault and battery and violent types on Kaua’i for at least the next two decades.
Ann Ozaki, Mark’s wife of eight years, believes her husband harbors an urge to compete again despite his complaints of aches and pains and advancing age.
Ozaki’s three sons may carry on where the father left off in boxing, although the youngest may turn to sumo, having hit the scales at 9 lbs. 4 oz. last August at Wilcox Hospital. Mark and Ann Ozaki live in a cozy home in Kalaheo with their three sons and one daughter. Ann once said that nobody works harder than Mark at being a husband, father and boxer, and you can bet that he’ll be the same for the KPD.
Aside from going to the Law Enforcement Games, Ozaki’s other goal is to form and head a Police Activities League (PAL) boxing program on Kaua’i. PAL boxing has a long history on Oahu and the Big Island. In PAL boxing, a police officer is assigned to organize police department sponsored boxing clubs and shows.
Ozaki is willing to fill that role for free. Great fighters such as Evander Holyfield, Oscar DeLa Hoya and Shane Mosely have emerged from such programs. One reason they got so good is because they started boxing as young as seven years old, which is possible in a PAL program.
When Oki heard that Ozaki was giving boxing lessons to the recruits, he chuckled and said, “Mark is my gift to the KPD, may they be better able to protect and serve.”
