A Million To 1 Shot

Mike Malone, who grew up tough in East Oahu, says he’s ‘ready to scrap’ Saturday when he takes on the giant Korean K1 champ Hong-Man Choi at Blaisdell Arena

Friday - April 27, 2007
By Chad Pata
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Promoter Mak Takano helps Malone with technical advice
and strategies for fighting a larger opponent

the K1 fight held here in 2005.

If he can somehow prevail - and let’s be honest, this is more Chaminade over Virginia than David over Goliath, after all, David got to use rocks - it won’t be the first time Malone has beaten the odds.

Moving here from Pennsylvania at the age of 7, Malone found himself living on the East side of Oahu with the one thing that is guaranteed to get you in trouble: blond hair and blue eyes.

“People always wanted to test me ‘cause I was the white guy: ‘Hey punch him first,’” remembers Malone in a voice that sounds like a diesel-fueled bullfrog, resulting from a blow to the neck he took years ago.“I took a lot of shots and gave a lot back, and I met a lot of good people through that, and it made me well-respected throughout the island, not just on the East side.”

Malone, abandoned by his father at age 2, thrived on violence as he grew up. He found himself running with gangs, covering himself in tattoos and attending concerts just to get into a scrap.

In 1995 he decided to turn his passion into a profession and began studying kickboxing under Tony Villalon, who taught him the importance of discipline and to harness that rage and use it in the ring.

“I have this persona that some people think Mike Malone, with all the tattoos, he used to be big trouble before fighting in the streets,“says Malone, who now runs his own school named Eastsidaz Fight Club.“But if you get to know me I’m not about that. I got a big heart, and I take in a lot of kids who can’t afford training.”

As much as Villalon showed him the right way, it is the kids that have kept him on that track. For Malone, it is not just training neighborhood kids a couple times a week, but the 24/7 commitment of being the single father of three of his own.

Unlike many fighters whose lives revolve around training, his revolves around homework and soccer practice and squeezing in the training where he can. When they were younger, the kids liked to train with him; in fact Nani, his eldest, was a state champ in jiujitsu at age 7 and Thomas, the middle child, was state champ at age 5.

But like most kids, they grow tired of dad’s passion and have moved on to basketball and paddling, choosing their own way.

“They have got to live and learn; you have to go through life’s experiences,“says Malone, who has one last shot at breeding a fighter in his youngest, Mike Jr.

“I tell you I have been through lots of experiences, and it’s only made me stronger. So it’s whatever road they take I will support them. You want the best for them, but you also don’t want to shelter them from what is happening out there.”

In order to stay close to the kids, he trains right at his Kaneohe home, where the garage has been converted into a fight club with all the requisite equipment.

“I don’t like to go to 24 Hour Fitness and work out in the air conditioning,” says Malone. “I can’t stand it. I got my rusty weights over here, I am fine pounding some weights in the hot sun and doing what needs to be done.”

This is the approach he takes with the school, running his students so hard they have to use the “throwup area,” which is a stretch of gravel running along the side of the garage.

But he is good to his students as well, for those who can’t afford to pay, he trains them for free, just asking they help sweep up after they are done.

It’s not the best way to get rich, but Malone has always been a little different.

“With my reputation I could open a school and pump out hundreds of students, but I want my guys to learn,“says Malone.“I think I am a better teacher than a fighter; it’s so gratifying watching your guys win. But when they lose I lose, almost like they are one of my kids.”

So a lifetime of teaching awaits him, but before Malone takes off the gloves for the last time he has one shot, a chance few ever get, to rise to the top in the fight world and let the world know about the tow-headed kid from Kaneohe.

“If I win this fight, Mr. Mak (Takano) should have a fat contract for me to sign afterward,” laughs Malone.

“I would love to fight an opponent more comparable to my size, but if you want to be the best you got to fight the best, and at my age I am not going to be fighting too many more years so bring me the best. Some guys love to be artists, I love to fight.”

Stallone would be so proud.

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