Opting to teach, he faces one more bout before bowing out

Friday, October 14, 2005 - In the world of professional kickboxers, Brian "The Mad Stork" Schwartz is somewhat of an anomaly. For one thing, the 6-foot-3 fighter's career nearly never happened. When he started martial arts training at age 6, he was one of the most uncoordinated students in the class. Plus, he admits to drinking his share of soda pop on a daily basis -- something he laughs about when admitting it is not healthy. He cuts back to a can a day when training for a bout so he can get to his 172-pound fighting weight.

Through the years, Schwartz, who grew up in a middle-class Jewish household in Foster City, persevered and eventually became so good that he toured the world as part of the U.S. karate team.

In 1999, after years of martial arts training, Schwartz took up professional kickboxing. The plan, he says, was to have just one fight. After he knocked out Ricardo Miranda in the first round, he upped it to five, and then 10. Before too long, the wiry boxer was fighting matches in venues such as Bellagio and the Mirage in Las Vegas. Last November, he took the super middleweight belt from four-time world champion Tom "The Bee" Bottone, after winning a match at San Jose's Civic Auditorium, and in June, Schwartz defended the title against Peter Kaljevic (91-28-3 with 46 knockouts), a six-time champ from New York City.

Now at 31, and with a 17-0 record and 11 knock-outs, the International Sports Karate Association champion is retiring -- favoring a life of teaching martial arts and spending evenings and weekends at his San Mateo home with his fiancee, Caroline Abramson. But he won't go without defending his title in one final fight, against Michael "The Godfather" Corleone (25-4, 10 KOs) on Oct 21 in San Jose.

"I enjoy the training, and I like the fighting," Schwartz said. "It keeps you very focused. A sport like boxing or kickboxing is so intense that you have to love it. When you are not training every single day, that's when you are going to get hurt."

Schwartz knows this from experience. After winning his first and second fights with first-round knockouts, he said he became cocky. He stopped practicing as much before his third fight and wound up getting dragged around the ring and then getting kicked in the head so hard that he wound up on the floor with a concussion. "I got my bell rung really good," Schwartz said. "I was lucky that I could stop him. Afterward, I couldn't remember what happened." After that, he said, he took his training much more seriously. But there is a risk of injury in every bout. In another match at Bellagio, in front of thousands, Schwartz broke his hand by the middle of the second round. "You learn something from every fight -- and every fight is a good experience," Schwartz said. "When I broke my hand, if I had quit fighting, I would have lost. I learned a lot about myself, that I could keep on fighting even though I was really injured. I look at the tape of the fight, and I can see that while it was not my best performance that I was still very good. It was a great learning experience."

Schwartz plans to pass along his learning experiences to other martial arts hopefuls through the kickboxing and tae kwon do he teaches at the Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood Shores. Additionally, Schwartz started his own martial arts business eight years ago, and his future plans include starting his own gym on the Peninsula where he will specialize in professional training -- teaching aspiring kickboxers how to kick the bags and run the ropes -- everything a boxer does except the actual sparring. "People don't want to come to work with black eyes," Schwartz joked.

He said he will also continue to work with kids, perhaps singling out uncoordinated youth who are willing to go the distance. "I love working with the kids and teaching them what I have learned," Schwartz said. "Only a small percentage of them will make it a career and take up professional kickboxing. I want to train young fighters -- just as my mentor did for me."

Schwartz's mentor and trainer is Eddie Croft, who was 15 when he met Schwartz 21 years ago. Croft, who is retired, is listed by the Golden State Taekwondo Association as a champion points fighter, kickboxer and world-class boxer. He was eventually a contender for the featherweight world title. He smiled and recalled meeting Schwartz for the first time at Golden State Taekwondo in Foster City. "He was about 10 -- and a punk little kid," Croft said. "Being 15, you are all about yourself. I didn't pay much attention to him until he was about 17. He was always working out at the school. He was not physically gifted -- he was awkward, tall and skinny. But Brian stayed around, and eventually I started taking an interest in him.

"Brian, at that time, was a high school student, and we had become a little bit closer," Croft said. "Brian was there at the beginning of my career to the professional days. He was at all of the fights -- he was always there."

When Schwartz decided to become a pro kickboxer, Croft agreed to train him. Schwartz had won a couple of fights when Croft decided to move to New York in November 1999 -- leaving Schwartz to the care of Paul Wade, owner of the Third Street Gym in San Francisco. "Brian needed that -- sometimes hearing the same thing from the same guy gets old," Croft said. "When I came back (in September 2001), after not hearing me and training with someone else, he was willing to listen to what was required for him to do for his career to take off." And take off it did. Schwartz pummeled all his opponents, favoring the lead-leg round kick and reverse punch as key strategies.

Caroline Abramson, 25, sits ringside for many of his fights. They met three years ago when she signed up for one of his martial arts classes. "We started out as friends, so watching him in the ring wasn't a big deal," Abramson said. "As time progressed and we started dating, it became harder. Now, in the week before a fight, I can hardly stand it."

Schwartz said his priorities have changed now. These days, instead of training for fights, he looks forward to spending time with family and planning a life with Abramson. His parents, Alan and Linda Schwartz, and younger sister, Felicia, still live in Foster City. "They are my biggest supporters and have been at every fight, no matter what," he said. Schwartz added that he likes the idea of going out in style and said that for him, there will be no comebacks. "If I were a football player and started getting old, I might not be as fast," he said. "In boxing and kickboxing, it's different in that you can get hurt or knocked out. It only takes one time. So I decided to quit while I was ahead -- with the world title and let people remember me as being pretty good."

He said that his story breaks the mold of what society expects to find in fighters. "A lot of time you hear about a fighter that had a hard time growing up," Schwartz said. "I grew up very middle class. It goes to show that you don't have to have a hard life to be a fighter. And that with a good support system, you can be the best that you can be."