LJ Morvant has trained some of the best boxers to get out of Louisiana. His most precious fighter, Eric Walker, is 20-2, nine knockouts and appeared in the television series. The contender. His last rising star, John Williams, once fought for a national youth boxing title at age 13.
Professional boxers roam the cozy Morvant boxing club in Baton Rouge, seeking advice from a guy who trains in the ring at night and works on pipes during the day. In fact, Morvant started training a new client, a man, about two months ago.
The man is corpulent, strong and athletic, especially for his age. The man has a powerful blow, even hitting Morvant despite the pads he uses during training sessions. The man is a ruthless worker, he spends two hours in the ring three nights a week hitting ropes, pads and dolls, leaving him exhausted and sweaty.
“He is an incredibly strong and explosive man,” says Morvant. “He loves boxing. It was love at the first blow. “
The man is Ed Orgeron.
Courtesy of Ed Orgeron, Beat2Sleep
The quarantine sparked by the pandemic left college football coaches with a luxury they often don’t possess: free time. Many of them took up new hobbies, vacationed at beach houses, and stayed with families that they rarely see. The LSU football head coach, who was already an imposing figure, a large Cajun man with a deep voice, took up the art of fighting.
Orgeron trains six hours a week at Morvant’s boxing club Beat2Sleep, about 20 minutes from Tiger Stadium. They have overcome the pandemic. Morvant closes his club three nights a week for one-on-one training sessions with the coach. Orgeron learns fast, says Morvant, 46. And despite turning 59 at the end of this month, Orgeron is quick on his feet and deadly on his arm.
Take it from Morvant, he knows it. In line with traditional boxing lessons for beginners, Morvant yells out a number corresponding to a type of punch, preparing his body for the Orgeron punch. There’s the jab, the hook, the top cut – the coach is learning them all. He’s learning to move his feet, synchronize his hips and shoulders, and even play defense, which his teams tend to do very well on the soccer field.
“No way am I going to let him hit me without pads,” laughs Morvant. “Maybe I will bring someone else for that.”
Orgeron’s boxing interests are decades old. The coach grew up seeing Muhammed Ali, Smokin ‘Joe Frazier and later in life, Mike Tyson. He always wanted to learn, but never had time, juggling his role as a college football coach with being the father of three children. His children are now adults and soccer, at least for now, is on hiatus.
“I have extra time now,” said Orgeron Illustrated Sports. “I enter the ring and I am the student. Go for it. He teaches me. It’s really good for me to see what it’s like to be the student again. It makes me a better coach. “
Courtesy of Ed Orgeron, Beat2Sleep
Morvant is originally from Louisiana, originally from Brusly, so his fandom, like many in the state, is purple and gold. It’s surreal, he says, to train the head coach of current national champions. It is also rewarding. Morvant is the father of four children, all in high school or later. He missed much of his childhood while immersed in the world of boxing, working long hours at his daily job before filling his nights with training sessions.
He missed enough youth league competitions that his sons grew to almost resent the sport their father loved. Then he got, as his new student, the current national college football coach of the year, a man embraced by millions of die-hard Tigers fans, perhaps the most recognizable voice and face in the state of Louisiana.
“Are you training who, Dad?”
“This man has motivated me in ways he doesn’t understand. It has completely redeemed me in the eyes of my children, ”says an emotional Morvant in a phone call. “When dad trains Coach Orgeron, dad is a hero.”
In fact, one of his sons, Grant, 21, just got the job of head coach for a women’s soccer team at a local high school in Louisiana. One day Grant’s phone rang with an unknown number. He answered and Orgeron’s voice boomed from the other end wishing him congratulations. “It’s surreal,” says Morvant.
Orgeron and Morvant were connected via LSU strength coach Tommy Moffitt, but the two really did meet by chance in one of Louisiana’s most possible ways: running shirtless on the Mississippi River levee. They started jogging together. They exchanged numbers. And the rest is now inside the ropes.
More than anything, Orgeron uses the sessions as a way to exercise. It also worked. He has lost a few pounds. “I get out of the ring and I’m drenched,” says Orgeron. “It is more of me that I need it to exercise, it gives me something to do at night.”
So there are no title fights in Orgeron’s future? The coach laughs. He will keep them, he says, exclusively on the soccer field.
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